Album Review – Tim Goodin’s “True Stories and Flat Out Lies”
Old time hollerin’ from the hills and hamlets of Kentucky has gone from a has-been pastime for forgotten souls and fuddy-duddys to creating the very foundations for the country music revolution and setting the woods on fire. After the success of Tyler Childers and those before and after him, folks are turning over every rock in the Bluegrass State looking for the next authentic country crooner to crawl out.
Tim Goodin crawled out of Pineville, Kentucky and got the attention of many when he released an acoustic-only EP in 2022 that included the song “Son of Appalachia.” It got lodged in Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Playlist and wouldn’t come loose for quite a while since it captured the spirit of this obsession with all things Kentucky and Appalachia that folks in country music are currently fevered with.
It′s the sound of a distant train
Hauling the heart out of the mountain
The sound of a country church
Full of believers shoutin’
Lord there′s nothing more powerful than a drug called nostalgia
Sounds like home to me
A headlong search for that powerful drug will lead you to Tim Goodin, and his debut album True Stories and Flat Out Lies. Instead of trying to find close approximations to that Tyler Childers magic everyone’s trying to capture, Goodin went right to the source and hired the pedal steel player and guitarist for Tyler’s Food Stamps, James Barker, to produce the set, and roped the rest of the Food Stamps in to fill out the sound.
If you’re looking for the Appalachian sound that has gone untouched by the rapacious cretins in Nashville and their commercial interests, Tim Goodin is a good place to start. Released completely independently, this album is simple stories of life, love, and losing from eastern Kentucky. “Son of Appalachia” makes an appearance again, but this time with some biting electric guitar to distinguish itself from the original acoustic version, while other quality songs like “Sad Bird Still Sings” and “Hard Times” first featured on the 2020 EP get full versions here too.
New and original to this debut album are other songs that compliment the Tim Goodin repertoire like “Weathered and Worn” about young lovers married out of high school with one on the way, and “The Huntin’ Song” about carrying on traditions over generations. These are songs you can tell Tim Goodin doesn’t just sing, but that he lives, either himself or through his friends, family, and neighbors.
But for all the authenticity found on True Stories and Flat Out Lies, it struggles somewhat, and in a similar manner to the debut album from another riser in Appalachian country music, Logan Halstead. It’s like all the right pieces are there, but they’re not put together quite right, at least not yet. There’s an undercooked nature to some of the songs and some of the arrangements, like they were too rushed.
The struggle is how to capture the rawness of the expressions that make these Appalachian guys feel so real, while also doing something that compels a listening audience beyond the region, and in a crowded field of audio options. But also similar to Logan Halstead, you feel like Tim Goodin has all the right ingredients, and at times, puts it all together to deliver those spine-tingling moments only the most true country music can.
Opening for artists like The Steel Woods, and playing important festivals like Laurel Cove in Kentucky, Tim Goodin is getting on the radar nationally through his quality songs. True Stories and Flat Out Lies is a great start, and hopefully earns him the attention he deserves, and the support he needs to take his music to the next level.
1 1/2 Guns Up (7.5/10)
– – – – – – – –
Purchase from Tim Goodin
May 31, 2023 @ 1:13 pm
Sounds really country and sounds good, hope the album will be releasing cd.
May 31, 2023 @ 1:57 pm
It is available on CD as of this morning!
https://www.timgoodinmusic.com/shop
May 31, 2023 @ 2:05 pm
Thanks! Will definitely be picking this one up, as well as Kenny rogers new cd LIFE IS LIKE A SONG coming out June 2nd of unreleased material, available for pre order at amazon! cannot wait.
May 31, 2023 @ 1:40 pm
I liked Goodin’s acoustic EP, and even though some of the songs are carried over to full band treatment, I’m liking this album too. The album doesn’t seem to have the big budget sound, but the songs are solid, and it’s not too bad. Tim’s vocals could use a little work as well.
“It’s like all the right pieces are there, but they’re not put together quite right, at least not yet.”
Think this is a good description. Overall though, a solid debut album. Looking forward to see what he has in the future.
May 31, 2023 @ 4:43 pm
This is definitely an “enjoyable effort” (as the kids say).
May 31, 2023 @ 4:59 pm
This message was sent to friends in error.
June 1, 2023 @ 5:22 am
Son of Appalachia was my favorite and most played song of last year. I love Tim and think this album is a great debut. Spot on review Trigger.
June 1, 2023 @ 6:19 am
It doesn’t seem authentic to me or maybe it’s just lazy at this point. The Appalachia sound and lyrics are becoming the newest bro-country in my opinion. Same themes again and again, similar to tailgates/fires/beer/Saturday nights its now meth/coal/holler/funeral. Maybe someone will understand what I’m getting at. Anyways, that’s just how it goes.
June 2, 2023 @ 5:27 am
I definitely get what you’re saying and I agree 100%. After the success of Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and especially Tyler Childers, we’re getting a second wave of knock offs whose entire musical persona is “Appalachia”. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s still some great newcomers out of the area. Cole Chaney is amazing. But people like Logan Halstead and Tim Goodin wouldn’t be given the time of day if it weren’t for the success of those mentioned earlier.
June 1, 2023 @ 7:07 am
It’s been Christmas in May for me with Logan Halstead and Tim Goodin releasing their first proper albums in the same month. It’s a hell of time to be alive to watch these projects develop from EPs and videos on social media to fleshed out full lengths.
So far for this year, Dark Black Coal and True Stories and Flat Out Lies are 1a, 1b for my album of the year.
As for Goodin, he can flat-out sing. Weather and Worn sounds like something straight from the Classic era of Country music past. He has that same tremmble in his voice as Charles Wesley Goodwin, but whereas Goodwin’s comes off Celtic, folky (and rooted in Americana), Goodin’s is pure Appalachian Country – the voice that can shake the leaves on a tree on the tallest mountain and hush a burblin’ creek in the deepest holler.
Since you put it on my radar, I wore out the acoustic version of Son of Appalachia, so a bold, “funkier” Foodstamps version was much appreciated. I think overall, the Foodstamps were put in a challenging position after Childer’s last experiment. It sounds like they pulled back the throttle on this album, didn’t push any envelopes, and played it extremely conservative. Although that works for me, I get why you wrote the album feels “under cooked”.
I’ve yet to see Goodin in concert. I will rectify that this fall. I’ve interacted with him on social media and he comes off as a great guy. One of us. And easy to root for.
June 1, 2023 @ 11:20 am
UNIQUE- TRADITIONAL- REAL
Tim’s journey along with this album is a true story of determination and doing exactly what a man chooses to do despite of anyone else’s opinions or sound. No big hidden or mystery lyrics that sound cool but don’t really mean anything. Anyone can write a song that means nothing but when in a podcast you can tell a story about how you wrote it on a vacation looking a frogs and the frog jumped up on a Turtles back and ate a feather that was floating down from the sky while sitting at a park bench green bowl Alabama….but when you write songs that relate to real life situations and the region your from with a positive ending and giving hope that you can grind out of a situation your doing something in 2023 that doesn’t fit the mold…..Congrats to Tim and the ones who helped put this album together……this is just the beginning.
June 4, 2023 @ 9:51 pm
I think Mountain Queen is a stunner (pun intended). Had to check it wasn’t a trad. cover.
July 5, 2023 @ 11:26 am
Found him on tik tok , absolutely love his voice.Tried to purchase his albums but will not ship to Canada . Very disappointed 😞
August 16, 2023 @ 4:48 pm
Gosh! I ran across Tim after listening to Oliver Anthony’s music. Tim’s music is what I miss about life’s music, the pilgrimage of life. Truly you can feel his soul in his work. I’m also glad he’s a fellow Kentuckian.