Melissa Carper A Very Carper Christmas Soundly
Christmas albums tend to fall into two categories: the many predictable throwaways and the occasional interesting and more compelling ones that the listener is likely to return to in future years. A VERY CARPER CHRISTMAS falls into the latter category.
Rather than a last-minute recording of over-exposed Christmas songs, Texan Melissa Carper kicked off the process for this record over a year ago. With the invitation to join JD McPherson on his annual ‘Socks: A Rock & Roll Christmas’ tour, which starts its fourteen-date tour on December 4th, Carper recorded this fifteen-track album at Andrija Tokic’s The Bomb Shelter Studio in Nashville last January.
Tokic carried out the production duties, and a testament to Carper's dedication to creating a quality product was the calibre of players who contributed. Chris Scruggs (guitars & pedal steel), Chris Gelb (drums), Dennis Crouch (upright bass), Doug Corcoran (trumpet, saxophone), Katie Shore (fiddle and vocals), Emily Gimble (piano, organ), Tim Crouch (fiddle), Grey Harkins (guitars), Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano), all featured. It’s fair to say that the host of talented players and Carper’s note-bending vocal timbre and unrushed delivery have created something quite lovely here.
Included are several co-writes with regular collaborator Gina Gallina, one co-write with both Brennen Leigh and Katie Shore, three solo compositions by Carper and two classic covers. Following the model that has gained Carper a growing audience in recent years, the album is a fusion of Western Swing (Made With Love), traditional country (Christmas In New Orleans) and bluesy jazz crossovers (Plug In The Tree, Crusin’ In Santa’s Sleigh). Seasonal easy listening is also covered with Christmas Memories and Cats In The Christmas Tree, before the album is appropriately bookended by the slow-burning The Day After Christmas.
More of an album that you’d be happy to listen to at Christmas rather than a throwaway and rehash of standard Christmas cover tunes, A VERY CARPER CHRISTMAS embodies the ‘easy to listen to’ and good-humoured identity ideally suited to the season it characterises.
Declan Culliton
Waylon Hanel When Waylon Came To Nashville CDX
Christened after Outlaw Country legend Waylon Jennings, twenty-three-year-old Millington, Michigan native Waylon Hanel is continuing in the style of Jennings, writing and recording his own material alongside covering some classic outlaw country songs. Despite his young age, Waylon’s earthy vocals and impressive stage presence have earned him support slots for Ashley McBryde, Travis Tritt, Ward Davis, Josh Turner and Jo Dee Messina.
This self-produced album offers eight songs and was recorded at Dark Horse Recording Studios in Franklin, Tennessee, and Omni Sound Studio in Nashville. Some of Nashville's finest players featured on the recordings, including Steve Hinson (steel guitar), Carl Miner (electric and acoustic guitar), Mike Durham (electric guitar), Spence Peppard (acoustic guitar), Dennis Holt (drums) and Luis Espaillat and Craig Young (bass), Walter Killius (drums).
Given Billy Don Burns' outlaw output and close friendship with Waylon Jennings, it's no coincidence that three of Burns' songs are covered, including the album’s title track, which is borrowed from a Waylon Jennings tribute song written by Burns. The other two Burns-written compositions are Talk About Crazy and Keith Whitley Blue. The two original compositions are the Hanel/Ethan Wynn co-writen, My Name and Hanel’s barroom romp, Thinkin’ About Drinkin.’ Also included is a live acoustic performance of The Red Bricks, written by Gibson, Sallis, and White.
Hanel is a self-taught singer-songwriter who, at the age of twenty-three, has already got three albums under his belt. With his voice and songs that tick all the boxes as another young man keeping the flag flying for genuine outlaw country, and the growing popularity of the genre among a younger audience, the future looks exceptionally bright for Waylon Hanel.
Declan Culliton
Geoffrey Miller Everything That Sparkles Self-Release
This time out for the Californian performer who makes no bones about his love of the country music that has emerged from that State over the decades and, on the evidence of this and several other recent releases, still does. There are Telecaster riffs aplenty; this is paired with solid, significant pedal steel, occasional fiddle, and an unshakeable rhythm section. However, while it pays homage to a particular past, it is, with its eleven original songs, marking its place with a new and appreciative growing audience that is being turned on by the authenticity of its sound.
I am well aware that many are looking for something with a higher octane permeating their vision of country music. This can often be found in some of the more recent bands from all over Texas and elsewhere. For those looking for that particular sound, there are many examples to choose from; Americana and Rock-Country highways await. But for those who see a direct lineage from Buck Owens to The Desert Rose Band through to Dwight Yoakam and want to hear more of that sense of roots, then Geoffrey Miller is here to give you that tap of the feet and appreciation of that sound..
The album was recorded in his home State and produced by Max Hurt, who has given the recording the right touch of the past and of the future. The album is not overplayed or flashy; rather, it is right on the money for what it set out to deliver. Miller is right up there at its centre as guitarist, vocalist and instigator. Behind him are some fine players, such as Bill Bergren, Travis Troy, and Max Hart, on pedal steel. Jim Frink has the drum stool throughout, while Mark Eagleton and Ian Worley are the bassists completing the rhythm section. Also, Joe Craven and Matt Combs add some fine fiddle to a couple of tracks. This suggests a number of sessions over a period of time, something that is not unusual for an independent artist when trying to complete a new album.
The tracks never outstay what is required of them, clocking in at just over 30 minutes for the eleven numbers. This means nothing is wasted and everything is concise and to the point. This includes one effective instrumental in On A Bender - likely a title with more than one reference. Other than that, the album opens with a number of dance floor-oriented outings, the first of which is the title track, a lively take on barroom banter. The next song, Heartbreak, Coming Soon, reminds me a little, because of its phasing on the chorus, of Jason Ringenberg. Exes And Os and Two Passed Two both show that Miller knows how to write a suitable set of words for the job at hand.
Next up, offering a tempo break, is the ballad Don’t Need Luck, in which the steel makes its presence, telling a man who may not need much or even luck as he has the person he wants. Foot back on the pedal for the following number, The Crow Flies, which shows how Miller understands how to make that Telecaster twang, and it is a standout. Crystal Bottle makes the comparison between a crystal ball telling his future and the bottle on the shelf, giving perhaps a different prediction. Honky Tonk Sin, In Pieces are next and further tell of how the search for love is often sought in the wrong places. We finish with Okie Road, a song that looks back to where a person came from and where they have ended up. It finishes the album on a higher note with the fiddle prominent.
This third album finds Miller refining his craft while continuing to do what he loves. While it could be said that he is not the most immediately distinctive of vocalists, he is well capable of making an overall impression with his combination of skills and his determination to make the music in the way he wants to, especially with the assembled team here to add that required honky-tonk sparkle to the proceedings.
Stephen Rapid
Johnny 99 Mr Lonely NCC
A Toronto-based guitarist, Johnny 99, had been a lover of some classic country sounds for a long time, from his love of Gram Parsons through to the more lyric-based work of John Prine. He, under his given name of John Sponarski, plays lead guitar and tours with the more alternative indie band City And Colour. He grew up in the UK, but his later discovery of acts like Blue Rodeo and especially Dwight Yoakam and his guitarist, Pete Anderson, made a big impression. This led to the creation of his alter ego, Johnny 99, to pursue his own take on that favoured twang-laden sound on his second album. Songs about the central themes of memory, friendship, love, heartbreak, and loss, often self-inflicted. These recount a lifestyle that encompasses frequently repeated mistakes and relationships that are not always in one’s best interest - but are pursued anyway.
Sponarski is joined in the studio by fellow City and Colour members, including multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly, bassist Erik Nielsen, and drummer Leon Power, all equally adept at delivering the required honky-tonk sound. They are also effectively joined by Georgia Harmer on backing vocals and fiddler Kendel Carson. This ensemble obviously enjoys playing together, and the songs are largely up-tempo and guaranteed to get feet moving. Sponarski has a voice that is placed in a higher register than the deeper baritone sometimes prevalent in the form. It is a voice that soon makes its way to the forefront of these tales effectively. Just Like You benefits from Harmer’s harmony vocals that fit with the lead delivery well, as it does on other songs throughout. Whilst another track is One More Memory, where the protagonist asks for just one more memory before he goes. Slower and gliding on a soft pedal steel base, the title track, which, in keeping with its topic, is introspective and inconsolable. In a more Bakersfield beat is the hope of finding a fitting end with the wish fulfilment of I Wanna Go With My Boots On.
There are brief references to some classic songs of the past in Two Step To Forget, a lively two-stepper itself. The sense of insecurity is apparent in You’re Not Even There. Yet again, it is a song that soon makes its presence felt, leading to the need to try to move on, which is harder than expected in Getting Over You. A life lived on the road, as is often the case for many a musician, and the need to be somewhere is white line leading to Lay Down The Hammer. A more restrained and thoughtful song closes out the album with a request for something of an intimate embrace in Hold Me Close.
The songs are, as one would expect, given their individual subject matter, easy to appraise, with a selection of strong riffs, some memorable choruses, and a solid rhythm section to drive them along. Johnny 99 has made his case to be considered alongside some contemporary performers who assimilate their songs with robust guitar delivery, accompanied by a band worthy of the task. There has been a worthy tradition of classic country performers from Canada making their own mark by expressing their love for the format that inspires them. Loneliness has, perhaps, its own rewards and its place in the annals of the barstool and beyond.
Stephen Rapid
Belles Self-Titled East Music Row
This is a debut EP release from an artist who states “It’s a mix of strength, vulnerability, and a little bit of sass, rooted in classic country storytelling but with my own edge.” And who am I to argue with the lady?
The six songs are very enjoyable and give a strong indication of the talent that is going to evolve into the future career of Belles. Porcelain is a love song that celebrates a dream lover who ticks all the boxes for this sweetly pampered woman ‘He reigns my wild heart and wild horses in.’ Broken In Boots follows and shows the opposite side of love and the aspiring young artist finds herself on Broadway, Nashville in the early hours, with no sense of what to do next. Following your musical dreams to the big city doesn’t always work out and the past will always be hard to get left behind.
Crazy As Me is traditional country and a co-vocal with Blake Wood on a song that sees a bar-room flirtation promising lots of fun, if not also filled with the potential for anti-climax. It’s a fun track and certainly made for radio play. Happy Hour introduces another drinking song and this time out the girl is drowning her sorrows in memories of a love that once was filled with promise, now replaced with the reality of disappointment ‘Now your eyes are getting dark, I tried and tried to light that spark, It seems like you hate every move I make.’
Forget To Remember You follows and is another song of missing the guy who no longer features, apart from in memories ‘I don’t want to think about missing you anymore.’ Maybe the problem with all these victim songs is that just once in a while you want to woman to fight back and show her inner resolve. The final song Ring On The Table is a highlight and it suggests the American dream and a perfect marriage, with hopes clouded by abuse and domestic violence once the image shatters ‘A cookie-cutter house with a For-Sale sign,’ leading to ‘The baby was born on an October night, While he was staying warm under neon lights’… The classic story of dreams shattered. Much more to come from this artist who has a striking vocal presence, but I would like to believe that the song choices might deepen and stretch to offer greater breadth in the content.
Paul McGee
Kim Edwards Vignettes Self Release
This is the third album that has been released from Pennsylvania singer songwriter Kim Edwards. She has been recording music for years and has found her songs featured across varied social media platforms in addition to fulfilling a childhood dream by playing support to The Beach Boys.
Opener Ashes To Ashes is a torch lit to a relationship that has run out of rope ‘And you could keep every promise, And I could give you all my hope, But if we’re really being honest, We can’t escape the smell of smoke.’ Beautifully arranged with soaring strings and reflective piano. Next track is The Seafarer’s Song and one that captures the pull of the sea and the rise of the tides towards having to call a day to one’s passion ‘I'm so tired of chasing my whale, Of losing my grip, Of fighting ghosts to no avail, Shall I hang up my hat and cut down my sail, And would you call me, call me home?’
The love song Tamed is performed on piano, with strings created by Rob Szabo, augmenting the lovely melody,. On Winter we have a tale of regret and a lost romance that stings in the memory. The lovely violin and cello accompaniment lifts the song to great emotional heights. Superbly crafted. The tale of Raised By Wolves is that of the loner who strikes against convention in preference for a life of singular vision, the pull of love not enough to tame a restless spirit. The Cure has very clever word play in the lyric and is a song of frustrated love that reaches a happy conclusion.
Please Let Me Go is a song of relationship endings where the sad reality of communication breakdown is unavoidable ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow, It lingers into tomorrow, You know you don’t love me, I know I don’t love you, Yet here we are.’ The story song of Steinbeck features Fletch Wiley on flugelhorn and trumpet and Phil Miller on trombone, lifting the atmosphere of dust-bowl days spent in struggle and the days of the Great Depression.
Perhaps the most intriguing song here is The Cowboy Philosopher and it strikes me as being something personal for Edwards – perhaps a close relative featured in the lyric ‘‘Cause there’s a man behind the curtain, I wonder who hurt him, Who taught him to run, When the past knocks at the door, Whether imposter or prophet, The bones in the closet, Are in tow with the ghosts, And they dance up a storm.’
The album ends with the soaring beauty of Far and a heartfelt plea for closure from Edwards ‘I've built walls and I have borders, For my protection as much as yours, That's what I tell myself, But when I'm by myself, I know that I am lying, 'Cause I have scars, I know how to bleed, From when my heart was wounded upon my sleeve.’ Cathartic release through the medium of music and song. It beats having to encounter other means of release and when the music is this uplifting then it’s pretty much a win-win situation for all concerned. This is an album that brings great riches.
Paul McGee
Red River Dialect Basic Country Mustard Hintergrounds
Album number six in the ongoing climb of David John Morris and his band of merry musicians. The band originally formed in Cornwall in 2008 and from their debut album in 2010, regular members have included Simon Drinkwater (guitars, harp, backing vocals), Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby (bass), Ed Sanders (fiddle, pipes), Robin Lane Roberts (keyboards), and Kiran Bhatt (drums). Their sound conjures up the spontaneity of the Waterboys, laced with the atmospherics of Tindersticks, in the arrangements and melodies. Others may hear an echo of Nick Cave in the ether, but whatever about name-checking, the overall experience of hearing an album from Red River Dialect is one of great enjoyment. Laura Loriga on backing vocals is a recent addition to the band and is a perfect foil for the ‘quaver’ in the vocal delivery of Morris.
It's their first recording as a band in six years and they played the songs in a live setting at Big Jelly Studios, Ramsgate, England. It’s a seaside town located in Kent and I can just imagine the musicians gathered together in such creative and relaxed surroundings, making music again, while their long-time friend Jimmy Robertson returned on production and recording activities. It’s a generous listen with the twelve tracks stretching over fifty minutes of interesting variety, from the opening dynamic of This Restlessness, all the way through to the final bonus tracks Hole In My Doughnut and Burn The Clutch.
Morris (guitars, cuatro, lead vocals), previously spent time as a Buddhist monk in a Canadian monastery, with a solo album (2021), Monastic Love Songs, that captured this time in his life. There are references to his spiritual influences throughout this new album and the longest track Again, Again references old prayers recited in order to make sense of the passage of time and the fleeting memories of youth, the impermanence of everything captured in viewing life as akin to a candle flame or a dew drop. The easy country flow of Sheep’s Clothing masks a lyric that echoes sadness and leaving, with mention of self-searching, pain, and dogmatic faith ‘I have a stone in my belly.’
The album title track Basic Country Mustard has a nice drum shuffle, together with sweetly smooth piano, and looks at the attraction of English mustard, perhaps tongue in cheek; almost as a paean to all of life’s suffering. Curse Is Broken is a highlight and the slow build of the melody lingers in the aftermath, while the superb fiddle playing on Black and Blue echoes the pain of relationships and trying to find a formula that works. Equally, with Ghost River 29 we have a reference to change and the insecurities grown from unsuitable relationships that scar ‘ I know how Ghost River in me flows, I also know the suffering I chose’ – an I Ching study reference to the entry of souls into this world.
Fire BB (Frocks Of the Parson) has references to pregnancy, arson and fire; quite an abstract lyric and perhaps reflecting on the pull between family commitment and the duties to wider community. The lyrical content can be somewhat inscrutable with hidden meanings no doubt present just below the surface. However, it all stands the test of repeated playing, with new interpretations unfolding, always a good sign of challenging music that at the same time soothes the spirit.
Paul McGee
KB Bayley East Side Confessions Self Release
A third release in the evolving career of this very interesting singer-songwriter, who previously released two excellent albums in FLATLANDS (2021), and LITTLE THUNDERSTORMS (2022), both of which were reviewed previously by Lonesome Highway.
The fingerstyle guitar technique across these ten songs is quite compelling and invites you into a world of quiet contemplation and sweet reverie, as in ‘pull a chair and pour the wine.’ KB Bayley exists in the space of what we refer to as contemporary folk music, his story songs mixed with personal reflection.
He plays Weisenborn guitar, dobro, and acoustic guitar in such impressive style. It’s like being invited into the back room at a particularly rabid party where all you crave is some moments of quiet contemplation. He is joined by a variety of musicians across the ten tracks that support and uplift his reflections. The Light Through the Trees is a timeless piece about the trick of nature that pushes emotional urges forward in a search for immediate satiation, when really, all that is required is a moment of calm.
The decision to include four cover songs is something that is open to question. Whereas I agree with the choice to celebrate an influence in a building career, so many inclusions can dilute the unique qualities of the artist. In this case we are given songs as diverse as Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (The Korgis), Love and Texaco (Gretchen Peters), Whie House Blues (Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers), and That Kind Of Lonely (Patty Griffin), and whereas all are performed with integrity, there is a sense that other original songs would fit more snugly into the project.
It's more the lyricism in songs like Until Today that resonate and the insight of ‘we’ve got to travel blind, between the shadows and the knowing, there’s a peace that we can find’ Superb imagery and augmented by the lovely female backing vocals. Equally on the song Somewhere East Of Moscow the atmosphere created is quite superb with harmonica and acoustic instrumentation setting a reflective mood ‘I set my dreams of western coasts for the gulf of Mexico, somewhere east of Moscow with no place left to go.’
The beautiful ensemble playing on The Flowers Outside the Church delivers the album highlight, with a plea for understanding in what binds us all as a species on the planet – a common humanity. This musician is quite a talent and his musical abilities offer great succour to both the weary and the worldly wise.
Paul McGee
The General Store The Great Indoors Unified Feels
The influence of The Beatles shines clearly on the opening song Airport Breakfast and the guitar twang of The Byrds is also present as the lyric speaks of being ‘Thirty thousand feet out of my mind’ with echoes of 30-miles high, and the chorus and rhythm building to a take-off climax. Stirring stuff.
We slow down somewhat for Pretty Eyes, and the sense of Tom Petty meets ELO is very prevalent in the soaring melody and the chorus hook ‘Don’t you ever change, I want to see your love light shining through.’ Both tracks are from the album Local Honey (2002). We then step into a different vibe, with the country influenced sound of Desert Weathered Hiway and a relaxed tempo on a song about ‘You won’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone,’ it sounds like the Eagles have transported back in time to their early days. All very pleasant and bursting with great melody. The following song is Over Here and the up-tempo sound is pure 90s pop-rock with soaring choruses juxtaposing with sunny guitar lines. These two songs are taken from the Mountain Rescue album (2008).
We then enter into five previously unreleased tracks, and at this point I should point out that we are in the presence of The General Store, a “melodic alt-country pop project fronted by multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Tam Johnstone.” Whether you want to shop here is purely down to taste but there is certainly plenty of choice and variety on the shelves. The acoustic drift on Sailing Away is followed by the dance-floor groove of Makes No Difference and a workout that would have found a home on an early Billy Joel album.
Leave Your Loving (At the Door) is very country-influenced, and a song about moving on, before we encounter the interesting Fading Like A Star and a mix of power-pop meets rocker sensibilities in the song arrangement. Anything is the final song in this section of the compilation and it stands as the most arresting song featured with the stripped-down approach, acoustic guitar and understated percussion-build, on a profession of undying love ‘I would do anything for you.’
The last song on the album is Long Road and the similarly acoustic approach is very appealing in the sincerity of the feeling generated; another love song for the generations ‘There’s nothing in the world that I would rather do, Than drive along a long, long road that leads to you.’ There are so many different influences that permeate this album, over the years represented, and there is no doubting the likeability factor across the project, but for me the final songs are pointing to the optimal direction forward for this talented musician.
Paul McGee