Watchhouse Rituals Tiptoe Tiger Thirty Tigers
Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based duo Watchhouse's latest recording is their second since changing their name from Mandolin Orange. Their debut self-titled album under The Watchhouse banner was released in 2021 and debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Charts. Strictly not limited to bluegrass, the duo, and also husband and wife, of Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily Frantz (vocals, violin, guitar), recordings range from old-timey to folk, alongside their bluegrass leanings.
'Mandolin Orange was born out of my 21-year-old mind. The name isn't what I strive for when I write,' explained Marlin on the name change. Whatever the motive, the reincarnation has resulted in a signing with the Tiptoe Tiger/Thirty Tiger label and a broader appreciation of their music.
RITUALS, with its core theme of positivity over defeatism, presents ten tracks of modern folk which address the real meaning of home (All Around You), surviving in modern and burdensome times (Rituals) and the strength of a loving and lasting bond (The Sun). The more exploratory Endless Highway (Pt.1) is a composite slice of cosmic Americana that is not unlike the sonic world of Bonny Light Horseman.
Sharing the production duties with Ryan Gustafson (The Dead Tongues), RITUALS moves at an unhurried and fluid pace, highlighting a duo whose talents continue to develop.
Declan Culliton
The HercuLeons Self-Titled True Lonesome
A collaboration born out of the pandemic lockdown, The HercuLeons is a meeting of minds by John Cowan and Andrea Zonn. With touring firmly on the back burner during the pandemic years, the couple communicated remotely to kickstart what was to become this eleven-track album of original material and covers. Classic material written by Kenny Edwards, John Sebastian and Lowell George, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn, Larry Campbell, and Gregory Porter all were reconstructed at The Sound Emporium in Nashville, with Wendy Waldman overseeing the production duties, as well as contributing acoustic guitars, dulcimer, keyboards, and harmony vocals. Other players, of which there were many, included Michael Landau, Bill Payne, Michael McDonald, Scott Babcock and John McFee.
Cowan’s four-decade career includes fronting the progressive bluegrass supergroup New Grass Revival, being a member of The Doobie Brothers and Sam Bush’s touring band, and a session player on recordings by Garth Brooks, Steve Earle and Travis Tritt. An accomplished vocalist and fiddle player, Zonn has toured with Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett and James Taylor and recorded with a host of household names, including her close friend Alison Krauss, Trisha Yearwood, Mickey Newbury, Randy Travis and Martina McBride.
With their combined CV’s and musical backgrounds, it’s little surprise that this album covers a number of musical bases ranging from straight rock (Long Way From Home, Trying To Survive), soul (Straight Up, When I Stop Loving You), folk ballads (Face of Appalachia, Still I Sing), newgrass (Resurrection Road) and, at over seven minutes long, the album highlight and closer, Barbed Wire Boys, which crosses numerous genres.
What at its conception is essentially a pastime of two long-term friends during uncertain times, morphed into an impressive musical journey. With Cowan and Zonn’s combined musical talents and the quality of players engaged, it is hardly surprising that the musicality is of the highest order, but the icing on the cake is how perfectly the couples’ vocals stand out from start to finish.
Declan Culliton
Ward Hayden & The Outliers Little By Little Self Release
There have been numerous countrified versions of Brice Springsteen songs over the years. Need he has even done some himself. They tend to highlight however adaptable and memorable his songs are and have been. Ward Hayden and his band though have taken these songs and done them in the style of their own sound and set-up. They hail from Boston where Hayden has fronted the band since it was know as Girls, Guns and Glory (a name they felt might confuse the perception some might have for a band with that name). Through the years as is often the case and for a variety of reasons there have been many members who plated live or in the studio under the Outliers. This makes Hayden the only consistent member since their inception. However it is Hayden who is the vocalist, tone setter and leader so this allows a certain constancy for the ongoing musical direction.
There is no doubt the influence that Springsteen has had on Hayden (and many other of his contemporaries) in overall writing style. The album opens with Promised Land - a song that is born out of Springsteen’s long road journey to California (on advice to become successful). Another song absorbed at an early age was Youngstown. Another lyrical astute deep storyline of the boom to bust of that town’s steel industry and its inevitable effects on its populace.
Perhaps more universal and certainly a more iconic one is Dancing In The Dark, a song that is feasibly more related to the latter word of the title than the perception of the former in its message. Something that the slow ballad styled arrangement here homes in on. This shows how many songs can be translated across to a slightly different emotion that the original might have taken. The song Cadillac Ranch is here given a more overt rock ’n’ roll influence as befits the band’s own history. They brought in guitarist Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel who had also previously produced and played with the band as well as Jim Gambino on piano who normally plays with Boston band Swinging Steaks. This gives the song and band an added energy that aligns with their own work and gives the album a mid-set uplift in true cowpunk spirit.
A dissertation on how a having trust and faith can lead to real love is at the heart of If I Should Fall Behind. Hayden manages to capture in his vocal much of the songs need to stay strong in his assured vocal delivery. Something that he does through by being himself and not try to capture another singer’s distinctive manner. With the song Two Faces who has the protagonist realising how he is offering two different faces in his everyday life. They experiment with a two voice vocal delivery on the title refrain, this helps Hayden underscore the title in a more direct way.
Place and its relation to its people is again a big part of the telling of County Fair, an event that happens a lot across the States. It is an observation of this type of event and how it’s very much a part of the social interaction for many of those who attend such an occasion. The final song on the eight track album is firmly in Springsteen’s mythology and working man territory. It was given a much more stripped back approach on the NEBRASKA album. Here its given a solid country delivery with harmonica and steel guitar underscoring that and it shows what the underlying ethos of Ward Hayden and his band and guests to here. It is a reminder of the endearing nature of their output and a primer for the next release of original material as well as demonstrating their collective appreciation of the Boss’s talent. So this is an album that will doubtless please the band’s fan base as well as those who appreciate Bruce Springsteen’s work given an alternative perspective.
Stephen Rapid
Weldon Henson Stone Gold Country Gold Self Release
This is an album that lives up to its title and continues Henson’s live and recorded work and dedication to an abiding appreciation and love for the traditional aspects of real country music. Unlike many of his compatriots on the Texas Music scene whose music is a mix of a more raucous rock element as well as that of country music and more. Henson stays true to what he set out to do so rather than chasing fame or some larger venue appearance he knows what his audience what to hear and appreciate. This new album is a perfect example of what he does and does so well.
It is a satisfying journey through many of the touchstones of classic honky tonk and hardwood floor fillers as well as his regular Broken Spoke residency. Produced by Henson and featuring an assembled cast of like-mined players there is a variety here that is thoroughly engaging. No one is going to say that Henson has set about to write a series of thought provoking singer-songwriter dictums on the current state of the larger or local world. That is not to say that emotion and relationship situations don’t have a meaning or the songs don’t express the lives of the listeners. They do and they work within the context of the overall aims of the album.
The opening song for instance is an ode to a much love dog coming to the end of his life and the need to help the dog in return for the company he had given previously. That is Carter’s Song and it sets the tone for the album. In a similar vein is the song This Ol’ Truck wherein Henson eulogises his comfortable but falling apart truck. One that has been a part of his life for a long time and know feels much more like home than a new shiney one could ever be, it is also one he can fix up himself!
His dedication to the music he loves is played out in Pastime Of Country Music, this is about continuing a tradition rather than racking up social media numbers. In a comparable space is the title track in which he states that stone cold country gold won’t betray or judge you as its music straight from the heart. While interpersonal relationships - the perennial subject of the ladies are the substance to the life and love of our protagonist, either lost or newly found - are covered in tracks like Come On, Time For Loving You More, If I Can’t Talk To You and Playing With Fire. Mostly delivered in a spirited uptime fashion with the latter with a strong western swing touch that works a treat. While the songs Lost In Time and The Past Ten Years are imbued with a sadness and are slowly rendered ballads that underscore the recognition of how such feelings can effect how one comes to terms with their own shortcomings.
All of this is delivered by a set of sympathetic players who are at one with the mission in hand and Henson has a pure country voice that is a perfect vehicle for his material. There are some thirteen musicians credited alongside Henson on the album and all can feel satisfied with their contribution. Names like Tommy Detamore, Eric Hokkanen and Ricky Davis, to name three of those involved, have a history of association with playing music with a real conviction. bThis is an album that will consolidate Weldon Henson’s position of an artist who cares more about the music that he makes rather than the fame (or fiscal reward) it might bring. Hopefully with the wheel beginning to turn a little he might pick up a little of that too along with the thanks of those who already know his previous work and will love this album too.
Stephen Rapid
Willie Nile The Great Yellow Light River House
With some fourteen previous studio albums under his belt the 77 years old singer/songwriter continues his penchant for giving his songs something of a rock ’n’ roll edge. Mixing the heartfelt with the hard worn this ten track release covers some different bases as it unfurls its flag of offence. Produced by Nile and Stewart Lerman it employs members of Nile’s regular band Jimi Bones (guitars), Johnny Pisano (bass) and Jon Weber (drums) with a number of guests who we will mention as we go along.
The opening track here is a full on rocking ride entitled Wild Wild World, Nile’s raspy vocal has elements of his history as a committed vocalist about it. 60s style keyboards are featured along side the solid rhythm section and strident guitars. It lets you know that Nile means business and hasn’t settled for a lesser option. We Are We Are has the title repeated as a gang style chorus that works well. This trio of upfront rockers is completed by Electrify Me. Again the title as simple sing along chorus that is full of mutual lust and is memorable and sure to work well in a live context too.
There is a strong Celtic influence on the next piece An Irish Goodbye that features, at a guess as the promo has no individual credits, Black 47 members Larry Kirwan, Fred Parcells and Chris Byrne. It has easy and inevitable references to the Pogues and those bands who followed in their wake. The expression means making exit discreetly and without due attention. This is followed by an excellent song which acts as the title and is based on an expression in a letter that Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother about the quality of light he found in Arles where he was painting, yet It is also about dreaming of a girl if you follow the lyric. The is then a reality check in the next track Tryin’ To Make A Livin’ In The USA, it has an almost Ramone’s feel to it do without aping there sound to these ears. A friendship is offered in Fall One Me, another more mid-paced song that lets Nile step back from the harder vocal to something more considered. The piano-led What Colour Is Love is another tender moment that helps to give the album some diversity and light.
Wake Up America is another songs that observes and warns of the darker turns that are taking strong roots there. It features, convincingly, Steve Earle on shared vocals to further emphasise the urgency of the message. The album ends with Washington’s Day a song that Nile co-wrote with Rob Hyman and Eric Brazilian both members of The Hooters. Other guests on the album included Waddy Wachtel and David Mansfield as well as Irish singer/songwriter Paul Brady.
It is an album that is evidence that Wille Nile is still in the game and leading from the front and further affirmation to the notion that he is to New York what Bruce Springsteen is to Jersey. And coincidentally the album was recorded at Hobo Sound in New Jersey. It will be welcome by the many Wille Nile fans and should be also by those who like the a certain truth and longevity to the music of their singers and writers. May the light shine.
Stephen Rapid
Jesse Daniel Son Of The San Lorenzo Lightning Rod
A lot of lives take wrong turns and sometimes bad decision are made. This is a storyline that may have been part of Jesse Daniel’s past but he has worked hard to move beyond that point - and there’s no denying he has achieved that on his own terms with his own music. With his new album titled after a song he released on an earlier album and here rerecorded he uses the opportunity to look back at his life but also to include some of the musical influences he had along the way. The strong country feel is still very apparent but he has added some new textures to broaden out this journey - his liking for both Southern rock and Cosmic American canyon music are a part of this process.
This album starts with Child Is Born and ends with, well somewhat naturally with, The End. Produced by Daniel himself this time out he is fully in control of the recording and showing his developed songwriting craft and a growing vocal maturity - this time it’s (more) personal. It is still early days for an artist whose heroes produced music for decades in some cases. Daniel notes that this is more about the experience of the journey rather any specific destination.
That opening song features the harmonica of the legendary Charlie McCoy (as do several other songs using it effectively throughout the album) and it sets out that first part of his particular expedition from then on we get an honest, personal account of his life story. It details getting ‘strung out and locked up’ and how he ‘put down the spoon and picked up the pen.’ It also has a fondness for the place he grew up in ‘for better or worse.’ Given the reflective nature of the material many of the arrangements are more slow paced and allow the listened to get involved. Acoustic instruments are also prominent in the mix giving the album a different emphasis than on some of the previous releases. One’s Too Many (And A Thousand Not Enough) is an inward look at the destructive traits of an addictive personality while coming to terms with those unwise decisions.
The role his partner, manager, inspiration and wife Jodi is a turning point and outlined in the song of that name. The pedal steel drifts around this life-changing love story. That change in lifestyle finds Daniel looking further back and wanted to return from a different time that was built around his Mountain Home. One’s allotted span is central to the song Time Well Spent For A Man, he is joined here by Charles Wesley Godwin on harmony vocals as it contemplates what is actually worth putting energy into. Upping the tempo in Crankster kicks things up notch or two for account of dissolute man ‘who doesn’t know what he’s looking for.’ A different tack is taken for My Times Gonna Come which has a soulful 60s West Coast feel overall that looks at a past and a future and all the possibilities in that and in finding the higher places that can be found.
We close out with The End, a pretty perfect way to end an album that has allowed the singer and listener to make a musical journey through some of the standout points in what has been fundamental to his life to date. This album is an important one for Daniel to outline how he has arrived at this particular moment in time. He can be justifiably proud of arriving here and how the hard work he has put in has come out in his music. The next step from son to man of San Lorenzo will be a further development of an undoubted talent in country music’s future.
Stephen Rapid
William Beckmann Whiskey Lies & Alibis Warner Nashville
Here is something to take note of a debut album on a major label that appears to be a big step in the direction of a country orientated artist being presented in the mainstream. It has been produced by renowned artist, songwriter in his own right Jon Randall, who himself has been in a similar position in his career. It has an immediate feel of the 90s better and brighter moments. Beckmann has an attractive vocal that has an energy that easily appeals. Aside from a number of outside song choices Beckmann has a hand in co-writing eight of the tracks here. The opening song (which seems to have been a confusion with some online sources crediting it to Hank Williams Sr.) is a cracker. Honey Tonk Blue is listed on the notes as being from the pen of Chris Stapleton and William Brice Long. It is a perfect opener, though on first listen I felt some of the other tracks moved into a more pop-county feel. Listening to the album several times since that I have got to like these tracks and feel that that are perhaps a necessary part of a wider acceptance at radio and with a younger listener. Beckmann has a look that is not going to dissuade that audience, however there is substance here that is pointing to a future growth. Which direction that growth will go is open to a number of choices. For now it is pointing largely in the right direction.
Randall has assembled some players who can take their contributions in several directions but whose talent is obvious. These include amongst others Jedd Hughes on guitars, drummer Chad Cromwell, Jimmy Wallace’s B3, synth and piano and songwriter Jesi Alexander providing backing vocals. The arrangements are often a little more rock orientated in the guitar department than some might wish but none-the-less effective.
The tile track is another standout with a strong chorus to bolster it. Overall the theme throughout is relationship related and relaying on a Cathy hook and strong chorus. In Be Your Man the lyric tells us that he wants to be your Townes Van Zandt and write you a song, not an obvious or usual reference that indicates that Beckmann may indeed listen to such an worthy influence. A couple of other songs that came from others includes the Alexander (a well know writer herself) co-written Game I Like To Play and the Dean Dillon/Brass Dillon song Neon Sounds. The last song Pro Mujeres ComeTu is another strong performance, written by Enrique Yanez Guzman it is convincingly sung in Spanish and with some telling feel for the lyric and some nice Spanish guitar to emphasise the mood.
Beckmann also can deliver a ballad with conviction as in Not That Strong, while the more rhythmic songs are also given an animated delivery that is as convincing as in Making Them Hate Me, in which his female interest chooses him over some other contenders this making their dislike obvious. There is also some likeable contrast with those songs that sit alongside these like the more stylised Orbinson-esque vocal of Lonely Over You or the more antagonistic Starting Over Again which has a very engaging contribution from the female voice which I assume is either Alexander or Jessie Jo Dillon.
This is an album that I was a little dubious of at first, given some previous so called country music encounters from major label, but it certainly grew on me. This is not the hardcore honky tonk of earlier times released by mainstream companies but, as the wheel slowly turns, is in itself a good start for both Beckmann and his label. Forget the lies and alibis that are part of many a press release and listen and make up your own mind.
Stephen Rapid
Sound Of the Sirens The Other Me Self Release
On initial listen this album highlights the impassioned harmony vocals of Abbe Wood and Hannah Walker. The opening song Who You Are captures this dynamic perfectly as the short arrangement comes and goes in a rush of hand-claps and strident vocal delivery. Chasing Skies keeps the tempo high and things drop back a few notches on the sweet love song Infinite Kindness, with some fine keyboards present in the mix.
Based in Exeter, England, the duo came together in 2011 and have released quite a few albums over the years since. Tao has a nice piano melody running through the song and The Part Where You’re Gone deals with the reality of living with grief. The passion in the vocal delivery is obviously something that the duo focus upon and Coming Back delivers with a real conviction and sense of joyous change.
The album was recorded at The Old Cider Press in Worcestershire, England, and was produced by Dave Draper. He provides bass, drums, programmed keyboards and electric guitars, while Hannah and Abbe perform on guitars and piano. The impermanence of life is covered on Things Change and the realisation that we are shaped by our experiences. Anxiety and self-doubt is the topic that Sacred Dreaming tackles and asks that old fears are left where they belong, firmly in the past. An impressive album that will win many new admirers of this energetic and thoughtful music.
Paul McGee
ARBO Self-Titled Self Release
L'Angélus was a family band that made a vibrant cocktail of music, originally influenced from their home base in Louisiana during the early noughties. They were comprised of four siblings, Katie, Paige, Johnny, and Stephen Rees, and their talents spanned a variety of genres, including Cajun, Zydeco, Bluegrass, and Western Swing. A debut album appeared in 2006, Ca C'est Bon, which is well worth tracking down, and it was a heady mix of thirteen tracks, sung in both English and French, with eight original songs, plus collaborations with Cajun legends D.L. Menard and Hadley Castille.
Although the band no longer exists, their spirit is very much alive and well in the strong Irish and Cajun/Acadian influences that now shapes ARBO. Brothers Johnny (drums) and Stevie (fiddle) walked different paths for a few years after the original band split but they were always drawn back to a vision of what they could build again. The music that the brothers now create as ARBO has been described as “Country music that has hot sauce on it.” The band name is short for the historic Arbolada neighbourhood which is located near the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.
The new music is full of great energy, led by dynamic fiddle playing, a driving beat, and rich vocal harmonies. After releasing a series of singles in recent years, the duo also recorded a live album at the Brightside in Dayton, Ohio (website purchase only). On this studio debut a number of the singles are included on the eleven tracks and the listening experience is both powerful and rousing. On the opening track Whiskey River Road, you are immediately thrown into the feeling of hearing a country classic unfold. Things slow down on the reflective Give You Away a song of regret over a love that didn’t work out ‘There’s a little diamond ring that never got to sparkle on your hand.’
The pain of love continues on Little Less Back and the country rock beat echoes the message ‘Every time you give yourself away, You get a little less back.’ The various musicians include Aaron Smith on keyboards, James Gregory and Scott Mulvahill on bass, Tim Galloway, Simon Martensson, Zach Torres on guitars, David Howley on bouzouki, with Stevie Rees (fiddle, guitars, mandolin, harmonica, lead and harmony vocals) and Johnny Rees (drums, harmony vocals) providing the source of the magic.
Hot Stuff is a standout track with an addictive chorus and rhythm and the sweet melody on Light In Me is perfectly judged in the execution ‘It took finally finding you, To find the light in me.’ The regret on Already Gone is a fine example of the band dynamic, with considered words surrounding a divorce, backed up by understated drumming, restrained guitar, and sweet harmonies. Another country-cool song is Bayou Boy with a slow build in the tempo and the fiddle surfing on the rhythm.
Love Is Not A Gun plays with the idea of manipulative relationships in the lyrics ‘Love is not a tool you have to use someone,’ the driving rhythm and excellent piano playing highlighting the message. If there is a radio hit to be plucked from these excellent tunes then Cry Love gets my vote, with great vocals and a dramatic guitar break lifting the energy levels and bringing home the compelling beat.
One of the final tracks When You Left visits failed relationships ‘I wish I was the man I was not being let,’ as he reflects upon that promise “for better or worse” and the fiddle playing drives the regret. Last song is a superb workout of Cajun / Zydeco class on Louisiana Saturday Night and the introduction of Scythian, a band that Johnny used to be a part of, and which includes Alex Fedoryka (lead vocal, fiddle), Dan Fedoryka (harmony vocals, accordion), Ethan Dean (harmony vocals). It’s a real hoedown in classic style to bring proceedings to a close. Such an enjoyable album. You will not be disappointed.
Paul McGee