Willi Carlisle – Winged Victory Review

Darker times inform the lighter moments for Winged Victory, the latest Willi Carlisle album, which pulls from those rough occasions and carves a message of hope. It’s the inevitable off and on feeling. Whatever you want to call it, be it peaks and troughs or yin and yang, there is an element of balance flowing through Winged Victory. Not every occasion is a gloriously upbeat one. True to that, though, not every moment is a struggle. The middle ground must be found, and most will find it. Those who are still struggling to get themselves there, Winged Victory may be of use. Those progressive country tones from Carlisle were a hit on Critterland, and he follows it up just a year later with an equally strong, Americana-tinged performance. Crucial are the changes, for the bluegrass style and connections to the United States’ brief but big history, are at play.  

Skirting the line of stomp and holler is a dangerous spot to be. Mumford and Sons has embedded a fight or flight whenever a banjo is played. Carlisle survives. Not just because his instrumental skill is superior, but because his songs of simpler times, wrought with struggle all the same, are excellent. An outstanding voice that’s suitable for the countrified tone is what Winged Victory offers on each song. That’s half the battle. The other half is a success too, as Carlisle writes of bloody warfare and the lacklustre literal rewards. But the sociological impact of those victories, the strength it gives as heard on We Have Fed You All for 1000 Years, is reward enough. Short and sweet songs like Wildflowers Growin’ manage to look ahead, well ahead, of these modern-day worries. There is a fine balance from Carlisle between the troubles of today and the impact it’ll have on the fundamentals of life after ours. Better to fail and stand for something than stand and be nothing, that is the argument found across Winged Victory.  

Carlisle’s title track is a blistering, bluegrass piece. His “belief in the impossible” is a catchy mantra for life. A clear knock at the rich, a desire to see everyone valued equally. It’s an honest assessment of life. Those who find it hippie-ish or unrealistic are just part of the problem, antagonists found in follow-up song Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears. That and The Cottonwood Polka are a nice instrumental break. Crucial to that, though, is that Carlisle does not lose the viciousness which is embedded in the best parts of Winged Victory. Those incredible tones continue on Work Is Work, the lyrical range a real treat as Carlisle touches on rebirth, the similarities of life and the shortcomings too. It’s that desire to break free from your worth which keeps Winged Victory rolling on.  

Sound and Fury has that feeling to it. Devil-dealing desperation in a sparse song, a spot for Carlisle to showcase how he can carry a tune with just his voice. Crucial to this sound is the playfulness, which makes Americana a catchy genre to work with and subsequently listen to. Carlisle has a dependable voice for those deeper tones of the genre and while Winged Victory has rewarding political depths to it, the instrumentals which come and go are magnificent. Carlisle reconnects with the fundamentals of countrified, Americana pieces. It’s a piece of work which accurately reflects the state of the world but also the humour, the lighter touch of those 1950s and 60s storytelling charms. Big Butt Billy captures the humour, Sound and Fury provides the heartbreak. An incredible range from Carlisle, who continues as one of the great country draws of modern times.