The writers who get characters right tell the best stories. Stories are a series of events, yes, but ultimately their worth rests in the way the teller humanizes the pieces involved.
In songwriting, “character” is a hummingbird shifting position in search of the fertile bud. When a songwriter finds the sweetest spot from which to draw nectar an album is poised to bloom.
Terry Klein’s Leave the Light On is a masterclass in characters. The Austin-based songwriter recently told The Marinade he hopes everyone has experienced heartbreak. It’s an important part of being alive. Not all of Klein’s characters get their hearts broken on record but there is no doubt each of them has been hurt and come out ready for the next one.
Take the protagonist of “Blue Hill Bay.” Terry Klein lets us into the world of a man who lives an ostensibly ordinary life. He drinks at the same bar. He gets harassed by his paramour’s ex. He is a regular guy with regular worries and concerns, and Klein makes his life sound romantic.
This is the power of Leave the Light On. Terry Klein writes characters and leaves judgment to the listener. Perhaps because of his own sense of empathy, or dedication to the craft, or all of the above, Klein’s everyman is your best friend, and the cousin you tolerate, and the step dad you don’t know how to approach.
You find yourself rooting for all of them because he writes with a sense of give a damn. These characters, carried along by charming melodies, seep into the listener’s heart. There is a reason why Klein has drawn praise from Mary Gauthier and Rodney Crowell. He has a way of telling the stories of the people we know and have loved and hated, cussed and hugged.
Leave the Light On drops everywhere this November.