Sierra Hull A Tip Toe High Wire Self Release
A child prodigy, playing mandolin since she was eight, Hull has achieved more in her first 33 years than most musicians will ever aspire to. Yet, on the foot of the evidence on this, her sixth album, she has much more yet to give. She joins a host of other younger musicians, originally from the bluegrass tradition, that have gone on to stretch their musical wings much further. With a voice that is only rivalled by that of Alison Krauss (an early mentor in bluegrass circles) for its sweetness and ability to convey meaning, she has also achieved an unrivalled prowess on mandolin, winning the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year an unprecedented six times.
Hull has confessed that she was nervous going out on a limb to release this project independently (having been previously signed to a record label) but, unsurprisingly, the result is stunningly good. On top of all that, she produced the album single-handedly. Of the eight songs and two instrumentals here, most are either self-written or co-written, the advantage of being based as she is in Nashville, where there is a strong band of friends always available to call in for help.
The album’s title, A TIP TOE HIGH WIRE, is a line from Spitfire, a song for her eighty year old grandmother, who led a fascinating life of triumph over unbelievable adversity. It’s not hard to see from where Hull derives her tenacity, closing with the affectionate ‘she’s in my blood/she’s a spitfire’. Justin Moses, Hull’s talented multi-instrumentalist husband, contributes lovely dobro here, and elsewhere. More upbeat, indeed as are most of the tracks, is the high-octane Let’s Go, which reverberates with the highs and lows of the touring life - a mixture of brief late night euphoria and much daytime boredom. Several songs of positivity in the face of challenges, suggesting Hull’s disposition to be on the sunny side, include Coming out of My Blues (with backing vocals from Tim O’Brien and young Avery Meritt on fiddle on this pulsing old timey original) and the lovely slow burner, Redbird, also inspired by her granny.
She’s joined by her friend Bela Fleck on the high-octane instrumental E-Tune, which has been a live favourite for years, and her former touring bass player, Ethan Jodziewicz is called in for this complex one.
The album closer is a stand-out too - Haven Hill was inspired by the serene location chosen by her husband’s grandmother for her final resting place, and will no doubt provide solace for anyone who mourns the loss of a loved one, ‘when we go may we have no regrets / from sunrise till the sun finally sets’. Highly recommend and bound to be in my end of year list.
Eilis Boland
Caitlin Cannon Love Addict Self-Release
THE TRASHCANNON ALBUM, the debut by Nashville-based artist Caitlin Cannon, featured highly in Lonesome Highway's favourite albums of 2020. Not easy to categorise, the album drew its content from often torturous personal issues such as alcohol and substance abuse, gender discrimination, poor relationships, family trauma and more. Just listen to tracks like Deliver, Drink Enough, and Going For The Bronze on that album for a lesson on creating gloriously catchy songs from calamity and hard knocks.
Such were the striking melodies and wicked humour on that album's songs and Cannon's slick vocals that it often took a number of listens to take on board the depth of her songwriting. That solemnity and frankness in her songwriting continue on her latest record, although she has delivered the material in a more laid-back fashion this time. By Cannon's admission, the credit for the more chilled arrangements is down to producer Misa Arriaga (Kasey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Lillie Mae) and his chosen musicians, who directed her sound towards 60s classic Countrypolitan, side by side with melody-laden Americana.
At over four and a half minutes long and riddled with expletives, the title track was never aimed at prime-time radio. It's a shame, as it's a masterclass in quintessential mature pop, with a melody that's harder to shake off than a summer cold. In her prime, Madonna would probably have earned pension-sized royalties from the song. On the same page is Jesus Is My Lover, which is risky but devoid of swear words, and described by its author as 'well-intended (for the well-humoured)’ My Own Company, a co-write with fellow Nashvillian Kiely Connell, is a no-holds-barred self-examination critique ('Too late for babies and 401 K's, too young to be in so much damn pain'). Dr Dealer, though expressed with dry humour, is equally self-deprecating and brutally honest, dealing with the carnage of prescription medication dependency.
Misa Arriaga has emerged in recent years as the producer most adept at creating an authentic country sound, and Let It Hurt Some and You're Losing Me tick that particular box. The former, awash with strings and dreamy pedal steel, harks back to an era when Connie Smith's singing style and arrangements were the toast of Nashville and farther afield. The latter is a beautifully performed tale of a relationship whose light is fading. The album closes with a stripped-back version of Waiting, which featured on the BEGGARS EP. It takes its cue from Cannon's brother's thirty-five-year incarceration and the lifelong devastation and ruination due to juvenile indiscretion.
LOVE ADDICT is a body of work that does not slot easily into any single genre. Loaded with killer tracks, the results are spectacular in places, and the marriage of Cannon's writing and vocals and Arriaga's arrangements is quite stunning, and a throwback to the best Countrypolitan sounds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Declan Culliton
Esther Rose Want New West
SAFE TO RUN, the 2023 album from Esther Rose, and the tour that followed its release could have concluded the Santa Fe-based artist's music career, such became her disillusionment with the gruelling reality of an often unforgiving and unrewarding industry. Thankfully, she dusted herself down, dealt with some personal issues and, with renewed enthusiasm and an open mind, started working on the material that would become her fifth record, WANT. Describing working on the album as 'the most beautiful experience of my life', the emphasis on the eleven tracks is on candid self-examination.
If Rose's early career albums were most likely to be filed under the country genre, SAFE TO RUN more than embraced elements of folk and indie pop. This latest addition to her impressive catalogue digs deeper in that direction with a fuller band sound supporting the tracks than on her previous work. That's not to say that her unrushed and almost fragile vocals, the perfect foil for melancholia and emotional wreckage songs, are not as entrancing as ever.
'I want to live in the desert and bake in the sun, I want to live in the city and kiss everyone…. I want to hear a pin drop in a sold-out room, I want a puppy, but I don't want a mess,' she considers on the title and opening track, suggesting that she has successfully negotiated complex emotional territory and is moving on with a positive mindset. Elsewhere, the songwriting often recognises poor life choices, unstable relationships and unhealthy dependencies, possibly reminders of demons conquered. Bemoaning the crutch that the demon drink can be, the outrageously catchy Had To is a case in point; Rose has confessed to feeling invigorated, having left her alcohol consuming days behind her. The guilt-ridden New Bad, with its thumping bass line and confessional lyrics, is prime power pop, and she also opens her heart in the gentle Scars ('Oh intimacy, strange thing, and if you try to get too close to me I'll disappear') which includes a vocal contribution by singer-songwriter Dean Johnson. The upbeat Tailspin is a co-write with Ross Farbe of the synth-pop band Video Age.
Recorded live to tape at Nashville's Bomb Shelter, with the production overseen by Ross Fabre, the supporting players were Gina Leslie (bass, vocals), John James Tourville (pedal steel, concert drum), Kunal Prakash (guitar, piano), Howe Pearson (drums, percussion, piano, vocals), Ross Farbe (guitar, synth, organ, piano, percussion) and Dean Johnson (vocals).
Dreams, disappointments and memories may all be aired in WANT, but this splendid album's lasting impression is one of awakening and recovery.
Declan Culliton
Kristina Murray Little Blue Normaltown /New West
As much as anyone else, Atlanta-born country singer-songwriter Kristina Murray has played her part in Nashville’s traditional country music resurgence over the past decade. Her early years in Nashville found her playing to meagre numbers at the Honky Tonk Tuesdays at American Legion Post 17, Gallatin, and the legendary Santas Bar in Downtown Nashville. Such has been the success of the former that the event had to relocate to a larger venue to satisfy the punters that were turned on to honky tonk and two-stepping. Despite this and with two critically well-received albums, UNRAVELIN’ (2013) and SOUTHERN AMBROSIA (2018), Murray remained unsigned until Normaltown / New West got on board with LITTLE BLUE.
Despite engaging two producers and recording at two studios, the nine songs on the record work seamlessly together. Four of the tracks were recorded at East Avalon Recorders in Muscle Shoals with Rachael Moore (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, T Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello) at the controls; the remaining five were overseen by Misa Arriaga (Kacey Musgraves, Joshua Hedley, Lillie Mae) at his Music City Studio B in East Nashville. Both producers, leading lights in shaping traditional country, were inspired choices borne out by the end result. Murray is the possessor of a voice tailor-made for singing country songs, and she gathered a talented crew of close friends to work alongside her.
Taking her cue from classic country songwriting, the songs were driven by Murray confronting unfulfilled dreams, grief and heartache from both personal and observational angles. The lead single, Watchin’ The World Pass Me By, outlines frustrating times (‘Time after time after time, and again and again I been left out, left behind and misunderstood’). Fool’s Gold treads a similar path (‘And I am feelin’ all the weight of the world, I am really thinkin’ I ain’t got no worth’). The latter is a standout track featuring backing vocals by Erin Rae, killer contributions from Eddy Dunlap on pedal steel and James Paul Mitchell on lead guitar. Frank Rische, the much sought-after Nashville guitar slinger and brother of Lillie Mae Rische, adds backing vocals in the gorgeous tearjerker Just A Little While Longer. Murray’s 2022 single, the Vern Gosden cover That Just About Does It, was a duet with Logan Ledger, and he contributes backing vocals to Get Down To It. Cut from the same cloth as Slow Kill from her SOUTHERN AMBROSIA record, Phenix City addresses the growth of hopelessness and desolation prevalent in numerous small towns in America, before the record closes with the title track.
This album is genuine country music, unlike much of what seeps out of Nashville these days under the country banner, and if you’re only going to buy one country album this month or even this year, get this one. It’s unlikely that there are going to be many that hit the bullseye like LITTLE BLUE does.
Declan Culliton
Brown Horse All The Right Weaknesses Loose
With gloriously loose arrangements, shared songwriting, and shared instruments and lead vocals, six-piece Norfolk band Brown Horse created quite a stir with their debut album RESERVOIR, released in 2024 on the Loose label. Very much a collective project, the band have been busily touring in the UK and Europe since the release of that album. Much of the material on the new album was road-tested during those gruelling months on the road before they returned to Norfolk and Sickroom Studios, where, recreating their live sound, they recorded this eleven-track record.
Brown Horse is Emma Tovell (pedal and lap steel, bass, banjo), Nyle Holihan (guitar, bass), Rowan Braham (piano, keyboards, accordion), Phoebe Troup (bass, banjo, guitar, vocals), Patrick Turner (guitar, fiddle, vocals) and Ben Auld (drums). Their debut album included killer and full-on standout tracks like Stealing Horses and Bloodstain, creating their distinctive sound, and the new album follows a similar path to those tracks. Their marriage of harmony vocals and vast instrumentation, which includes guitars, bass, pedal and lap steel, banjo, fiddle, keys, drums, and accordion, creates a sound that lands somewhere between alt-country and rock. The songwriting duties on the album are shared between Turner, Tovell, Troup, Holihan and Braham without rendering the end product anything but cohesive.
Standout tracks include Verna Bloom, which takes its title from the American actress of the same name, the unbridled and power-poppy Corduroy Couch, and Radio Free Bolinas, which references the coastal area in Marin County and its reclusive residents. The blissed-out and folk-rock-rooted Wisteria Vine also impresses.
Brown Horse have come a long way in a short period, creating their own Norfolk-ana sound, and on the strength of this and their debut album, you’re left with a lasting impression that they are only getting into third gear and will have lots more to offer going forward.
Declan Culliton
Autumn Hollow Say No More Self-Release
Autumn Hollow is a Boston-based band led by frontman Brendan Murphy, with guitarist Mike Burke and the rhythm section of Chuck Vath on bass and drummer Ian McMillan. SAY NO MORE follows on from their 2022 EP THROW THE HOUSE.
Recorded at Soul Shop Studios in Medford, Massachusetts and co-produced by Brendan Murphy and Elio DeLuca (Craig Finn, Faces on Film), the ten-track album includes contributions from guest players Will Ellis Johnson (pedal steel), Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo) and vocalists Sarah Leveque and Peter Zarkadas.
The band's modus operandi is best described as simply rock and roll. Fields N' Town ('And here I'm standing in these fields, where cavalries callously killed and somewhere in the truth reveals the fate, that we made a mistake') calls to mind and questions the futility of past wars. The opening track After All This Is Gone considers the aftermath of the pandemic and its often-ignored lasting impact on many. If This Keeps Up drills into the current political regime in America, particularly the events of January 6, 2021, at Capitol Hill. By way of reflection, the title track speculates on the utopian dream of a fresh start while putting past differences and conflicts aside.
The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history, known as the Permian-Triassic event, wiped out the majority of marine and terrestrial species around 250 million years ago. This environmental disaster inspired The Great Dying and serves as a reminder of the devastation that climate change can cause, as well as the importance of protecting what surrounds us.
Brendan Murphy, a passionate writer and a school teacher in his parallel career, puts his cards on the table from the outset in SAY NO MORE. This gritty and intense collection finds him trying to come to terms with the increasingly unsettling landscape that currently prevails.
Declan Culliton
My Politic Signs Of Life Self Release
The last time we were given the benefit of music from the creative source of My Politic was back in late 2022, as the Covid crisis continued to be scaled down across the various countries and continents of the world. Given that it was a time of deep reflection and a wake up call regarding where we all saw our priorities in life, the content of Missouri Folklore: Songs & Stories From Home was very much a look back down the road from where Kaston Guffey and Nick Pankey had travelled. The two Ozark, Missouri childhood friends laid a lot of old ghosts to rest on those songs and looked forward to the dreams of the future that had seen them relocate to Nashville, Tennessee, in search of the big breakthrough with their insightful, mature music.
Having tried to make the Nashville dream become a reality over a number of years, songwriter Kaston Guffey decided that there was more to be gained by leaving the endless stream of hopeful musicians that crowd the management and agency offices along the various Music Row buildings and streets of Country Music central. He now resides in Pittsburgh, a move made back in 2023, after nearly ten years spent trying to break through those cosy walls that often block entry to the inner circle of the Nashville establishment.
Nick Pankey still lives in Nashville, and this represents the first time that the creative pair has been separated by distance for quite some time. Not that it matters so much in this age of technology where everything is a file to be sent and shared, a download to add music into the mix, or a Zoom call to trade ideas over a face-to-face session on the song creation.
So, it is with great anticipation that I received new music from My Politic, in anticipation of the release of SIGNS OF LIFE; an appropriate title, given the intrinsic changes that have been taking place in the lifestyle choices of the duo over recent years. Kaston has now married his fiancée of previous years, Georgia, a creative artist in her own space, and his new-found contentment has not in any way blunted his keen observational gift to capture an emotion or a sentiment in succinct lyrical terms.
The opening track on the new album is Two In the Morning and it captures the ageing process, anxiety with the world and the late night insomnia that results. It acknowledges the state of those troubled by current political events and the song arrangement, with strident acoustic guitar and inventive fiddle, is an echo of this thought process.
Moving away and starting over are core elements of the following track. Memories left behind and fresh perspective packed for the road that lies ahead. Such feelings are reflected in I Took All the Pictures Down - a slow arrangement and a meditation upon our need to keep moving forward ‘The things we chase are all the same, But sometimes go by different names, The impulse to fan the flames, Of that roaring fire within.’
Who Could Ask For More is a song of thanks for the simple things, such as feeling in love and sharing the vulnerable moments that we all recognise as an intimate part of any relationship. Signs Of Life is the title track and it looks at the joy of living with a free and open spirit, even if there are the consequence of lifestyle choices made and the temptation to look for validation. One of the album highlights is No Other Way with a gentle strum of acoustic guitar and a self-reflection on the relative rewards of living on the edge of melancholia ‘I’ve spent my life searching for peace of mind, Well the more you go looking, The more pieces you find.‘ Elsewhere, Kaston ponders ‘Questions that keep us turning the wheel, Somewhere between what we know and the way that we feel, We can see for what seems like forever, But it’s rare when it all comes together. ‘
Another gem is the track Drifting Around the Ocean and the subject of growing up. The past is never gone, and life is not linear, it revolves in a circle around our choices. Peace can be found in the simple process of creating a song to reflect upon such matters and the restrained fiddle of John Mailander is beautifully measured here. The dubious pleasures of living in a material society that is ruled by the gun and the lust for power is tackled in Will We Ever Make It Out Of Heaven Alive? The ensemble playing is quite superb as the musicians dance around the melody ‘Everything and everyone is for sale here, All the time, And you ain’t worth a nickel if you can’t steal somebody’s dime, Where Jesus Christ protects us all but you have to stand in line, While the wealthy choose who is and ain’t allowed to board the ride.’ Stirring invective and so much on point.
The bluegrass rhythm on From the Early Days is invigorating in the delivery before the more serious Lonely 21st Century hits like a fist ‘Seems everybody’s looking for any way to get by, Connections everywhere fractured and frayed, So it ain’t no wonder why crooked politicians, snake oil salesmen too, Are coming up with every terrible way to fill that hole for you.’ Too many people in the USA finding themselves living frugally and forced to practice an economy in all aspects. The increased cost of trying to get by, expenses spiralling, budgets hard to set, “Folks are working on their houses all around us, The faint sound of nail guns and saws in the air, Just a piece at a time, When they can afford it; We’re doing the same thing downstairs.” Life issues repeat across our continents and it is perhaps the greatest gift of Guffey’s that he captures this in such a succinct fashion. It’s the dream and the reflection of everyman, gone up in smoke, and captured in such eloquent understanding.
A Funny Place To Find Yourself is another song of thanks, this time to the listening public that enable the duo to make a success of this crazy travelling life for a musician. House concerts and new friends found, each road trip a trove of memories for the future “The road’s a funny place to find yourself, Thankful to everyone who ever let us in.” This could be the perfect way to bring the album to a natural conclusion but Guffey moves on with Still Growing Today and a youthful remembrance of growing up in rural Missouri. Time and love resurface on the final track I’d Rather Have Some (Than Nothing At All) and inner reflections again point to learning from the past and maintaining an optimism.
All thirteen songs on the new album are written by Kaston Guffey and Josh Washam played a role as engineer on the self-produced project. Kaston Guffey (vocals, guitar), Nick Pankey (harmony vocals, guitar, mandolin ), Josh Washam (bass, piano, drums, organ, synth), John Mailander (fiddle, mandolin), Steve Peavey (dobro, pedal steel), bring the magic in the musical arrangements. This album is another musical highpoint across their growing career to date and is already a strong contender for my album of the year – a must have for all discerning music lovers.
Paul McGee
Imelda Kehoe The Colour Green Self Release
This is the fourth album from Irish Artist Imelda Kehoe who is based in Wexford. Her vocal delivery is so engaging and warm, captured beautifully on the opening track, Risen People, and the story of Countess Markeivicz, the Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, and socialist.
It immediately captures an emotion and energy for the album that is carried throughout these twelve songs that highlight the subtle talent of this singer songwriter. Her vocal delivery is perfectly captured on the title track The Colour Green which could easily fit onto an album of either Sade or Everything But the Girl. The easy groove of the music continues on the sweetly melodic Own Story Now and perhaps a tribute to a lost friendship that still echoes across time. Glass ceilings are tackled on Best Hire Amy and the social propensity to not promote the correct candidate where the chance of pregnancy and career breaks hangs in the air. The use of strings here is not the best choice as it somehow clutters the arrangement. Better is the next track, with stripped down piano intro and a slow groove on the bluesy If I Were Me, a relationship song of longing.
Mr Lincoln is a seduction and a look into the sultry flirtation of new love when that sense of electricity is in the air. The confident vocal highlighting the sense of play in the melody. Throughout the album the musicians excel with the accomplished vocals beautifully captured in the song Monday Night Is For Elvis and the feeling that a night of karaoke can heal the problems of the daily grind.
There is an ache of longing on the track Colour A lie and a sense of something lost. Songs can come from a personal place or be simply a look into the nature of human emotion, and this is something that Imelda captures so seamlessly. In the past, lmelda relocated from the United Kingdom to Ireland and this change is captured in the song Nothing I Miss About England, as she sings of the benefit in making positive changes.
The song Chicago looks at the fluidity of relationships and whether the place we choose to live is more important than the bond supposedly shared between the couples, the transient nature of relationships captured perfectly in the lyric and the echo of loss. All Of My Heart is simply beautiful as a sentiment of pure love, the surrender to another and the vulnerability of letting go in trusting another completely.
The final song is The Circus Came To Town and the happy sunshine vocal of Imelda wraps the arrangement in a warm melody. No matter what challenges we face, love is the absolute, the answer to all of our concerns. A fine album to add to Imelda’s growing reputation as an artist.
Paul McGee
Dave Clancy Live Our Own Dream Self Release
This album is a follow-up to the debut THE PATH, which appeared in 2020. That was quite an accomplished collection of songs, and now, having negotiated the Covid years, Dave Clancy returns with a new batch of songs.
A number of the musicians which appeared on that debut return here, and the presence again of Nicola Joyce, Matthew Berrill and Fergal Scahill adds a nice consistency. The production for the project was again trusted to the very skilled duo Eamon Brady and Liam Caffrey. There is a great sense of quiet reverie on these ten songs and the engaging vocal delivery of Dave Clancy brings an intimacy to the listening experience.
The theme of love runs though much of the album, with the clear production highlighting lovely melodies and great interplay among the musicians. The opening song What Is Love Meant To Be sets the tone for much of what follows, with the warmth of Hear Your Name written for someone who clearly holds a special place in Dave’s life. Take Your Time is a sweetly delivered piece of advice to be kind to yourself and let life unfold easily.
Maria Ryan plays strings across the tracks and the creative fiddle of Fergal Scahill is always prominent in the mix. There is so much to recommend the songs and the understated playing, the touch of a harp on one track, the use of clarinet on another, with the talents of Clancy adding piano, organ, synthesizer and pedal steel guitar. The title track is a call to stand proud and be yourself in the way that your life is lived. It is a message that repeats on tracks Follow Your Light and The Faltering Flame where the need to keep focus on the things that are important on our collective journey is so important.
Another love song is When I Walked Through Your Door and it explores the sense of belonging and the genuine commitment in a relationship. Eoin Wynne contributes on banjo and guitar, Conor McCreanor plays bass, and with Eamon Murray on drums, they complete the musicians used across these tracks. Everything comes together on the song of hope Now Is All We Need with some superb ensemble parts and the sweet saxophone of Berrill colouring the melody.
The final song is When We Say Goodbye and the harmony vocals of Clancy and Nicola Joyce deliver a gentle love song that offers a healing balm and a promise to be there for each other. These songs are certainly a welcome addition to the building reputation of Dave Clancy and the album is a strong successor to his excellent debut.
Paul McGee