Release Date: May 6, 2013
In the year since the wildly popular medical drama House, M.D. ended its run, British actor Hugh Laurie hasn’t been idle. The multi-dimensional performer—having collected armfuls of awards and a Guinness Book title for playing the cantankerous-yet-pure-genius American diagnostician Gregory House—instead reached into his bag of tricks, proving the man can do more than just pull off a damn good American accent. Many actors today claim the duo title of musician, but few—if any—can pull it off like Laurie.
Sure, we saw House tickle the ivories and play a few guitar licks from time to time, but those fleeting moments of television cannot compare to Laurie’s extensive musical repertoire, as he demonstrates on Didn’t It Rain, his second studio album of traditional blues standards and other genres like jazz and R&B.
A man with the vocal and instrumental talents of Laurie’s caliber could have chosen to take the lead on every song, but he steps aside on many tunes, allowing guest vocalists like Gaby Moreno to take the reins when appropriate. Moreno’s and Laurie’s sensual duet of the popular Argentine tango “Kiss of Fire” causes listeners to fall in love with Laurie all over again, this time as the protagonist of music and not as a substance-addicted, snarky doctor who somehow still manages to save lives in a 45-minute, ever-climatic TV show.
Speaking of drugs, two songs on Didn’t It Rain—”Junkers Blues” and “The Weed Smoker’s Dream”—offer a throwback to Dr. House’s steady relationship with Vicodin. But neither, of course, is an original penned by Laurie; “Junkers Blues” is a classic that’s been worked and reworked throughout the decades and “The Weed Smoker’s Dream” is also known as “Why Don’t You Do It Right.”
Laurie puts his acting roots to good use in “Junkers Blues,” throwing so much emotion behind every syllable that listeners can sense the pain of the narrator’s addiction, just as they could see Dr. House limping in pain on his bad leg and experiencing emotional turmoil until he popped a couple of pills.
Just as Laurie’s extensive acting abilities were concealed in the United States until the past decade (he was already an established star in the United Kingdom with his comedy partner Stephen Fry), listeners who missed Laurie’s 2011 debut Let Them Talk will experience surprise after surprise on Didn’t It Rain.
Perhaps listeners will even ask themselves, “Why doesn’t this guy quit acting full-time and allow his music to take top priority, instead of the other way around?”
The only downfall to enjoying Laurie’s music—and it’s a limited flaw—is his voice. The smoky, roughened vocals are an acquired taste, just as the fact that the star of one of the most popular American dramas was really British took some getting used to. We adjusted once; we can do it again, setting our ears to enjoy Hugh’s blues.
Some of the album’s 13 tracks will likely turn living-room carpets into dance floors, making the couch-ridden think they are aspiring tango stars. Even as “Changes,” the album’s closing tune that starts slowly and sleepily, picks up, listeners can sigh and tap their toes happily to the clarinet, perhaps realizing for the first time that they are a fan of blues music.
Laurie sings, “The world goes on the same,” all while inspiring a new generation of blues followers and reinvigorating songs that are sadly only readily known in certain clusters of America. Let the House persona rest for a bit—switch off the reruns, allow the rain to fall outside, and listen to a well-interpreted collection of blues standards that, along the way, influenced today’s rock and roll.
Hugh Laurie – Didn’t It Rain tracklist:
- “The St. Louis Blues”
- “Junkers Blues”
- “Kiss of Fire”
- “Vicksburg Blues”
- “The Weed Smoker’s Dream”
- “Wild Honey”
- “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair”
- “Evenin'”
- “Didn’t It Rain”
- “Careless Love”
- “One For My Baby”
- “I Hate A Man Like You”
- “Changes”
