Alex Dupree - Thieves (2022)

Dupree got his musical start in Austin, Texas, and his voice still has some Heartworn Highways-era color to it. It’s a quality meant for the stories told on Thieves.

These are stories about the Trump years, a span which coincided with Dupree’s own attempt to rebuild a life after divorce. It was a time for the painful ending of illusions, about himself and about the country. He was living between artist residencies, sublets, and storage units along I-10, and long hours spent on the highway soon found a form in the long lines of traditional folk ballads. Slowly, new songs began to emerge.

Producer Michael Krassner’s experience arranging for film and his deep attention to songcraft set a perfect stage for Dupree’s lyrical storytelling. Old-Hollywood string crescendos and delicate acoustic phrases pass in and out of focus behind the vocals, a lush backdrop for the songs’ stark dialogue.

A wide array of traditional instruments (harmonica, mandolin, violin, piano, pedal steel, and jaw harp, to name a few) fill out these guitar songs. It’s these thoughtful arrangements paired with Dupree’s aptitude for songwriting that makes for such a special record.

Thieves is the story of starting over. It’s a sturdy songwriter’s album with heady, heavy folk and country flourishes. It’s about coming to terms with the uncanny patterns of your life, the strange repetitions you can’t escape.