Madalyn's BonesGURF MORLIX - DiamondsTo Dust(Blue Corn Music)

So, I'm listening to Gurf Morlix's terrific song about Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the Austin atheist famous for ending - through a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision - the subjection of this nation's children to forced Bible readings and prayer in public school.

Morlix sings, "The last thing she wanted was for them to roll back the stone, and be praying over Madalyn's bones."

The ding of my e-mail inbox alerts me to a "Prayer Alert" from the Institute for Creation Research. (Tracking evangelical attacks on public education is kind of a hobby of mine.) The alert asks supporters to pray that it's proposed graduate program on creation science - which teaches us that science proves dinosaurs bobbed up and down on Noah's Ark and the Earth is 6,000 years old - is approved in Texas.

Sigh. Some things never change.

Morlix's latest CD, Diamonds to Dust, is filled with subtle references to this acknowledgement ... of time marching on, but of nothing changing ... not really. The last time he sings the chorus, Morlix changes the phrase slightly: "The last thing she wanted was for them to roll back the stone. Now they're praying over Madalyn's bones."

In his typically understated way - He has made a career out of being the sideman to some of the greatest talents in the business - Morlix weaves quiet tales of living and dying that are no doubt too subversive for the cheery confines of corporate radio.

Which is a sin ... If you believe in that sort of thing. If you're not much into religious dogma - as Morlix hints in his lyrics that he might not be - you could believe that the lack of mainstream airplay is just simply and terribly wrong.

For in his spare lyrics and production are some beautiful and provocative observations.

Morlix is best known as Lucinda Williams' long-time collaborator until a parting of the ways over the recording of her Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. But the rest of Morlix's discography reads like a must-have list of the best of Americana music. Over the years, he has played guitar and other instruments and produced for such artists as Eliza Gilkyson, Mary Gauthier, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Blaze Foley, Slaid Cleaves, Julie Miller, Robert Earl Keen, Buddy Miller...The full list can be found here.

Diamonds to Dust, is Morlix's fourth solo CD and was released in 2007 by Blue Corn Music. It spent six months in the top 40 of the AMA Americana charts and has been a consistent favorite of music critics. A professional musician for other folks since 1966, Morlix has clearly found his voice.

One of the CD's most moving songs is Blankets, which was inspired by the passing of Morlix's friends Warren Zevon and former roadie Chris Slemmer. A tribute to the grace with which Zevon left this world, the song features Patty Griffin's soaring harmonies that contrast well with the gritty realism of Morlix's voice:

...there's something you can't never know, is how you feel when the anchor let's go.

I've never wondered 'bout how it would be. I've wandered the world like I was holding the key.

I'm beginning to shiver. I'm beginning to see. If you got a blanket, won't you put it on me.

Morlix also includes a haunting cover of Bob Dylan's anti-war song With God on Our Side. But as I was listening to this song, I was startled by one particular reference that I swore had to be taken from Gen. Tommy Franks response to the press when asked about dead Iraqi civilians, "We don't do body counts."

I actually checked the lyrics to see if Morlix might have updated them for relevancy. He didn't. He didn't need to. Time doesn't change.

The reason for fighting I never did get

But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride

For you don't count your dead when God's on your side.

You can listen / buy Gurf Morlix's Diamonds to Dust here.