New Releases

New Cactus Lee album is full of silver linings and Austin sounds

Cactus Lee's Kevin Dehan started writing Lee's Dream on the road.

Photo courtesy of Cactus Lee

Austin songwriter Kevin Dehan, core of the always-shifting group Cactus Lee, celebrates the digital and retail release today of the new LP Lee's Dream. As luck would have it, the temperate spring day ended up being the perfect match for this laid-back collection of songs: neither relentlessly sunny nor as melancholy as the recent releases before it.

Lee's Dream, featuring instrumental performances by Jack Montesinos and Joe Roddy of The Point and Lindsey Verrill of Little Mazarn, is his second album with Western Vinyl, an Austin indie label formed in 1998.

With or without the label, Cactus Lee releases have come at a steady clip of one per calendar year since 2019, which saw two LPs including the eponymous Cactus Lee. Dehan says at first his motivation to put out albums at this speed was simply to keep up with his own inspiration.

Although being on a label affords artists more promotional resources, the promotion of each release tends to slow the growth of the overall discography. But Dehan wrote much of this album while on the road and recorded it quickly. It was ultimately the label matching his pace.

Dehan sounds like a remarkably go-with-the-flow type of songwriter — both in conversation and in the resulting tunes. Digging deeper only pulls up more of the same. After playing more "serious and slower" songs in his words on tour, he was ready to play something a little more upbeat. And Lee's Dream was born.

Lee's Dream album cover by Cactus Lee Lee's Dream album cover.Image courtesy of Cactus Lee

"When I go out on tour, I'll have a batch of songs that I'm playing for that tour," says Dehan. "And then it's easy to think about what style of songs would be fun to play. So if I'm out there and I'm like, I need more songs that are upbeat ... then I'll focus on that."

The track "Easy Money," one of the more upbeat and old-fashioned songs on the album, was the first written for the record and was inspired by a visit to a replica of Guy Clark’s basement room, where Dehan reflected on the time the legendary iconic country singer-songwriter and luthier spent time working, writing, and smoking cigarattes. It seems to share some distant DNA with the Bob Dylan jaunt-turned-standard "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right," both of them pleasant tunes delivering sarcastic send-offs: "Kick me down the road, honey, I'm easy money."

Other tracks like "Dead Dillo," "Bad Luck," and "Fool's Gold" might make fans question if this really is a happier album, but there's always a silver lining — enjoying getting older, being by someone's side in a "heavy time," or just riding out a dreamy guitar solo.

This tonal dichotomy that's all over the album is one of the best longtime traditions in country music, and it's completely reasonable for listeners to describe Cactus Lee as a country project. Producer Billy Horton even "pushed Dehan toward classic country songs and production choices" while recording in his Wyldwood studio, according to press materials for Lee's Dream. However, Dehan doesn't identify much with the country label, invoking the country mainstream as a foil to his own tunes.

"I'm from Texas, so I make music that is, I think...a Texas type of music. A friend of mine has said it's more of like an Austin kind of music, which combines more blues and country," he says. "I mean, I won't get played on country radio, ever."

If the genre is just Austin, so be it. That's all the better for a town that loves self-referential art.

"I think it's partly from just not having left Austin, and then you get deeper into seeing what's around you," Dehan says.

Cactus Lee is playing a release show April 10 at midnight at the Continental Club. Calder Allen goes on in the slot before, starting at 10 pm.

Lee's Dream is available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp and other major streaming platforms. Vinyls were released February 21 and are still available.

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Movie Review

Plausibility is of no concern in Halle Bailey rom-com You, Me & Tuscany

Photo by Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures

Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page in You, Me & Tuscany.

The romantic comedy has become an endangered species in movie theaters, as most of those that are released these days go to streamers like Netflix. While there have been a few recent successful rom-coms in theaters, they are few and far between. All of which is to say that a movie like the new You, Me & Tuscany faces an uphill battle before it’s even released.

Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) stars as Anna, a former culinary school student who’s struggling in the wake of her mother's death. When she has a chance meeting with an Italian man named Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) in New York, her dream of going to the Italian region of Tuscany is reignited. Using her last $500 and a plane ticket her mom bought her, she makes her way to Italy looking for an adventure.

With nowhere to stay and knowing Matteo’s villa is unoccupied, she finds a key and makes herself at home. When she finds an engagement ring soon before she’s discovered by Matteo’s family, she decides to pretend to be his fiancée. The more time she spends with them, the bigger the lie becomes, especially when she starts falling for Matteo’s adopted brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page).

Directed by Kat Coiro and written by husband-and-wife team Ryan and Kristin Engle, the film at times feels like it’s not even trying to be good. While the set-up of the premise is okay, the story quickly turns into an eye-rolling mess when Anna shows up in Italy. Not one bit of the character’s story is believable, and even though Michael catches her in an early lie, every member of the family accepts her at face value despite the abundant red flags.

Of course, many rom-coms are not based in reality, and the filmmakers lean into the genre’s tropes, almost as if they were saying, “We know this makes no sense — just roll with it!” Surprisingly, the gambit works for the most part, as the odd pairing of an American woman, an English-Italian man, and his fully Italian family is enjoyable despite the many groan-worthy moments they produce. The sweet way in which the family brings in a woman still going through grief almost balances out the shoddy way in which the story is told.

Naturally, there are precisely zero surprises about where the plot is heading, as Anna and Michael grow closer despite knowing they should resist the other. Strangely, though, the filmmakers don’t go all-in on the budding relationship, choosing to slow-roll things save for one notable sexy scene in a vineyard. Coiro and the Engles play up the family aspect as much as the romance aspect, and that choice allows the film to survive for longer than it should have.

Bailey, a singer-turned-actor, has not yet found her stride on the acting side of things. Her line deliveries are often stilted and her timing is off in key moments. This doesn’t help her chemistry with older Page, who seems to be getting by on vibes and looks alone. The most enjoyable actors in the film are all Italian, including Marco Calvani, Isabella Ferrari, and Paolo Sassanelli.

There are glimpses of a fully successful film in You, Me & Tuscany, enough to keep it watchable for its entire 104-minute running time. But then they have the Italian grandmother say a gobsmacking line like “If you wanna tap-a that ass, you should tap-a that ass,” and you remember exactly what type of film you’re watching.

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You, Me & Tuscany opens in theaters on April 10.

movies film rom-coms halle bailey regé-jean page movie review