Steven Fromholz

Steven Fromholz

A Guest in Your Heart (Felicity)

You gotta love a line like, "I gave her the ring, she gave me the finger." Longtime Austinite Steven Fromholz has made a career of mixing wry humor with sentiment in his songs, and A Guest in Your Heart is no exception. What Fromholz may lack in vocal range or finesse, he's always more than made up for in deft lyrics and evocative imagery. There's lots of nice back-porch-type stuff to be found here ("Sea Goin' Junkie," "Lover's Waltz"), with countrified arrangements that never become overbearing or step on Fromholz's voice. Guys like Pat Green or Owen Temple might sing about Lone Stars, the Hill Country, and other such Texana, but Fromholz has the cred to pull it off, having been here almost as long as Barton Springs. He's a touchstone to what Austin used to be like without dwelling on hoary, remember-the-Armadillo nostalgia. There may not be much new ground broken here, but for a collection of songs that are as comfortable as a worn-out pair of boots, this is pretty good stuff.