Jimmy Baldwin -- Beautiful Country’s Burning, Brother (Bucket Brigade)   (click on image to watch video)

 13 Oct 2020

In many ways, singer/songwriter Jimmy Baldwin could be considered the consummate road warrior. He’s brought his music to any number of watering holes, gathering places and venues large and small over the length and breadth of the country — from coast to coast and the Canadian border to the furthest reaches of America’s southernmost states. A native Texan, he taps a timeless template by paying heed to classic country, Mexican mariachi music and archival rock and roll, finding a fine blend that offers ample reverence to it all. And while he’s acquired ample acceptance from both radio programmers and an ever-growing legion of fervent followers, he can also take pride in being a three-time Grammy nominee and a budding film director as well.

If the general populace has yet to get wind of him, it’s not because they haven’t heard his music. In fact, he’s been well represented for his various commercial contributions, including ever-present ads for Motel 6 and Corona beer. It may seem less glamorous to indulge in such consumer-driven enterprises, but the advertising world has cited those accomplishments through an array of prestigious industry awards.

Of course, Baldwin has also proven his mettle through a fine series of solo albums that began in 2006 with Somebody’s Nobody and continued with his sophomore set The Cowboy and the Mermaid in 2008, followed by Vivador in 2010, Changing Time in 2012 and his most recent offering Leviathan of Love, released four years ago. Indeed, it’s been a long wait for what’s coming next, but we’re told a new album is due in February. 

In the meantime, Baldwin’s filling the void by offering up a song that shines as a veritable anthem for our times. “Beautiful Country’s Burning, Brother (Bucket Brigade)” tackles the scourge of rampant racism that continues to consume this country, as well as the fight to finally find justice by those who recognize that it’s long past time this particular plague of hatred and intolerance was terminated once and for all. It’s a clarion call for unity, as well as a reminder of all we have to lose if the nation doesn’t come together and recognize the need to right these wrongs.

“This could be our funeral pyre,” the song’s lyric warns at one point. “We need a a bucket brigade.” The verse is capped by a chorus that’s catchy but also to the point, summing up the sentiment entirely. So too, the video features pictures of protests, good-intentioned individuals draped in American flags and imagery of the nation’s spacious and spectacular western environs, offering further evidence of everything that’s well worth fighting for.

Lee Zimmerman

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