Darrell Scott Jaroso Full Light
Anyone who has attended a performance by Darrell Scott will know what to expect here. It was recorded in the village of the title in Colorado and is an insight into Scott delivering his songs in the purest form of guitar, banjo and vocal. It includes his customary rapport with his audience and their response to his mix of insight and humour throughout. It features a mix of Scott’s songs and covers with a bonus live track, not from this session, that features Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and Robert Plant on a vocal rich version of the classic A Satisfied Mind.
This is a testament to the power of the song in its rawest state, allowing the listener to find their own reflection and meaning from songs that are given nuance by Scott dexterous playing and singing. Here the words are clear and draw from observation and understanding. Life Is Cheap - “life is cheap but it ain’t free.” (Have You Ever Been Down To) Colorado is a tribute to the state and environs. One Needs An Angel has a central character who is the drinker, the easy touch, the band member looking for something more. Its delivery a Capella underscores that situation and essential loneliness. Fiddler Jones again focuses on the power in his voice, which is accompanied by plaintiff banjo picking. Evangelina is a song learnt in his early days playing whatever venues he could. Written by Hoyt Akton, it lauds a woman he wants to be with and the place that she resides. Hummingbird mentions a guitar that was very special to the father who owned it, only to have it turned into a watercraft - much to the regret of all involved. Who Carried You sees the banjo coming to the fore once more but this time, as befits the songs sense of questioning, the banjo takes a more upfront place in the song. On Life’s Other Side feels very much like an age-old traditional song, a spiritual seeking that was in fact written by Scott and Tim O’Brien and is one that should be well known to the audience who join in on the chorus. Something they also do on Colorado (the second of two song bearing the State in the title - one by Scott and the other from Merle Haggard), which is the final song the set, it includes a fade up of them singing the chorus and emphasising the rapport between artist and audience.
Jaroso is a further testament to Scott’s skill on all fronts and will be a must for those who are fans of his work through the years. It also can easily serve as a primer for those yet to be enthralled and offer them a large back catalogue to enjoy.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Scott Vestal Bluegrass 2020 Pinecastle
Scott Vestal is one of the preeminent bluegrass banjo players alive, having played with everyone and won awards including the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo & Bluegrass in 2017. From 1995 - 2001, he produced a series of instrumental bluegrass albums for Pinecastle Records that were very popular and influential. This latest record is to mark the 25th anniversary of the first in that series, and again it is produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Vestal in his own Digital Underground studios in Nashville. This time he has called in a newer generation of all-star players to have fun with some old tunes and introduce some new ones written by both himself and Patrick McAvinue. The latter is currently the fiddle player with Dailey & Vincent and also plays in the Baltimore based Charm City Junction, who combine Old Time with Celtic influences.
The guitar playing is supplied by Cody Kilby, another young player currently wowing audiences in his work with the Travelling McCourys, having formerly played with Rick Skaggs. On bass is Vestal’s brother Curtis and on mandolin is another younger player, Dominick Leslie, who plays with Hawktail and was formerly with the Deadly Gentleman.
There are nods to tradition in covers of Flatt & Scruggs (Foggy Mountain Chimes) and Bill Monroe (Kentucky Mandolin) all of which are fairly true to the originals. Such is the talent and prolificacy of Vestal that he can have tunes like the wonderful Vanleer ‘lying around forgotten about’ since he wrote it in 2004! His catchy Sunday Drive meanders pleasantly until one is suddenly caught up in Big Mon’s manic Shenandoah Breakdown. Patrick MacAvinue is equally talented at composition - his killer tune Five & Dime is a tribute to a venue that hosts a long running bluegrass and Old Time session in his native Baltimore, MD, while the beautiful slow waltz Storm & Desire is a loving tribute to his mother who drove him to all those gigs and sessions in his youth. Moon Mullican’s Pipeliner Blues is revived here, by request of Curtis Vestal, who gets to show off with a tasty bass solo on this swing number.
Overall highly recommended to all bluegrass fans, not just the nerds among us. More, please
Review by Eilís Boland
Wilderwater One Self Release
If you’re familiar with much of the quality Americana music coming out of East Nashville and the name Aaron Shafer-Haiss does not ring a bell, it’s likely that you’ve already listened to music produced by him or albums he has featured on. He’s played drums with artists both live and in the studio including Margo Price, Elizabeth Cook, Nicole Atkins, Mark Lanegan, Miss Tess, J.P. Harris and Michaela Anne. He has also composed music for Emmy Award winning programmes and Pulitzer Prize winning documentaries.
The pseudonym he performs under is wilderwater and his five track EP titled ONE is his debut recording under that moniker. On the album Shafer-Haiss undertook all the musical and technical duties and invited a guest vocalist to join him on each track. Interestingly, and no doubt intentionally, each contributor is challenged to stray somewhat outside their comfort zones. The honey voiced Andrew Combs provides vocals on the techno poppy In And Out Of Love and the laid back and open-hearted ballad What I Had Before is sung by Krief. Kyshona Armstrong takes the honours on the full-scale and soulful Rewind and the gorgeous vocals of Erin Rea compliment the dreamy When I’m With You.
Shafer - Haiss produced Shelly Fairchild’s recent single Worry No More and she returns the compliment here with the power ballad Saviour. Delivered with a voice that is as rich in emotion as it is in intensity, it’s a song very much of its time. Had it been recorded twelve months ago it would have been the perfect rally song for Joe Biden’s presidential election campaign.
Rather than a cohesive album as such, ONE is a collection of individual pieces which showcase the composer’s skillset to create songs laden with simple yet catchy hooks. Don’t be surprised if one or two appear in TV advertisements or movie scores in the future.
Review by Declan Culliton
Wayne Graham 1% Juice Self Release
Named after their beloved grandfather, siblings Kenny and Hayden Miles formed the band Wayne Graham back in 2010 and 1% JUICE is their seventh album. Raised in Whitesburg, Kentucky, they wrote the album in their parents’ basement and recorded it at their own Fat Baby Studios in Whitesburg.
Alongside drawing influence from their Appalachian environment, the album shifts somewhere between alt-country and experimental folk modes. The song writing is shared by the brothers and they contribute the bulk of the instrumentation.
The sonically adventurous Tapestry Of Time and Never Die highlight the brothers’ atmospheric layered vocal styling and Bad News To Break reveals a hypnotic and trippy back beat. They crossover into power poppy territory on No Escape and Wilco territory on Pay Phone. Their country roots shine through on the Byrds sounding Passenger Train and bookending the album is the instrumental One Percent Juice.
The prayer like Infinitude finds them at their most daring. It’s a full on and most impressive song that includes horns and strings courtesy of German collaborator Ludwig Bauer. A spirited, spiced up and evocative album, 1% JUICE explores the Americana genre from varying angles. It’s also Wayne Graham’s most ambitious and accomplished work to date.
Review by Declan Culliton
George Shingleton Out All Nighter Rock Ridge
Nashville based George Shingleton’s music career started at a very young age, singing alongside his extended family at church in rural West Virginia. Despite having music all around him throughout his life, he is a relatively late starter as a professional songwriter. He knuckled down at the age of thirty and moved to Nashville to pursue his career. OUT ALL NIGHTER is his second full album and its eight tracks include a mixture of co-writes together with three covers.
Heavily bearded and clad in denim, Shingleton’s appearance is certainly in keeping with the rough textured and gritty material on the album. The content does not stray too far from the standard country themes of revelling, redemption and righteousness. Country ballads Whiskey And Jesus and the John Robert Durrill & Snuff Garrett cover Misery And Gin fit snugly beside the racier Have A Good Time, A Stone’s Throw Away (From Heaven and Hell) and Guitars, Girls, Green Grass And Guns. The heartfelt I’m Gonna Be Your Man is delivered acoustically.
The album was recorded at Panfish Studios in Nashville, the home of acclaimed producer and singer songwriter Dave Pahanish, who was at the controls. Pahanish co-wrote No.1 singles for both Toby Keith and Jimmy Wayne and is credited with a co-write on Have A Good Time and also has his own song included with the aforementioned Guitars, Girls, Green Grass And Guns. Shingleton also engaged some big hitters to play on the album. Shane Sanders and Tom Bukovac (Hank Williams Jnr., Willie Nelson) play guitar, Steve Mackey (Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks) adds bass and Cowboy Eddie Long (Jamey Johnson Band) is on pedal steel.
Shingleton does not attempt to reinvent the wheel with OUT ALL NIGHTER. Instead he draws on influences from artists such as Jamey Johnson and Cody Jinks with an album that is laid back, gloriously loose and likely to introduce him to a much wider audience.
Review by Declan Culliton
Rachel Angel Highway Songs Self Release
Conceived during a period when she was extremely unwell and battling an auto immune disease, HIGHWAY SONGS is a five track EP from the country folk singer songwriter Rachel Angel.
The recuperation from her illness included a trip to Mexico City, where her holiday was interrupted when she encountered a 7.1 earthquake a few days after arriving. She continued on her travels, touring the east coast of America and the U.K. The songs that feature on this album are a reflection of those testing and difficult times, which culminated in her relocating from New York to Miami. The album’s title is a reflection on that rollercoaster journey and the material is a reflection on the toughness of spirit, both physical and spiritual, that she endured and overcame.
Her vocal styling is impressive, quirky and falls somewhere between spoken word and song. The playing alongside her voice is perfectly balanced. Aching pedal steel guitar from Dan lead accompany her acoustic guitar to fine effect on Strapped and Mexico. The latter includes timely flashes of trumpet courtesy of Brooklyn’s Clyde Daley. Other noted New York players that contribute to the album are guitarist and keyboard player Sam Owens, bassist Brian Betancourt and drummer Noah Hecht. The album was recorded at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and engineered and mixed by Sam Owens.
Angel gets down and dirty on the bluesy title track, which focuses on her travels and pit stops. Other tracks that impress are the harrowing Battles and the gentle and deeply melodic ballad Bring Me Down, which closes the album.
HIGHWAY SONGS is the work of an artist lifting the veil on some exacting personal issues and facing them head on. However bruised and tender the lyrics may be, the songs succeed in channelling Angel’s inner feelings and creating a most enjoyable and recommended listen.
Review by Declan Culliton
Su Andersson Train Stories Firma Su
Oh, to have the courage of our convictions, to follow through on younger dreams and to break free from social constraints and norms. A pipe dream for many, but in the hands of Su Andersson it becomes a reality and leads to a coast-to-coast American adventure in search of her own particular rainbow.
Her trip from New York to San Francisco, taking in 15 different states, is documented across these ten songs. Andersson writes all the lyrics and plays on all the tracks, supported by a group of eight musicians who bring the arrangements to life. She recorded in Gothenburg, in her native Sweden and also in Hansa studio, Berlin and song titles like On The Train, Parts One & Two, The City Of Dark And Bright Angels, A Bunch Of Flowers In San Francisco and Two Feathers From An Eagle give impressions, experiences, images and evidence of the different focus and memory that formed over this journey of stimulating highlights.
The more sombre tone of The Dark Blue Of Mine hints that not all the days were happiness and light and if the reflections gained on A Fisherman And His Son are to be considered, then “if you don’t catch the sunset, It’ll still be a sunrise.” The use of cello and piano on standout track, Early Morning Alleys, echo the lonely feeling that ‘the sounds of the morning wait just around the corner.’ A fantasy that turned into a reality is something to mark in time and these songs certainly do that and more.
Review by Paul McGee
Tunng presents... Dead Club Full Time Hobby
When it comes to innovation and experimentation in music then look no further than avant-garde Folk band, Tunng. This is album number nine in a career that has spanned 15 years since their debut release. At the forefront of the Folktronica genre, with varying electronic experimentation and influences running through their work, Tunng are also admired for their openness to new instrumentation and inventing new paths of creativity.
Founding members Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay are the originators in their eclectic mix of traditional Folk and electronica exploration and were joined by intermittent band mates, Simon Glenister, Ashley Bates, Phil Winter, Becky Jacobs and Martin Smith; but they are equally open to inviting guest collaborators to add different influences and layers to their innovative sound. This new album also includes a podcast series and conversations on death and grief. The entire project is composed and produced by Tunng and the both the sweep and scale of the music is hugely impressive.
In using narrative and commentary from a range of guests, these ruminations on life, death and grief are tackled from all angles, those who are facing the inevitable end, the close friends and family left behind and all attendant groups that are an inevitable part and also touched by the ending of life. Although the topic is mournful there is a regal quality to the melodies and the acceptance that life is a cycle – we come and we go.
Contributors include philosophers Alain de Botton and AC Grayling, musician Speech Debelle and desert band Tinariwen, Derren Brown, Dame Sue Black (forensic anthropologist), Kathryn Mannix (author and palliative care physician), Kevin Young (poetry editor) and writer, Max Porter. The overall feeling is one of sharing in the eternal mystery of death and the struggle to comprehend what is deemed to be the natural law of things.
Opening with Eating The Dead and the thought that old memories can be erased, almost like consuming a meal to nullify a life lived, matters proceed to the idea behind SDC (Swedish death cleaning) - a practical approach to dying, almost like a spring-cleaning exercise. Scared To Death is a highlight with beautiful melody wrapping around the musings on the inevitable journey, “Seeking something that makes some sense, You’re a whisper in a spectre, in a drawn-out breath.”
A Million Colours grapples with the feelings of disbelief after someone close has gone. The realisation that they will no longer be a part of the physical world but will remain in memory. Woman is a muse on different generations of bodies discovered in archaeological digs and studied for their different stories. Fatally Human ponders on what may lie beyond in the universe and Carry You is a determination that memory will endure. The Last Day and Tsunami deal with the ending of one reality and the beginning of a new way to deal with collective loss. This is a fascinating, ground-breaking project that actually lifts the senses through the deeply resonant music and leaves a feeling of inner acceptance with the whole taboo (until now) subject of which no-one dares to speak. I’m off now to listen to the podcast.
Review by Paul McGee
Donny A I Could Be A Musician Self Release
These eight songs were recorded at Sleeper Cave Records, Northampton, Massachusetts and were written by Donald Anderson (Donny A). He is a young singer-songwriter and this is a debut album that is a very stripped-down affair with simple vocals, acoustic and electric guitar. There is additional piano on three of the tracks, played by Andy Cass, studio engineer and owner, giving added texture to the basic arrangements.
The lead guitar on Take You Down is well played and the political message included has now come to pass with the recent election result in the USA.
Always On Time speaks of the frustrations of daily commitments and having to fit into a pre-described role. Breaking out of the straight jacket would be the ultimate dream. This theme is also explored in Glass Of Whiskey, dulling the pain of living a restricted life and wishing for more. Again, there is some nice guitar picking and the message of starting over and getting away to ‘find yourself’ runs through the acoustic work of On the Run.
Better Man is a tribute to his father, who died when Donny was only fifteen years old and it asks about the relationship they could have shared. Like all teenagers growing up, Donny speaks of taking a parent for granted, something that we all could identify with as we mature from boy to man.
Title track, I Could Be A Musician, is about breaking with the 9 to 5 routine and having the courage to follow your dreams. Final song, On My Way, is a look at where Donny grew from in terms of gaining self confidence to put himself out there in front of an audience.
These self-confessional songs come from the heart and there is no question that if you want something badly enough, then it will become a reality. Donny has worked hard to learn his craft and this is a promising debut. Hopefully he can develop more layers to his song-writing skills as he progresses and add some nuance to his vocal delivery, which can appear somewhat skinny in tone on a few of these tracks. It’s never easy to record in a stripped-down fashion and there is no room to hide without the added colour that a band can bring to both melody and song dynamic. Having the courage to debut these eight songs is a big first step and it can only lead to greater experience and opportunity into the future.
Review by Paul McGee