Mario Bautista
Much like his last release, 2021’s shamefully underrated Music City Joke, Mac Leaphart’s latest seems to capture him once again genuinely enjoying doing what he does. Not since John Prine has Americana had a musician that acts so casual and even surprised by their own brilliance. There is nothing forced or manufactured as Lephart reels through a dozen superb tracks on Motel Breakfast.
Humor and unpretentious are just as much of Leaphart’s musical makeup as is his blend of Honky Tonk and Rock n Roll. And those Prine influences are clearly not lost on him as he gives nods to the legend on “Belly Full of Peaches” (“No flag decals in heaven/Just love & love alone/John Prine’s Jesus, the one we all find on our own”). The album is crammed with colorful characters, from a musician on the road (“Rock & Roll Hey”) to a dive bar in Charlotte, North Carolina (“Ode to the Thirsty Beaver”), and Leaphart has Dylan’s knack for teasing out the details of each character slyly rather than spelling it out simply.
On “Pony, MT” the protagonist dreams of getting away and breaking the status quo – even if he/she never leaves (one of only two songs here that Leaphart shares a co-writing credit on), while “Ain’t No Pistol” is an addictively catchy number about appreciating someone who keeps you on track, and a prime example of Leaphart’s ability to slide in a deceptively simple lyric that’s both profound and unforgettable (“She ain’t no pistol but she shoots straight”). While “Rosey,” a dancehall staple in the making, sounds like a brilliant mash-up of Billy Joe Shaver, Ernest Tubb, and Los Lobos accentuated flawlessly with fiddle and dobro.
The record closes on the title track, an unassuming country number about two road musicians talking about life in a cheap Texas motel over beers where he reveals more in just a few lines than many musicians cover in an entire song (“He said suns coming up gold-we stole another day/Tonight we’re at the Golden Light Café/They got waffles in the lobby shaped like Texas/Life is good, let’s go get some breakfast”). Above all else, Leaphart is a storyteller capable of eliciting a myriad of emotions before you realize the song is finished. Motel Breakfast is even more proof that Leaphart is destined for bigger things.
