Middle age is supposed to bring about a crisis. For Kevin Gordon, it brings about more reflection than confusion. “The In Between” is a record that lives as much in the past as the present and often documents the change, or lack there of, that Gordon has seen in his lifetime. Most admirable is Gordon’s refusal to look back with nostalgia or harsh judgment of any individual. While he certainly takes issue with society’s slow progress on civil rights, he treats every person in his musical memoir, himself included, with understanding.
“The In Between” and “Simple Things” both revisit the pandemic to very different results. The pandemic has been over for a couple of years now and “Simple Things” is very much a song stuck in that moment of boredom and loneliness. “The In Between,” by contrast, still feels fresh in 2024. Quarantine is one of many things that get a mention as feeling surreal. But the song branches out in so many directions: being a parent with an empty nest, traveling for work and missing time at home, distrust of the government, and yes, the pandemic. Gordon brilliantly describes it as feeling like “Gary Busey playing old Howard Hughes.”
But somehow that’s not the most memorable part of the adventure.
“A lot of people I love/I no longer recognize,” Gordon sings toward the end of it. He went through a time of life and a time in history that have been known to produce some powerful feelings and came away with a meditative title track and an appreciation for the fact that certain things aren’t going to feel settled. Others who faced the same disorientation were radicalized.
“It became about the era of Trumpism and Covid. It became about the acceptance of people who I generally considered to be of sound mind latching onto all of the garbage we were being exposed to over that time,” Gordon said. “Some of it is just indicative of what the internet and social media are. I hope we have a little better grounding in terms of being able to accept objective reality.”
Those feelings of regret, being lost, and watching the world change for the worse remain relatable well after businesses reopened because society still hasn’t returned to what used to feel normal. Making peace with the fact that it’s going to keep feeling weird is a uniquely powerful and mature statement. And bringing up a lost jar of secret money seems to emphasize that keeping all inside won’t do any good.
“Tammy Cecile” also captures that in between phase beautifully. “We had the requisite breakup sex” is a hilarious and sad line about, according to Gordon, “the tragicomic nature of that point in a relationship where all parties involved know it’s an absolute mess.”
During our conversation, Gordon expressed some hesitancy about including information about Tammy’s suicide attempt. He ultimately decided to include it to show the full scope of the situation he was in. It didn’t feel exploitative to me; the song ends with what seems like a very genuine “I hope you’re better now.”
Songwriters have to make difficult choices sometimes about what details of their life they reveal. What heals one listener dealing with a similar situation can hurt the person it’s about. If the ethics are unclear, the intention isn’t. Gordon is first and foremost a story teller. And the fact that Gordon revealed his deliberations without prompting is just one more example of the honesty and thought that power “The In Between.”
After all that, it’s quite ironic that one of the better songs on the album relies on Gordon refusing to accept reality. “You Can’t Hurt Me No More” is a song about someone who, in fact, can quite easily tear the narrator to shreds. As the descriptions of pain the narrator “isn’t” experiencing get more specific and elaborate, it becomes increasingly clear that he’s indeed feeling every last bit.
“At its worst, that sort of vulnerability feels like something you can’t get away from,” Gordon said. “Something that you’re doomed to.”
It’s an odd fit on an album that’s mostly honest, mature, and probative. “Love Right” works because Gordon is drawing from life experience and recognizing mistakes without questioning anyone’s motives. It’s hard to complain about two great songs, but the shift in reliability of the narrator does make “You Can’t Hurt Me No More” feel like more of a single than part of the same work that dealt with situations with the reliability and nuance of the first nine tracks.
“Keeping My Brother Down” and “Marion” are the two protest songs on the album. The former is furious about police killings and racism and is most compelling when Gordon describes feeling the burden of these injustices as being his to bear as a white man.
“A lot of people who come from my neck of the woods meaning the south prefer to cast that responsibility off saying ‘that wasn’t me,’” Gordon said. “I spend some time on social media looking at statements of people I went to high school with and I’m just astounded by the relative blindness.”
The latter is sad and sweet. Gordon’s attempt to understand a gay resident of his hometown comes with a heavy dose of hindsight and a recognition that Marion’s hopelessness was very much a feature of the government that was supposed to be protecting him. “Reagan won,” Gordon says to start a verse. He describes the havoc wrought by the AIDS virus and in one of the most devastating two word political take downs you’ll ever hear, repeats those same words: “Reagan won.”
While Gordon says the awareness among some white people has greatly improved since his childhood, he still recognizes troubling signs in increasingly extreme rhetoric. With the election coming up soon, it’s hard not to feel like everything is somewhere in the in between.
Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Kevin Gordon and the songs we discussed, starting with Keeping My Brother Down, in which Gordon confronts a long legacy of police brutality done in the name of his race. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Tuesday at 12pm on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://kg.kevingordon.net for more.
photo by Jacob Blickenstaff
Country Pocket 