Imagine losing a son! Then imagine writing a song and singing that song about it. It’s a monumental ask. How do you set about such a herculean task? Surely, it’s all too close and real? Such a thing for me at least would be nigh on impossible, especially given the time lapse between the two events being so relatively short.
However, Canadian artist Bruce Good is obviously made of much stronger stuff – being able to do what seasoned musicians instinctively do in the face of a huge tragedy. A form of therapy, if you will, in the only way they know how – or in this specific case, collectively, as Bruce is joined by his brothers Brian and Larry, both uncles of their deceased nephew Dallas Good.
Dallas, known to many as the co-founder, guitarist, and vocalist of the alt-country rock band The Sadies, died unexpectedly on February 17, 2022, at the age of just 48. Performing as The Good Brothers (eight x JUNO Award winners and inductees to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame), Bruce, Brian and Larry offer the fitting tribute “Now That You’re Gone,” with Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky from The Sadies lending their talents to add ever greater poignancy.
Prior to listening, the only musical reference point of any similarity that came instantly to mind was “Tears in Heaven,” Eric Clapton’s sad lament to the loss of his four-year old offspring Conor, and for that very reason, I was expecting something equally slow and transparently painful. Yet on the first play, I was taken aback by the spiritedly mid-tempo beat of the song’s introduction with its definite electric twangy low registrar guitar work out and up-front, but then the listener is hit by the lyric: “When I close my eyes at night it’s you I always see / Ever since you left me you’re still with me constantly.”
The words that follow instantaneously become heart wrenching stuff: “I see your face I hear your voice I try hard to be strong / I’ve been drinkin’ more… now that you’re gone.” This combination of grief overtly wrapped up in a bottle of booze, with the bottle a coping mechanism through the pain, offers something to cling onto much akin to grasping onto a life belt as the ship goes down, or “a faithful friend who’s there to lend you a shoulder to cry on.”
It’s all too obvious that this song centers around a man still very much in mourning, struggling to come to terms with the magnitude of what’s unfolded in the only way he knows how. It’s brave and honest with the song concluding with a certain uneasy resolution courtesy of falling into sleep; Bruce’s closing statement being “I dream about those happy times and how we used to be.”
The death of Dallas Good was, and continues to be, a significant loss to the Canadian music community and to his friends and fans worldwide. Many peers paid tribute on social media, including Patti Smith, Steve Albini, Robyn Hitchcock, Ron Sexsmith, The Jayhawks, Arcade Fire, Blue Rodeo, and Junkhouse. For the Good Brothers, it naturally cuts much closer to home, deeply personal, and you can clearly hear it within this three-minute cut.
It’s hard to know how or what to say, or how to conclude this review with words, however kind or well meaning, they seem so sadly inadequate. But maybe the existence of “Now That You’re Gone” going forward will give others experiencing loss something to hold on to when they need it the most.
Photo Credit: Alex J. Berliner
Music has been a lifelong passion, a journey that as a child embraced the late 60's counter culture and has lasted until the present day. Despite trying to play guitar for the best part of 45 years, to his own frustration, never much beyond the first four bars of “Stairway to Heaven.” A self-confessed vinyl junkie, his other interests include collecting music memorabilia, old Muhammad Ali fight programs, and watching film. He lives alone in Nottingham (England) and still uses the term “Groovy” - these two facts may be intrinsically connected.
