Song Review: Steep Canyon Rangers feat. Steve Martin - “Heart’s the Only Compass”
Steve Martin guests on it, but Steep Canyon Rangers’ “Heart’s the Only Compass” is not a funny song.
It is, however, a three-minute sonic film in which the narrator, in finding out who his dad is, also finds out who his mom was one long-ago night on a Greyhound bus to New Orleans.
History will show/we make it up as we go/and the heart’s the only compass you can trust/and the way from yours to mine/never was a straight line/it’s a tale of hope and fear and love and lust, goes the harmony-rich chorus.
Bassist Barrett Smith sings banjoist’s Graham Sharp’s words on the verses, leading to an unexpected twist and an ending no one could’ve seen or heard coming. Though the melody and uptempo arrangement are pedestrian - and Martin’s second banjo is unessential - the story renders the music secondary and “Compass” is thus a masterwork.
The track announces the May 22 arrival of the Rangers’ Next Act; the title track and “Circling the Drain” were released as standalone singles in 2025.
Grade card: Steep Canyon Rangers feat. Steve Martin - “Heart’s the Only Compass” - A-
2/4/24
