“Havin’ Hard Times” (1980) – John Anderson * LP: John Anderson * Written by John Anderson and Lionel Delmore * Produced by Norro Wilson * Label: Warner Bros. Records
“Havin’ Hard Times,” the first song on John Anderson’s 1980 debut album, starts out with the same kind of flangey, minor-key arpeggios and drizzly atmosphere that would accompany such geographically and stylistically faraway records by U2 or The Cure that same year. It’s a strange association to hear on a country record of any era. The lyrics, too, reflect the era’s economic doldrums, another characteristic more typical of music on the other side of the Atlantic. Anderson’s imploring drawls, though, do reach backward to the American Dust Bowl and forward to Farm Aid.
The rest of his album veers away from its opener’s stark social commentary, as does the rest of his successful career. Lifestyle material became more of John Anderson’s forte, with songs like “Swingin’,” “Black Sheep,” “I’ve Got It Made” and more. “Seminole Wind,” however, stands out for its Native American focus, and also for branding Anderson’s persona to his Florida roots in an honorable way.
“Havin’ Hard Times,” though, that opening track from his debut, still reps its timeframe with wide-angle authority, retaining all the promise of how country music in that forthcoming decade might have sounded.