As a member of the Black Crowes and Ben Harper’s Innocent Criminals,
Marc Ford sold millions of albums and played in front of millions more. Coming
with the success are the accolades, along with the typical excessive indulgences
that have mired musicians since the Age of Enlightenment. For Ford, this is
an issue he’s recently confronted and taken on, but at a price. In September
2006, the guitarist tendered his resignation from the Black Crowes for reasons
of sanity and sobriety. Then he gathered up his former band mates from Burning
Tree, the group he played with before joining the Black Crowes in 1992. Together,
they patched together Ford’s second solo effort, Weary And Wired.
Marc Ford may have given up the drink and dope, but his playing and performance
on this ragged and fun-filled collection is loose and very much on the mark.
“Feather Weight Dreamland” is a raunchy opener with a Stonesy/Crowesy
feel that showcases Ford’s ample slide guitar work and serviceable, echo-laden
vocals. The table is set and the momentum sustained for “Don’t Come
Around” and “It’ll Be Over Soon,” a pair of no frills,
straight-ahead rockers that could easily find favor in jukeboxes heard ‘round
the world. “The Other Side” almost sounds like a candidate for the
Black Crowes’ next album (if there ever is one), but Ford ably makes it
all his own as he tip toes through the verses before slamming a signature lead
that would do the Glimmer Twins proud. “1000 Ways” kicks it up a
notch with a tag-you’re-it rhythm supplemented wiht a Cream feel that practically
forces Ford to cop his best Clapton without treading too deep into Slowhand’s
jungle of polyrhythmic blues. Then he assumes a Neil Young and Crazy Horse posture
for “Smoke Signals” and all bets are off.
The sultry jazz horns that introduce “Greazy Chicken” take the
record into yet another direction. Like Derek Trucks and John Mayer, Ford is
an old school stylist with a new school sensibility, and he isn’t afraid to
dip his wick in the porridge of diversity. By the time we get to the ebb and
flow of “Currents,” the rude attitude of “Just Take The Money,”
the tribal stomp of “Medicine Time,” the rockabilly swing of “Bye
Bye Suzy,” and the woozy jazzamatazz of “The Big Callback,”
it’s clear that Ford is a renaissance man for all the right reasons. No
longer the sideman without fixture or focus, Marc Ford has crafted Weary
And Wired on the notion few artists ever get a chance to claim: a commitment
to the art of rock and roll and beyond.
~ Shawn Perry
