A saloon band at his back and a whistling jaunt in his step, Alex Dupree veers sweetly between manic revelation and clear-eyed realism on Talking to the Dog – or “From the road of excess/ To the palace of wisdom,” as tongue-in-cheek barn-burning vow “Room for One More” puts it.
The surrealist storytelling here is whip-smart and fancy-free. Dupree is no stranger to “talking to the dog,” as Hank Williams once described songwriting. He’s no stranger to the practice’s heroes either, as the covers on this record demonstrate: relishing Michael Hurley’s expressive dialogue with suspenseful strumming on “You’re a Dog, Don’t Talk to Me” and honoring the old Hollywood feel of Scott Walker’s “On Your Own Again,” with ivory-tickling from Robin Vining.
A sparse, classic country duet with Jolie Holland, “I Can See Her in Your Eyes,” time travels to celebrate Americana traditions. Yet this third album finds Dupree tugging on his folk leash and wandering into freakier fields. Spectral string arrangements from Eamon Fogarty flicker an eerie shadow over “Zodiac,” pierced by Neil Young-esque sunbeam harmonies in the track’s final moments. Delicate piano licks offer hope amid descents into distortion on “Stevie’s Fever,” which eventually concedes joyously to madness.
This article appears in September 11 • 2026.
