WGC: Everything’s Fine (Euro)

Willard Grant Conspiracy: EVERYTHING’S FINE
©2000, Glitterhouse (Germany)
Available via mail order from Glitterhouse

I did backups, along with Carla Torgerson of the Walkabouts, on almost all the songs.  This is the European version — a slightly different version was released in the U.S. on February 20, 2001 on Slow River / Rykodisc.

Reviews:

"With last year’s Mojave, Willard Grant Conspiracy solidified its reputation as one of the major comers in a second wave of alt-country that champions story and literate wit in song as much as it does straw cowboy hats and Tecate. On Everything’s Fine, the Conspiracy continues with an 11-song steamroller of confused hearts, pretty guitars and the kind of bittersweet jubilance that has already made the band such a critic’s favorite. Here the group makes the most of its expanded lineup, for a lushness that rivals even that of Lampchop, and anchored, as always, by Robert Fisher’s husky reveries. (Edith Frost fans listen close: She’s in there, too.) With just a few albums under their belt, the members of Willard Grant Conspiracy come off with the weary charm of old pros as they quietly but self-assuredly build a catalog of unbelievably honest American music." (CMJ)

"Everything’s Fine" is a majestic affair, the first WGC album where Fisher and guitarist Paul Austin’s frequently epic vision fully translates into a concrete song-cycle, a holistic masterpiece as opposed to the episodic collected sketches comprising its predecessors." (Uncut)