Album Review - The Wait - Runaway Dorothy

Art by Frank Germano (http://www.mofdesign.com/)

I hate most modern country music. I've hated it since about 1998. But there are a small handful of modern country bands I love. Runaway Dorothy is one of them. I first heard Runaway Dorothy's song Hard Way Home in early 2012, after downloading it from a selection of songs from bands playing that March's Outlaw Roadshow during SXSW in Austin, Texas. Very shortly after hearing that one song, I got their first record, The Arc, and it has been an almost constant companion over the last two years. Over those two years I've had the opportunity to see Runaway Dorothy play live twice, both times at the Outlaw Roadshow in NYC during CMJ, both times been completely blown away by their stage presence and all their heart. I am honored to be able to call singer/songwriter Dave Parnell a friend, and hope that I do the record justice talking about it.

Still riding the wave of The Arc, Runaway Dorothy released their highly anticipated second album, The Wait, on February 25, 2014. 

The Wait is a prefect blend of alt-country beats, lyrics and vocals that will being out all the feels, and all around fantastic music, with undeniable heart and soul, that keeps you yearning for more. Dave Parnell is backed up on the record by Brett Parnell, Sammy Gallo, Evan Mitchell, Price Stephens and Stephen Price.

The simple acoustic guitar intro of the first song, Sing With Me, will pull you in to the whole record. The song has a twinge of gospel-country to it, as do a couple other songs on the record, but it's not overly so. The harmonies and melodies of the song get you past that, if that's not your sort of thing.

The second track, Let the Right One In, is sort of an anti love song, or at least a cautionary one. Around all the guitars and upbeat air of the song, you'd never realise it, until, of course, you listen to the lyrics:
"I won't fall, I won't brave it, just enough to loose my head, to tell the truth, well I'm worse now then before...
Won't you please, won't you please, won't you please, don't fall in love with me"
Let the Right One In is easily one of my favorite tracks on the record. Not to say that all the tracks aren't good, they all are, but this is one of my favorites. My other favorite is Hurry. I'd go on a limb to say that Hurry completely sums up the feel of the whole record, or really of Runaway Dorothy in general. You hear the song and it sticks to you; it becomes part of you. The beat, the banjo, the vocals, the drive, it's all there, and it will get you.

There are a few ballad-y songs on the record, they are all great, and I'd love to talk about all of them, but I won't. So I'll just talk about my favorite one: Background. It's another one of those anti-love songs (I see a theme here...) but it's more than that. It's a song about breaking up with someone who really wasn't all that good for you in the first place, someone who being with just wasn't meant to be, but you'll always be in the back of each other's mind.

I think the wild card track on the record is Ballad of a Dead Man. It's a short story in a song, a haunting tale of a man who loses his family in a "botched robbery, now the thief he runs loose on a technicality" and decides to take matters into his own hands.  The first time I listened to the song I was on my way home from work, and I was so into the song, into the words that Dave was singing, that I actually missed a turn and had to go the long way home. This is what Runaway Dorothy does. They pull you in, keep you in. There's just something about Dave Parnell's songs that keeps bringing me back. I'm not just plugging this record because these guys are friends, I'm plugging this record because I truly love the music. You can find The Wait on iTunes, Amazon or Bestbuy.com, or if you're not sure yet, check out the (FREE!!) Runaway Dorothy mix tape over at NoiseTrade.