Ever Call Ready, s/t (1985)

 

When rock bands like the Byrds pick up devotional music, the devotion plays as more to the music than to Jesus. And on that level, Chris Hillman and the boys (including one of the Eagles and etc.) getting together for a hootenanny has an undeniable near-beer charm, all affectionate conversation between banjo and dobro, singing out His praises, and even sliding in some front-porch Beach Boys harmonies in “On the Sea of Life.” A rousing, minor good time for one and all. 

Until you realize, they mean it. Or at least, Hillman does. I’m not sure whether other Ever Call Ready members took positions against same-sex marriage equality or aligned themselves with Ted Nugent politically, but this reactionary turd did both. Whatever beauty and joy can be heard in the great gospel tradition is supplanted by the sour note of what sounds like a Jerry Falwell screed in “Don’t Let Them Take the Bible Out of Our School Rooms,” an old Louvin Brothers chestnut that lands with a thud in the age of the Moral Majority (it was trash in 1962 too, the year the Supreme Court gave school prayer the boot in Engel v. Vitale). I half expected a song called “Is the School House the Proper Place to Teach Raw Sex?” They look awkward on the front cover in their clearly unworn jeans, but don’t let the dorky charm fool you; these are the false prophets the guy they claim to worship warned about.