Critic's Choice: New CD's - The NY Times
January 4th, 2010
Over and over again on “Traveling Circus” Phil Vassar gets right to the point. A country singer by trade and an affable, comforting conversation partner by disposition, he has opening lines that set the mood, and the mood is often cloudy or outright grim.
“Looks like you’ve had one of those God-awful days,” he sings on “Lemonade.” “John Wayne” begins with a depiction of atomized average-Joeness: “Just another four wheels on the two-lane off to work/Just another lunchbox, punch the clock, with my name across my shirt.” Even “Tequila Town,” which flirts with Jimmy Buffett blitheness, is rooted in hurt: “Hey buddy, what’s your deal?/It’s been a long week, yeah/I know how you feel.”