Track Listing

1. Don't Be Afraid to Run
2. Omie Wise
3. Cold as the Clay
4. Little Sadie
5. Highway
6. Rebel's Goodbye
7. Talk About Suffering
8. Willie Moore
9. California Cotton Fields
10. Watchmaker's Dial
11. One More Hill

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49413 in Music
• Released on: 2006-07-11
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
At first listen, Graffin's record may seem a world apart from his punk rock roots as singer and founding member of Bad Religion. But the classic American music he pays homage to here forms the backbone of Bad Religion's epic tales of the young and the poor, mired in misery, poverty, and spit. "Cold As The Clay" honors traditional folk music with original rock compositions that draw inspiration from the folk-rock of Gram Parsons and Neil Young. The album was recorded and mixed in seven days, capturing the authentic sound of musicians gathered around a single microphone. The result is a vivid, intimate recording that makes you feel as if you're sitting in a pine-floored cabin, listening in to haunting tales of the hard luck that lives around you.

Amazon.com
He's both a PhD and a punk rocker. Is it any wonder Greg Graffin would release an old-timey folk record? Clearly, the Bad Religion cofounder is a man of many dimensions. As he explains in the liner notes, this one has long been part of him. He grew up with roots music and has always written songs that can be performed sans electricity. Of the 11 on the Brett Gurewitz-produced Cold as the Clay, five are originals and six are traditionals. It isn't always easy to tell the difference between the two, since Graffin avoids genre staples, like "John Barleycorn," opting instead for more obscure entries, like "Omie Wise," a relic from his Midwestern childhood (Graffin moved from Milwaukee to LA when he was 11). As with Omie, who is drowned, few of the protagonists make out well: Sadie ("Little Sadie") is shot, Willie ("Willie Moore") dies of a broken heart, etc. With an assist from the Weakerthans and the incomparable Jolie Holland--and instruments like harmonica, banjo, and fiddle--it's a given that Cold as the Clay won't appeal to all Bad Religion buffs. It is, however, a logical next step after Graffin's intimate, decidedly un-punk American Lesion solo project. Also recommended to fans of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

very, very refreshing
First of all im a big fan of Bad Religion...This is not Bad Religion. This cd is far from what Greg is known for, but it is so well done and fresh it surpasses some of his classic work. The sheer idea of releasing a folk album in this style would seem crazy to some, and i wasnt at first sure it could be pulled off. I was very wrong as this cd has now made it in my collection with VIP treatment. Every song flows well and backing band is an amazing compliment to Gregs well known vocals. Even if your not a fan of folk music check this cd out to see what your missing.

A True Renaissance Man
It is common knowledge that Greg Graffin has a great mind for authoring punk rock music, and a great voice for vocalizing it. When Graffin decided to do his first venture into the realm of solo composition, however, you saw a hint at something more. I'm speaking, of course, about American Lesion which was a great and personal album with a lot of (not necessarily bad) emotional baggage attached to the tracks.

After hearing American Lesion I correctly predicted that Cold as the Clay would not mirror any sound Bad Religion had put out. But when I sat down to listen to Cold as the Clay, my mind was truly blown away by what I heard. From the first track through the last I loved all of Graffin's original compositions, and I loved all of his renditions of some proverbial (lacking a better word) folk classics.

I have begrudgingly added quite a few songs from this album to my list of all-time favorites, including Graffin's own "Rebel's Goodbye" & "The Watchmaker's Dial", and his truly great renditions of "Omie Wise" and "One More Hill".

Some reviewers have been angered by some of his rendition choices, but I think that they are looking too far into it. Being a self-proclaimed atheist, I don't believe Graffin meant to 'betray his punk-following', as that is the only reaction I could shallowly understand someone having about the religiously-related songs.

All in all, this album deserves no less than 5 stars and solidifies Graffin's position as a musical prodigy. His voice... every chord... is heavenly on this album.

Not terrible; not great.
There are at least two songs on this CD (Talk About Suffering and The Watchmaker's Dial) that I felt made it worth owning. The thing is, this is obviously a vanity project. Which, don't get me wrong, Graffin has more than earned. He is a great punk songwriter and a lot of fun in concert, so I say, "Good for you, Greg. Sing what you want to." The thing is, though, while there is nothing embarrassing on this CD, by and large the singing doesn't rise above "pretty good karaoke" status. Graffin doesn't do anything wrong--it's just that a lot of folk singers do it so much better. Having said that, though, it's interesting to listen to the music and imagine what influence exposure to these sorts of songs have had on Bad Religion. It's not nil. And the one disturbing thing about the CD was inclusion of two songs that can only be described as Gospel (Talk About Suffering and One More Hill), when Graffin has been such a reliably outspoken critic of theism. He's not wrong, though, about the power of such songs. Perhaps even an atheist can be forgiven for finding some religious expression to be fairly compelling performance art, if nothing else.