Sam Gleaves -- Honest
Sam Gleaves gives us songs that are gentle as they are righteous on his excellent album Honest.
This will come off as hyperbole, but it doesn't get much better than Sam Gleaves. His latest album Honest is just that – a deeply personal one (the only kind Gleaves can write) that showcases Gleaves' refreshingly open worldview. Honest is not an album about bearing one's soul so much as it is an invitation into Gleaves' life. These songs are observational, as gentle as they are righteous.
"Beautiful" opens the album with Gleaves' first memory of seeing gay men on a childhood trip to the Bay Area. It was his mother's big-hearted approach to the beauty in the world around us – and the transcendent power of love – that communicated to Gleaves that there was nothing wrong with being gay. One gets the sense that this is a memory he held to dearly in spite of all the messaging otherwise.
Gleaves takes that hatred on in "No Life is a Crime." This is the most overtly political song on the album, one that speaks directly to the moment we are in. While Gleaves touches on themes of pride, self-love, and resistance in songs like "Honest Man" and "Safe Home," this is a protest song of the best kind. Yet it's delivered with Gleaves' delicate tenor, reminding us of this life's sweetness even when fighting for our lives.
But Honest is really about love: "Queer Cowboy" takes a more libidinous approach than "Amite River," but the sentiment is the same. "Fais Do-Do" self-effaces as much as it uplifts the narrator's love. No matter what, Gleaves illustrates, we deserve to find the people who keep us safe – and we must extend that safety to others.
