Album Review: Tommy Womack 'Namaste'

As the album cover suggests, Tommy Womack is thankful. Thankful for overcoming addiction, for surviving a horrific car accident, and for life itself. Womack conveys that gratitude along with heart and humor on his latest release, Namaste. The personal, eleven track collection starts off with the gentle “Angel” before launching into songs that tackle pursuing your dreams (“End of The Line”), religion (“God Part III”) and the drawbacks and benefits of certain town (the witty, cynical “Nashville”).

While there’s much heft on Namaste, there is also light-hearted, yet insightful, fare including “Hot Flash Woman,” “Comb-Over Blues” (both of which are exactly about what their titles imply) and “When Country Singers Were Ugly” on which Womack provides commentary on the current state of country music, “Willie was nothing to look at/All Waylon inspired was fear/Country singers were tough on the eyes and not so often the ears.”
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The album is rounded out with “It’s Been All Over Before” and “I Almost Died,” the alarming account of his brush with death due to drugs, before closing with the hymn of gratitude, “It’s A Beautiful Morning” where Womack sings, “I don’t know what’s coming this afternoon/If I think about it, it’ll get here too soon/Why worry what’s coming, it’ll come any way/It’s a beautiful morning. It’s a beautiful day.” It’s a beautifully fitting ending to an album of insight and reflection on life, death and religion that while about Womack’s life, may have you reflecting on your own.

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