Ella Spencer Oregon self release
Brought up in Suffolk, where her father started the Maverick Festival in 2008, Ella Spencer has been exposed to roots music for as long as she can remember. Now in her mid-twenties and living in London, she has become ‘one to watch’ in indie-folk circles. Classically trained in piano and voila during her childhood, she is a multi instrumentalist favouring piano, guitar and banjo these days. A friendship with the much underrated musician Jerry Joseph developed initially through the Maverick festival, and he has become a mentor, resulting in her visit to his Portland, Oregon base in 2024 to record this EP.
I Never Told You About Oregon, written during an earlier visit to Oregon, deals with loss and coming to terms with it. ‘There’s a bruise on my nail from Oregon/every day it gets closer to oblivion’ refers to the passing of her grandmother during that visit, and how Spencer dealt with the pain, which coincided with the gradual fading of a finger injury. Opening with just her vocals and piano, it gradually builds with guitars, drums and backing vocals to a powerful tour de force, with Spencer admitting that ‘I don’t miss you/I just see you in everything I do’.
There’s an air of menace emanating from the start on Warning Signs, opening with Joseph’s resonator guitar along with Spencer’s acoustic guitar, over her distinctive deep and resonant vocals. Possibly a metaphor for a relationship that went wrong, it’s rich in imagery of stormy weather but we are left somewhat in the dark as to its meaning, the sign of clever song writing.
Interestingly, the title of Scotty’s Tyres came about accidentally when Spencer recorded a voice note of potential lyrics as she passed her local tyre centre! Co-written with Canadian artist Poesy, it concerns the disintegration of a relationship (‘I can feel the wind it’s blowing/touching everything in your room’) with unfinished threats (‘And I really want to slash your tyres set your car on fire/ And that’s something I still might do’). The obvious hurt and regret are infused with a hint of the possibility of salvaging the once passionate liaison.
The three main tracks above were recorded in The Panther studio in Portland, the home studio of Steve Drizos, who also contributes percussion, guitars, synth and backing vocals, and co-produced with Jerry Joseph. Joseph himself also adds guitars and backing vocals. The bonus/fourth track is a stripped back version of Scott’s Tyres recorded in London with Michael Smith.
Ella Spencer has plans to return to Portland to record more material soon. Check out this superb EP as an introduction to the work of an artist who we will be hearing a lot more of.
Eilís Boland
Luke Bell The King Is Back Thirty Tigers
There has been a long history of musicians who have dealt with and, at times, succumbed to addiction. At the same time, until reasonably recently, mental issues - often inherent in the associated aspects of that lifestyle - have received less coverage. Luke Bell died after an accidental fentanyl overdose in August 2022 at the age of 32. Although he had a career that had suffered some setbacks, he was gaining respect and fans for his music, particularly for his 2016 self-titled and only officially released album. It may have seemed, after his death, that there would be no new music from Bell, but friends and family have worked hard on this posthumous release of 28 tracks, recorded at various times over the last few years. They are a testament to a talented singer and songwriter. They are more than just demo recordings and largely featuring a full band. There are few better ways to celebrate the positivity of Luke Bell’s music, which has the potential of a much wider reach than any other format or single tribute performance. The release includes full liner notes, especially one written by his mother that is heartfelt and outlines Bell’s ongoing struggles, as well as his successes.
The album opens with Rattlesnake Man and it has the rollicking feel of early 1950’s honky tonk, something that was brought home when I heard Hank William’s I Saw The Light, slightly out of context, in a movie soundtrack recently. That feel, for this listener, continues in many of the featured songs from the first section of the album. This set of tracks (Side A) were cut in The Bomb Shelter in November 2013, and the choice of Andrija Tokic as producer on these tracks only serves to emphasise that direction. There some great songs like Don’t Mind If I Do, which features also some fine harmony singing from Kiki Cavazos. Lone Gone Love and Black Crows are also great performances. The players here are also spot on, like the rhythm section of Jimmy Lester and Dave Spicher. Also among those adding to the overall feel are Stephen Daly on guitar and pedal steel and the fiddle of Avery Bright, while Micah Hulscher is the keyboard player. These seven selections are taken from a previously available independent album, DON’T MIND IF I DO.
The next set of recordings (Side B) were recorded around a year later in October and December and again in the Bomb Shelter with Tokic back behind the desk. Some of those contributing to these selections differ from the earlier tracks, with Carter Brallier and Ryan Elwell on bass and drums. Stephen Daly plays electric guitar and Casey Driscoll is on fiddle. Mark Sloan is on keyboards and the steel player is Leo Grassl. Here the mood has moved on a few years, with a sound that is still pure country but with more of a 60s feel overall. More electric twang prevails and the vocal has a layer of warmth and confidence. Again some great songs in Dark House Of Fools, Ready For Love and All I’ve Got. Relationships and how they can ebb and flow is the overall lyrical theme. The final songs on this section again move on a year to the end of 2015. The assembled players are largely the same and the two songs again are reflective of that additional year and conviction in Guitar Man and Hand to Hold. The former is of a gentler persuasion, wherein he reasons that being a guitar man is destined to be his role in life. The guitar and keyboards are featured prominently under a subtler vocal from Bel,l seeking to be understood. The latter is one that could have easily found favour in a different environment in radio, then obsessed with a very different notion of what constituted ‘country music.’
The same set of players are featured on the next number of cuts (Side C). These tracks were from the same 2015 sessions as the previous two songs. Blue FreightLiner is about travel and some degree of feeling lonely, and it has some strong steel playing. Bell’s neighbourhood and friends are the subject of Hard Time, but it also has some old school yodels in a Jimmie Rodgers’ style update. Life, love and work as the constants are components here, if I read the songs right, in the likes of the bluesier Roofer’s Blues. Stag is given a more uptempo and upbeat arrangement, suited to its subject of a man going out and ‘acting single’ and wanting to avoid some aggravation from his love. River is a more keyboard-led ballad with an effective harmony vocal from Cavazos and show how they were collectively stretching out at the time. This section finishes with the track Bottom Of The Sea which fits that sense of exploration with a subtle rhythm and some light touch guitar from Matt Menold. It was produced by Justin Francis and offers another perspective on where Bell might have explored.
The final set of songs (Side D) were taken from a series of Nashville sessions in 2014, all produced as the previously mentioned track by Francis, at what became know as the Tin Dog Sessions. These include the title track of the album (which was laid down a year later). It is assertive and advises to “hold your hat, the party’s on, the king is back.” Peter Lindberg and Brailler handled the rhythms and bass with Bright on fiddle and guitarist is Menold. Irrigator’s Blues again has Bell featuring on harmonica, with a nod to the blues. Orangutang has a touch of Roger Miller about what is a seemingly light-hearted delivery, that is also memorable. The last song from this set of recordings is Waste Of Time, with a freewheeling Bell vocal. The final three songs were all recorded in a private home in 2016. In some ways it is a return to the early hillbilly sound of the earliest cuts on the album. Stephen Daly is listed as producer and guitarist, with Elwell and Brallier listed as joining in. Seven And Strong, The Party Song and Tiger’s Mouth all finish off the album in upbeat fashion.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this music and it is great to have it in the world. Though I would have appreciated it as much without knowing of the tragedy that preceded it. It is also an acknowledgment of how, despite the physical and mental pressures which many people (artists, musicians and others) face in their lives, there is creativity to be found and while not everyone is able to be in the position of having such a testament as to who they were, this is something special. So, long live the king.
Stephen Rapid
The Autumn Defense Here and Nowhere Yep Roc
The opening track, The Ones, from the latest recording by The Autumn Defense is a six-minute gem and a dizzying country rock and classic pop crossover addressing deeply felt losses. Beautifully arranged, it also defines what John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, the founding members of the band, do so well.
Eleven years since the release of their last studio album, FIFTH, the band return to their sun-kissed and deeply melodic Laurel Canyon signature sound with HERE AND NOWHERE. The brainchild of Stirratt of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame, and his close friend and Wico member Sansone, this eleven-track record seldom strays from their harmony-drenched and lush sounds that date back to their 2001 debut album, THE GREEN HOUR.
Recorded at Creative Workshop, Nashville and spaced over three years between Stirratt and Sansone’s other recording and production projects, the other contributing players were long time rhythm section of James Haggerty (bass) and Greg Wieczorek (drums, percussion), alongside a host of guests including Brad Jones, Jim Hoke, Matt Combs, Austin Hoke, Jennifer Kummer, and Steve Tyska.
From the string-infused classic pop In The Beginning to echoes of The Byrds in I’ll Take You Out Of My Mind and Hearts Arrive, they don’t put a foot wrong. Things take a more countrified slant in Raven In The Wood, and the unrushed More Than I Can Say is an intoxicating ballad. The niceties and relevance of love in a mixed-up world are considered in Love Lives.
Showcasing their flair for melodic songs that are so easy to access, The Autumn Defense have triumphed once more with this record. It’s another noble effort by the band to keep the heart and soul of the flourishing Los Angeles sound of the mid-to-late 1960s alive and kicking.
Declan Culliton
Joshua Hedley All Hat New West
Christened ‘Mr Jukebox’ for his capacity to roll out four-hour sets of classic country covers effortlessly at Lower Broadway’s Robert’s Western World, there is a lot more to Joshua Hedley’s credentials than simply a singer, fiddle player and country music historian. Since moving to Nashville from Naples, Florida, over two decades ago, Hedley has worked alongside several residencies in Music City, serving as a session player and touring musician with numerous artists before recording his debut album, MR. JUKEBOX in 2018. That record recalled the classic country sound of the 1960s and was followed four years later by NEON BLUE.
Inspired by the passing of Joe Diffie in 2020, that album was a tribute to 1990s country, which Hedley described as ‘The last bastion years of country music.’ Maintaining his genre approach to writing and recording, ALL HAT finds Hedley turning his attention to country and western, jazz-influenced, Western Swing.
Never one to do things by half measures, Hedley hooked up with nine-time Grammy award winner and frontman of Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Benson, who undertook the production duties. The recording was the first to take place at Benson’s new studio, The Bismeaux Barn in Austin, Texas, with Asleep at the Wheel players and celebrated fiddle player Jason Roberts all contributing.
Of the eleven tracks, nine were written by Hedley, the others being a co-write with Brennen Leigh, Crawlin’ Home To You, and the Ernie Newton-written Boogie, Woogie Tennessee. Good time dance tunes often laced with humour include Fresh Hot Biscuits, written by Hedley the night before the recording, and the playful All Hat, No Cattle. Other highlights are the jazzy waltz Crawlin’ Home To You, and the meticulously performed instrumental Hedliner Polka, which sounds like it was borrowed from The Texas Playboys' songbook from the 1930s. Ray Benson takes the lead vocal in Stuck In Texas and the slow-burning love-lost Over The Line bookends the album.
Hedley’s devotion to Western Swing dates back to when, at fifteen years old, he recorded his own Bob Wills tribute album. ALL HAT spectacularly recaptures all that sparkles about the genre and sticks religiously to the style that made it so popular in the Texan dance halls and further afield.
I’ll leave the last words to Hedley, ‘This album is my pièce de resistance. It’s all been building up to this moment. I feel like I’m making music I love more than any other style.’
Declan Culliton
Todd Snider High, Lonesome And Then Some Aimless
‘Humans are just awful, and I feel like I’m one of the worst ones sometimes‘ says Nashville-based anti-hero Todd Snider, tongue in cheek, or maybe not.
Often considered a heartbroken troubadour, Snider has been surviving on the edge since the release of his debut album SONGS FOR THE DAILY PLANET in 1994. Revered by his peers and despite recording classic albums like EAST NASHVILLE SKYLINE (2004), PEACE QUEER (2008) and AGNOSTIC HYMNS and STONER FABLES (2012), the self-destruct button often appeared to deny Snider the opportunities for the recognition his songwriting warranted.
Plagued with chronic back pain that has prevented him from touring for a number of years, the lasting impression is that the album’s title accurately reflects his current state of mind. Snider's friends rallied around to assist with the album, most notably his close friend Aaron Lee Tasjan, alongside Robbie Crowell and Joe Bisirri, who are credited as co-producers.
It's not an easy listen; several of the songs play out like demos rather than the finished article, and Snider’s cracked vocal deliveries are rawer and raspier even by his standards. The less skeletal tracks, like the Chris Robinson co-write While We Still Have A Chance and the title track, both, unsurprisingly, the two singles that preceded the album’s release, are vintage Snider. The former is a piano-led cry from the heart (‘I know how lately I’ve been walking you crazy, but I’ve been saving and I got my eye on a little car. And just as soon as I save enough more money, I’m planning on taking you way too far’). The latter is a glorious self-deprecating tale of regret, set to a bluesy back beat.
‘I can’t please anybody that loves me, anymore than anyone I know,’ Sniders imparts in the semi-spoken The Human Condition. That air of self-censure also raises its head in his reworking of Don Covey’s 1971 soulful Ain’t Nothing a Young Girl Can Do. Re-christened Older Woman, it loses the playfulness of the original and instead gives off an air of desperation. Stoner Yodel No.# 2 (Raelyn Nelson) is a four-minute-plus rant directed at a named ex-girlfriend (‘She’d picked some guys in Gene Simmons side band over me. He ties bandanas to his belt loops and hangs them all the way down to his knee’) before wrapping up the record with a slight glimmer of hope with The Temptation To Exist.
Snider’s writing has never been sunburnt and blissed out, but HIGH, LONESOME AND THEN SOME is a challenging listen at times. It’s a ‘warts and all’ update of Snider’s state of mind and body, melancholic rather than uplifting. Hopefully, his headspace and spirits will improve, but in the meantime, it’s a relief to find that his creative juices continue to flow.
Declan Culliton
Signe Marie Rustad Do You Know Something I Don’t Die With Your Boots On
‘I wanted to find out what impact the energy and love from an audience in a live setting can have on a studio album, ’ explains Norwegian singer-songwriter Signe Marie Rustad, on the brave move to record her latest album in one take in front of a live audience. DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING I DON’T was recorded in Oslo Konserthus, Lille Sal, on May 23rd, and the seven-track captures the blend of folk, roots and pop that has become the cornerstone of the Nordicana music genre in recent years.
The backing musicians that joined Rustad on the recording were among Norway’s finest players and included regular members of her backing band, Bjørge Verbaan (piano), Alexander Lindbäck (drums), Sander Eriksen Nordahl (guitar), and Njål Uhre Kiese (bass). Guests included Solveig Wan, who co-wrote three of the songs; Stine Andreassen of The Northern Belle and Silver Lining; and Live Miranda Solberg, whose stage name for her solo project is Louien, and who is also a member of Silver Lining.
A recurring feature of the talented artists and bands emerging from the Norwegian music scene is the quality of the vocalists, and Rustad’s vocals certainly live up to that accolade. Opening with the beautiful piano-led title track, the album pays homage to the wide musical influences that shape her. The tracks travel through alt-folk (Conformities Of Life, Everything They Said About You) to percussion-driven pop (Just What We Asked For, Tell Me Something True, The Line) and closes with a remodelled and more peppy offering of the title track.
From the minimalistic to the fully blown, the melodic intensity created by the musicians and the quality of both the lead and backing vocals make this record a most impressive listen.
Declan Culliton
Mariel Buckley Strange Trip Ahead Birthday Cake
EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE (2022), the second studio album from Canadian artist Marial Buckley, featured highly in our albums of the year at Lonesome Highway. STRANGE TRIP AHEAD should further bolster Buckley’s standing as one of the most exciting artists emerging from the Canadian alt-country/Americana scene in recent years.
The latest album does not stray too far from the model that worked so well previously for her. Observational songwriting, often relationship-related and always brutally honest, a driving rhythm section, and soaring vocals are once again the order of the day.
The production duties on EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE had an exclusive Canadian feel to it. Buckley engaged Marcus Paquin, whose previous work included collaborations with fellow Canadians Arcade Fire, The Weather Station, and The Barr Brothers, to oversee that project. For this album, she travelled to Nashville to record with Jarrad K (Ruston Kelly, Lucie Silvas, Fancy Hagood, Goo Goo Dolls) at his home studio, Chateau Noir.
An artist with the capacity to deliver bleak themes in an upbeat and melodic manner, the opening track Vending Machines is a case in point. The harsh reality and downside of a touring musician, compounded by the absence of a soul mate for support, are expressed frankly. The instantly catchy Swimming Practice addresses self-discovery as a non-heterosexual teenager and the resulting emotional turmoil (‘I had just shaved my head, felt like nobody loved me’). On first spin, Anvil may play out as a typical ‘tug of war’ relationship story, but a closer listen reveals the maternal desire for children, on one side of the partnership. Further soul-searching songs, like the self-deprecating Sick of Myself and the recalling of sexual predatory behaviour in Somewhere Else, continue the forthright song cycle on an album that is seldom short on drama but is equally a deeply satisfying listen.
As was the case when I previously reviewed Mariel Buckley’s work, comparisons with Kathleen Edwards spring to mind in STRANGE TRIP AHEAD. In a similar manner to her fellow Canadian, Buckley has the capacity to present deeply emotional matters with a hook-filled sound that draws the listener in and holds their attention from start to finish. The title may be a pointer as to what to expect when you first listen to this record, but it’s also a trip well worth venturing on.
Declan Culliton
Shawn Williams Acoustic Sesshawns Self-Release
New Orleans native Shawn Williams’ songwriting has invariably focused on matters of the heart and, in many cases, issues of the flesh. Unbridled desire was at the forefront of her striking WALLOWIN’ IN THE NIGHT from 2022; the content and rawness of that record recalled Marianne Faithfull’s classic album BROKEN ENGLISH. The following year found Williams in a more reflective mood but no less enraged with SULKING IN LOVE. Her latest recording is an acoustic eight-track collection, recorded by British-born Canadian resident Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young).
Does the acoustic setting find Shawn Williams in a more relaxed mood and steering her thoughts towards social commentary or environmental matters? Of course not. From the get-go, we are told of unreciprocated love in My Baby. Aired in a vocal that’s approaching breaking point, Williams pours her heart out about her loss. Recollections of that affair could also be the background to Love Is and Only One On My Mind. The brooding Where We Start, the album’s longest track at over five minutes, is the standout track. It’s not all agonising over lost love, either. The bluesy Good Time finds the protagonist dusting herself down, donning the gladrags and heading downtown for her next adventure.
Williams is in fine voice throughout and is as convincing a storyteller as ever. Whether the tales are garnered from real life or observational, they continue to populate eyebrow-raising territory, delivered in what she labels her distinctive ‘alt-rocka countrybilly, serial killer blues.’
Declan Culliton
The Prickly Pair Self-Titled Self-Release
What started as students at USC/Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, when Irene Greene and Mason Summit teamed up for a class assignment, progressed romantically and eventually to the formation of The Prickly Pair, for this East Nashville-based couple. Their self-titled debut EP is a harmony-drenched, five-song set of well-constructed, easy-on-the-ear compositions.
Capturing the richness and mood of polished harmonies, the love ballad Winsome Loser Some Game is an impressive opener. Spreading their lens wider, Swamp Angel looks back on the tortured life of folk-hero Helen Spence, who avenged the murder of her father by shooting dead his killer in the courthouse at his trial. A fleeting love affair and its inevitable ending are at the heart of Riverside, and Never Any Good is a twangy tale of a no-good drifter. I doubt that D.B.Cooper, the alias of an unidentified Boeing 727 hijacker who was never caught and brought to justice, has previously been the subject of a song, but Piece of the Sky, the album’s final track, uses his mystery and disappearance as a study of detachment and exile.
The sonic terrain into which this EP falls is that ever-expanding Americana genre. Greene and Summit’s vocals are perfectly placed and work extremely well together. Alongside cleverly written songs and graceful arrangements, they sound like a couple who know exactly what they are doing. I’m interested to see what comes next for The Prickly Pair. This short introduction points to a duo with a very bright future.
Declan Culliton