Ben Bullington | White Sulphur Springs

Published: April 30, 2009

One of the best liner-note quotes on songwriter Ben Bullington’s new CD is from country music great Rodney Crowell: “… the guy’s a pretty damn good doctor for a songwriter.”  

Crowell, singer Tracy Nelson, and a host of Tennessee pickers add their weight to Bullington’s 10 original tracks, a collection of wistful, visual song poems in the country-folk vein that was recorded at The Tone Chaparral in Madison, Tenn.

A chance meeting with Livingston’s Joanne Gardner, a former music exec, led Bullington to hook up with Crowell and others, who guided him through this polished and pensive effort. Bullington sings in a subdued baritone, with just the right amount of gravelly nuances, about jaded waitresses, lost loves and hardscrabble farm life.

Originally from Virginia, Bullington studied in Nashville, and while there, soaked up the styles of Crowell and other songwriting greats. But, while he studied, he “left performing to the professionals.”

Early in his medical career he worked in Montana, and returned to practice at the hospital in White Sulphur Springs, where songs started percolating once again. He made a previous album with Livingston’s Sean Devine, called Two Lane Highway.

With wisps of pedal steel, fiddle, and the refreshing lack of drums, Bullington makes his way through plaintive balladry à la Jerry Jeff Walker, Bruce Springsteen, and Crowell. He trades vocals with Crowell on “Toe the Line,” his ode to the independent streak.

There’s the body language of “No Matter How Many Times” and “Come to Me,” and the reminiscences of youth in “Born in ’55.” And Nelson sings with him on the soft country loper, “I’m a Stranger,” with its “Will the Circle be Unbroken” overtones.

Bullington doesn’t waste words. He’s a thoughtful songwriter, one whose live performances would be worthwhile to catch. Visit him at www.benbullington.com.

– Mariss McTucker