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Apr 26, 2017Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is a solid effort with as many peaks and valleys as southern Indiana.
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Jun 23, 2017Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is another sturdy set of bittersweet portraits viewed through melancholic eyes.
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UncutApr 26, 2017The standard violin-mandolin-accordian corduroy rusticity is shoved aside here and there with musical and emotional ferocity. [Jun 2017, p.34]
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MojoApr 26, 2017It's on the Mellencamp/Carter duets Indigo Sunset and the tough, self-questioning What Kind Of Man Am I that it all shifts up a gear. [Jun 2017, p.93]
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Apr 27, 2017While Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is a bit of a mixed bag, it's better than all of his other records that bear that mark (Dance Naked, Whenever We Wanted, Rough Harvest, et. al). It puts all his strengths--excellent original songs, unforced arrangements, and (mostly) inspired performances--on full display.
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Apr 26, 2017Carlene Carter duets on five of the 13 songs, notably What Kind Of Man Am I (sung by Sheryl Crow in Ghost Brothers...) and the light-hearted Sugar Hill Mountain (from Ithaca), while elsewhere Mellencamp shines alone--particularly on Sad Clowns (where his voice and lyric hurtles into Tom Waits territory) and All Night Talk Radio.
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Apr 27, 2017An album that is not particularly consistent in sound or even sentiment--the worthiness of Easy Target is matched with half-of-the-title track Sad Clowns, a patronising and crankily retro missive on chivalry.