Like an old Western movie, singer-songwriter Ryan Dart’s new album, If Love Don’t Break You, encompasses the best and worst of the human experience: love and heartbreak, loss and resilience.
Dart released his first album, The Shift, in 2011, but his musical career started long before. After years of working behind the scenes on tours with Elephant Revival and Dinosaur Jr., and performing with top tier legends like Bob Dylan and The Who, he settled down north of Denver at Dart Farms to raise his son, recording music at nearby Coupe Studios.
Dart’s songwriting style is deeply personal, and the fourteen-track record If Love Don’t Break You is no exception. Siphoning inspiration from Dart’s roots in rural Colorado and Arkansas, the album is a blend of mountain country and Southern Americana, exploring emotional themes “shaped by divorce, the loss of his farm, falling in love again, and life as a single father.” The album was recorded with Texas fiddle legend Richard Bowden and Colorado musicians Katie Mintle (vocals), Peyton Langford (bass), Nate Barnes (drums), Bridget Law (fiddle), and Daniel Sproul (guitar).
The album’s first single, “Dirt Road Woman”, is a testament to the “intoxicating honeymoon phase of a relationship that follows heartbreak.” It starts with a desire to move on and reinvent oneself: “No time left for selfish lovers/Had it to rip it down to the studs.” The happiness of newfound love — “The way your skin shines when it’s kissed by the morning light/I want to hold you like it’s the last day on Earth” — is tempered by the nostalgic croon of a fiddle, the ache of old memories. “They say you gotta ride the bad horses/Before you know the good ones.”
“Wranglers and Rock & Roll”, the follow-up single, slows things down, reminiscing on the good old days instead of looking to the future of a new relationship. “Chasing the sunrise east across your heart/Miss the way your smile shines like the taillights of your car,” Dart sings. “I got bucked, I got thrown, lost my love in San Antone.” Country twang keeps the song rolling forward, but his lyrics are weighed down by regret: “Things I never told you/Could fill up this whole place/All my dreams are waiting/On the other side of pain.”
Dart skillfully sets the scene with the album’s third single, “Dancing On Your Porch”, singing, “Long walk in the forest/Thunderstorm rolling ‘cross the plains/Color in the sky to the west/Smell of the air after the rain.”
In the song, the vivid sense of place contrasts with a dreamlike romance, which Dart still finds hard to believe. “I’ve only read about this kind of love before/Now we’re dancing, dancing on your porch.” There’s a hint of the blues to Dart’s drawl, especially as he sings to his lover, “You’re timeless like the rivers.”
“Every love song is a sad song to someone,” sings Dart in the title track, “If Love Don’t Break You,” a soulful reflection on how heartbreak doesn’t always bring out people’s good side, but given enough time, it can provide valuable perspective. “Grace outruns the best of us and is hard to find/But seeing the best of you has kept my faith alive.” Overall, love is a power that even the hardest of hearts can’t resist: “If love don’t break you, nothing else will.”
Dart will be performing in Colorado this spring, with more shows in North Dakota over the summer.
