Track Listing

1. The Iowa Waltz
2. Mississippi Serenade
3. Counting Feedcaps
4. Grand Junction
5. Out in the Country
6. Walking the Beans
7. My Home in the Sky
8. King Corn
9. Daughters
10. Four Wet Pigs
11. The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26113 in Music
• Released on: 1992-03-23
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

If Iowa has a soul, his name is Greg Brown
The Iowa Waltz is my favorite Greg Brown album. If you grew up in an Iowa small town, you may think it the best album ever made. When the record first came out, there was an attempt to make the title song the Iowa state anthem. It never succeeded, alas. If I could vote, I would pick "Out in the Country" a lovely meandering groove of a song that makes rural Iowa in the summer seem like a dreamy corner of heaven.

Stays with you ... stays with ... you ..........
No matter if it's midnight or 35 below, listening to "Out in the Country" you can just see the heat mirages, see the corn and wheat and chikens peckin'. Smell the warmth of the day. And see the gravel roads ramblin' all around. Anyone who grew up in the country can relate. Perhaps those who haven't. The rest is stellar too, but this song is my nirvana and a top 10 favorite of all time. If you're wondering which of Greg's album to buy, you can't go wrong here.

Greg captures the heart of the midwest in music
I've lived in Iowa for four decades. Greg Brown also lives and records much of his music here. Writers are advised to "write about what you know." Greg Brown knows Iowa. Honestly, I think I'd rather live in the mountains of Costa Rica. But this place does have its charms, and Greg Brown documents them.

This is one of Brown's early albums. Stylistically it is different from his latest work, though virtually all of Brown's albums are in the modern folk tradition. You'll hear echoes of Leon Redbone's old-timey jazz, Bob Dylan's talking blues, and a stereotypical bluegrass sound, like the Alison Krauss band without Krauss.

In terms of subject matter, Greg focuses on the serenity, family, community, humor, and cultural continuity of Iowa rural life. Plus there is the ever-present theme of agriculture -- the state motto is "A Place to Grow." In other words, pigs, cows, chickens, corn, beans, and so on.

Many of these selections have a simplicity and naturalness that make them sound like classic songs from 100 years ago. The recording quality is only mediocre, and I think the arrangements are a bit on the busy side. Having fewer players might have improved things overall. The soloists are good, but not great -- you won't hear any instrumental virtuosity or profundity.

That said, this is one of Brown's classic records. Listen to this, and you can almost smell Grandma's cooking, hear the corn creaking as it grows, and feel the squish of the cowpie you just stepped in. Hey, it ain't all roses! But this music celebrates midwestern ways like a fond Garrison Keiler remembrance.

This is probably as good an introduction to Greg Brown's music as any, and I recommend it.