REVIEW: Brent Maher — Night of the Orphan Train (MUSIC NOVEL)

Brent Maher is one of those rare talents who puts out iconic music, but stays just below the radar of true stardom. And like many unsung heroes and masters of popular music genres, in his case he likes to keep it that way. For Maher, it’s not about stardom, it’s about artistry. He’s never abandoned that, even in the face of his own, considerable success.

Rick Moore of American Songwriter writes, “…little is said of Brent Maher the songwriter, the man who has won numerous awards for his tune smithing. He and various co-writers were responsible for the majority of the Judds’ biggest hits, and he’s also penned chart-toppers for Dottie West, Tanya Tucker and others. Today he and his daughter, Dianna, operate Moraine Music, working in various capacities with such artists and songwriters as Kevin Welch, Mark Selby and up-and-coming Irish singer/songwriter Gareth Dunlop.

After navigating rooms filled with recording and stage gear and squeezing through several narrow hallways lined with gold and platinum record awards, American Songwriter sat down for a chat with the congenial Maher at the office of his Blue Room Studios in the Nashville suburb of Berry Hill.”

In the same article, Maher was quoted as saying: “…I hadn’t written a song since I was a teenager, and I was recording Ike and Tina and I had written this song called ‘Work on Me’…I pulled everything, the drums and everything, into the control room and did a demo of it, playing all the instruments myself. I’m sure it sounded awful. And I still don’t know where I got the courage to do it, but I played it for Ike and he loved it. He said, ‘That’s got a deep groove, man, that’s got a deep groove! We gotta play this for Tina.’ So we did, and she loved it too, and they cut it. Another song I wrote was the B side.

But that was the end of it for a long time. Then one day (hit songwriter) Randy Goodrum was at my house and he saw a copy of the record, saw my name with the writing and co-producing credit. He said, ‘I didn’t know you wrote,’ and he made me play him the record. I was so embarrassed because Randy is such a sophisticated musician. But he liked it! And he made me set up a songwriting appointment with him. And we wrote a song together and he pitched it to Chet (Atkins) and Chet produced it on Perry Como. And that’s where it really started.”

This humility is reflected in Maher’s latest passion project, a self-proclaimed ‘musical novel’ about the orphan trains happening about the turn of the century. Simply titled Night of the Orphan Train, it follows three fictional characters inspired by the real-life stories of the some two hundred and fifty thousand orphans and homeless children shuttled into foster homes across the country.

Each of the songs on the album reflects this melancholic sojourn, resulting in one of the most heart-rending and compelling musical projects I’ve had the privilege to hear all year. But going back to Maher’s statements to American Songwriter, it shouldn’t come as a surprise given Maher’s love of the artistry. “…Songwriting, or any part of being in our business, if you really think you’re going to make a lot of money, if that’s your goal, you should probably do something else,” he said. “I got into the business because it was the only thing I thought I could be successful at, and I just wanted to make a living. Dream big, but remember it’s still a dream.”

Colin Jodan