Songsmith and poet Lou Turner has a wide-ranging body of work. In addition to publishing poetry, she’s released solo albums like 2019’s outstanding Songs for John Venn as well as records with her bandmates in Styrofoam Winos. One of the threads tying together all of her works is seeking out spiritual sustenance in a world where it can be hard to come by.
Her third LP Microcosmos, out Sept. 2 via Spinster, considers this in the context of songwriters and the legacies of the “rambler-gambler” personas that many put forward in their songs. “Musically, these songs [on Microcosmos] are mostly in the country/folk vein of the ’70s songwriter,” Turner writes in notes accompanying the album, “but lyrically they’re challenging those tropes or totally subverting them altogether, talking about commitment and love — the small microcosmic things that make up the fabric of everything.” The notes also reference Joni Mitchell and her 1976 album Hejira, a record that Turner points out is much rawer and more confrontational when it comes to examining yourself than some songwriters will get, lest they contradict their macho affectations.
One fine example of how Turner puts her observations into practice is the song “Empty, Tame and Ugly,” whose title comes from a quote by James Baldwin. The gently meandering song pokes at the ideas of masculinity underpinning the ways commercial country music is sold — and how they cultivate expression that is, well, empty, tame and ugly. As she sings: “You got a big guitar / You got three old chords / But they don’t tell no truth.”
Today, we’re very pleased to premiere a music video for the song that was directed, shot (on film, at locations around Nashville) and edited by songwriter Abby Johnson. Her camera follows Turner as she cooks up a pie — and with it, a plan to secure herself that essential accessory for mainstream country street cred: a cowboy hat. Check it out above, preorder the record via Bandcamp below, get tickets for the release party on Sept. 2 at Third Man Records right here, and follow Turner on Instagram for updates.
