And then the pedal-steel floats in, mixing with the acoustic guitar and the lonesome, emotionally-drained vocals. So begins Backyard Tire Fire's exceptional new release, Bar Room Semantics (2005). Stories of hard work and hard luck, long nights, dirty deeds, family, youth, and good ole boys are crafted in a timeless manner as band leader Ed Anderson (vocals, guitar, keys, harmonica) comes into his own as an American songwriter.
"I think that you have to have lived a bit - at least in my case and with my writing - I had to experience some things to get to where I'm at, to be able to present it and have it feel genuine to other people." What Ed's talking about are things like life and death, too much of too many things, being broke, broken dreams, and the need to keep pushing.
