Charley Crockett Dollar A Day Lone Star Rider
There’s no denying the work ethic that sees Charley Crockett being as prolific as he is, as both as a recording and touring artist. This new collection of fifteen songs is the work of Crockett and Shooter Jennings (they also worked together on the recently released last album LONESOME DRIFTER - this is the second album in a trilogy) and showcases the different musical scenarios that Crockett and his sometime co-writers care to place these songs into. The opening title song is a simple tale of a working cowboy and his hard work and low-pay, and this is done as a voice and acoustic guitar folk tune. The album then moves from that base to full band workouts that simply expand Crockett’s established pattern and by now well established and elucidating vocals. When you add a little more grease to the skittle you can see how this pairing are developing the songs, and at times pushing at the boundaries of what is expected of him. He does this in the overall context of the record, so it all seems to be fit for purpose.
There are themes that have been explored in the past such as those with a Texas cowboy feel (appropriate given his label’s name too), some that tell his own back story and others that understand how peoples’ lives are often at the whim of others who do not have their best interests at heart. Of the former, Lone Star, El Paso To Denver, Santa Fe Ring, Ballad Of The Lonesome Drifter and All Round Cowboy all, to one degree or another, touch on the lives and relationships of those whose lives are not easy, but are often not without their good moments too. Equally, the instrumental Age Of The Ram (Theme) seems to underline the cinematic nature that has existed in his music through his many releases.
Woman In A Bar is about such an encounter and has steel guitar and piano used prominently. Then there is that funky guitar in Lone Star that hints at something different, at another genre and a different time. There is something of being close the border in Die With My Dreams On, with its trumpet interlude and its ambition to keep on dreaming. The role of the drifting musician who is in need of hard cash finds the protagonist look for some as outlined in Tennessee Quick Cash.
We get a little more uptempo and down home funky when he feels a little wrecked overall in Destroyed, the album’s penultimate track. The final song Alamosa ties together several of these strands and closes out the album in a summation of where Charley Crockett is right now. It will be noted as one of his best and part of a continuing trail on which this lonesome drifter is traveling. Only he may not be quite so lonesome no more, given all the fans he has gained earning his ‘dollar a day’ these days.
Stephen Rapid
Wesley Hanna Magnolia Self Release
Some more Texas country music that veers towards the traditional rather than some the more recent raucous, rock-fuelled releases. The album has steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, dobro and guitar. The crew here included the legendary Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Lloyd Maines, Cody Braun and Stacie Hanna on upright bass. The lead vocals by Hanna are a primary asset, without having, right now, that totally distinctive feel that makes a singer immediately identifiable. However they work as they should in context here and give the necessary tenor throughout. The material overall is an expression of some real life situations, locations and memories.
We start out with some Gulf Prairie Blues, which offers a number of ways, not all them great, that one could pay one’s dues. Then Life In Three Quarter Time is a duet with Courtney Patton that works well with the two voices telling of two people making their way from slightly different perspectives and outlooks. It is an early highlight on the album and one worth going back to. An abandoned home leaves the a man “dreaming of how things used to be” and relying on reviving that past on his guitar on This Old Guitar.
There are roots of a different sort at the heart of Thomas B. O’Hara a song that starts in a Dublin bar and ends with dreams of drinking whiskey back in the Ireland of yore, it is a song that remind me of the late Charlie Robinson and his similarly named song with a similar ethos that was John O’Reilly. It certainly works as an uplifting spirit and becomes a different song with the end section which is rowdy and resonant. The title song mourns the loss of a small town ethos that has been overrun by developers and city escapers. Something that often overwhelms a once tight nit community. Wonder if the right path was taken in life is where we find ourselves in The Right Thing. Is he supposed “an outlaw or supposed to be a saint … meant to be a poet or a burn-out corporate slave?” It is another highlight with a baritone and steel guitar bridge that is both effective and embellishing.
Catching up and then wondering how a person actually is what Harvey’s Landfall, a more serious song, contemplates and decides that he may be “not sure I’m ready to move on.” While having a bit of fun is more what Behind The Pine Curtain offers. A deeper attachment is what Forever Kind Of Love outlines, taking the road less traveled but finding the right place to be in the end. The album closes with a second version of the title song, this time given the suffix Charlies Version. This is a longer and more acoustic take with mandolin taking the lead.
This album find Hanna following up and building from BRAND NEW LOVE POTION, his previous album, which also included several of the musicians he works with here including Newcomb and Maines as well as Pat Manske who produced both album here, including parts of this album with Newcomb as co-producer. It is a solid album overall with some strong highlights which indicate that Hanna has is taking his place in Texas country music and the location of the small city of Magnolia, which is close to Houston, the the album cover denotes it is 43 miles away while Fort Worth is 205 miles away. A big State with enough room for everyone’s music.
Stephen Rapid
Brent Amaker And The Rodeo Vaquero Rodeo Corps
That this image conscious combo name Devo as a major influence on their work is not surprising or unapparent in their visuals or overall attitude. However, they combine this concept with a music that is maybe quickly described as a marriage of mariachi and Johnny Cash. They deliver a set of songs that are pretty compelling in their own right. Amaker has a deep baritone voice and an understanding of classic country metaphors which they turn into songs like Left My Heart In Tulsa, Tequila Cerveza and I Need Love, with the resounding ring of fiery trumpets and solid beat driving everything along, but they also eschew the electronic instrumentation often employed by Devo for some good old western soundscapes. For a direct comparison, see their online version of Devo’s Gut Feeling (also featured on their last album PHILAPHOBIA) and the differences of approach soon emerge. Their version of Kraftwerk’s Pocket Calculator further emphasises their more individual musical arrangements.
Online, the current band is listed as frontman and conceptualist Amaker, Ryan Leyva on lead guitar, Jordon Gomes playing bass, Ben Strehle on guitar and vocals with Bryan Crawford on drums and vocals. Trumpets also abound on the recordings (but not always live, on the evidence of their video appearances) to add that extra layer of texture and theatre. Musically there is an appeal to these rhythmic and undeniably catchy songs. They are all short, with the longest song here clocking in just over three and a half minutes, so nothing has the chance to outstay its welcome, something that is true of a great many of the classic country songs. Similarly the themes are largely relationship based with a lyrical take that, in keeping with the band’s approach, are not a little offbeat in style, while retaining a sense of that particular genre, as in Murdered In The Streets, Broken Promises or You’re No Good.
The use of the backing vocals on choruses behind Amaker’s forceful but monochromatic delivery works in a way that offers a similar kind of arrangement throughout VAQUERO, something that will not appeal to everyone across the board equally. It may appear to lack the kind of authenticity within the format of Americana that seems to hold some kind of sway, but Brent Amaker and The Rodeo are doing things a little differently, which places them in the outer limits of the mainstream. It is a sound I immediately found engaging, with more than enough pointers to a previous tradition. This is far more entertaining than many whose musical cross-pollination tends to ignore the context of the form to a point where it is trying to restructure it as expanding borders, rather than eliminating them.
This album puts the band in a category with those who are exploring something more individual like Slim Cessna’s Auto Club or, from way back in the day, Wall Of Voodoo (who incidentally, had a guitarist Marc Moreland, who also played a Flying V guitar) and others who represent the more underground nature of country, not unlike those cowboys and aliens comics and movies, something to love or hate. I am throwing my hat in the ring with former.
Stephen Rapid
The Hens Hen Sounds Topless
This Austin-based band are yet another outfit who are playing largely original material on their new album, one that will appeal to those who like it played straight and true. They are currently a six piece band who have had a number of players pass through the band since its inception in 2015. They were founded by Dave Aaronoff, who had spent time in Boston playing with various bands before moving to the Texas town, and who soon found a number of like-minded musicians to further their collective vision. Heather Rae Johnson, who plays the fiddle and is a featured vocalist, guitarist Tom Umberger and bassist Ricky Rees, still form the core of the band, which is joined here by Brother Ethan Shaw (who has played with numerous acts including The Derailers) on pedal steel and banjo. This is a tight knit unit who hit everything right. They remind me a little, at times, of Rosie Flores and San Francisco band Red Meat.
This album is produced by Chris Burns and was recorded in the Ameripolitan Studios in Austin. It features twelve tracks, the majority from Aaronoff, with one each from Johnson and Umberge. There are some covers that fit right in, including Melba Montgomery’s We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds, done as you might expect as a duet in the style of its version by the author and George Jones, and Get Behind Me Satan And Push recorded by Billie Jo Spears. Choosing something that seems more recent, Johnson takes on Elvis Costello’s Stranger In The House, a song Costello originally wrote and recorded as duet with George Jones in 1978 for that singer’s MY VERY SPECIAL GUESTS duets album. It allows an interesting twist on a perennial country music theme.
Against these tracks Aaronoff’s (and the other members’) own songs can be seen as up to the task of standing alongside these venerable songs and are written in a similar vein. Much of the original material has some self-deprecating humour at its core. The Key’s Not In The Mailbox is a response to a not unfamiliar set of circumstances and echoes, with a different solution, Harlan Howard’s song of a similar name, and shows a continuation of spirit and attitude. The last two tracks especially are good examples of that, outlining what can transpire for a working or, indeed, under working musician or in fact anyone who has to do a daily routine, usually in a hard scrabble kind of way. The life of a performer, who has passed his best, is outlined and summarised in the title of Umberger’s truthful tale, Washed Up Honky Tonk Troubadour. Johnston’s ode to inhaling a certain substance is there in Smokin’ Mary Jane, a nice late night western swing feel with a strongly featured fiddle and guitar exchange. As with many of the songs, you can dance - indoors or outdoors - to the remembrances conjured by the final track Covid-19, indicating how enjoyable the band would be in a live setting too.
In the end, while The Hens may not be totally free range musically, their combination of a number of country/roots forms are organic and gratifying, as well as played with some skill and feeling.
Stephen Rapid
West Texas Exiles 8000 Days Floating Mesa
The five members of the West Texas Exiles boast excellent Lone Star State pedigrees. The band has three songwriters: former Dirt River Boys co-founder Marco Gutierrez, son of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Colin Gilmore, and Amarillo-born keyboard player Daniel Davis. Bass player Eric Harrison and his father ran the Lubbock music venue Tokyo Joe’s, and Eric subsequently formed Austin’s noted Studio 601. The fifth member, drummer Trinidad Leal, has played with numerous bands, notably Tex-Mex punk band Los Tornados, Dixie Witch, and Dirty River Boys. 8000 DAYS is their debut full-length album, following the release of an EP, VOLUME 1, in 2023, and a win in the prestigious 2022 International Songwriting Competition (Americana division). Another recognition of their rising star is their weekly residency at Austin’s favourite roots room, The Continental Club.
With all that talent on board, an award recognising their songwriting talents, and this publication's declaration in 2023 as’ one to watch’, having reviewed their EP, would the band be able to live up to that promise? Well, the answer is a definite yes. Pining for the past, the title track is loaded with regret and guilt, with Gutierrez’s vocals ideally suited to the song's backstory. The stand-out inclusion, Bright Yellow Sun, sounds like a song that you’ve known forever. Its addictive melody, killer harmonies, and rhythm play out like a flashback to The Jayhawks at the top of their game.
One of Texas' finest voices, Kelly Willis, joins the party to duet with Gutierrez in Division, and they turn the heat up with the plain-spoken scorching drum and guitar-driven, Way We Are. Less frantic, Dark Desire is a border-flavoured delight, before they close the album on a twangy note with Already Gone, that fittingly recalls their fellow Texan, the peerless Buddy Holly.
There is a quality and consistency here not often found in debut albums, but don’t just take my word, check it out yourself, you won’t be disappointed.
Declan Culliton
Malin Pettersen Wildflower Die With Your Boots On
The leading light in the Nordicana genre, Norwegian Malin Pettersen’s music career includes fronting country crossover band Lucky Lips, alongside her solo recordings and performances. Her solo career began with her debut album REFERENCES PT.1 in 2018, earning her a Spellman Award (Norwegian Grammy) and was followed by her mini-album ALONESOME the following year. Since then, she has released two further albums, WILDHORSE (2020) and TROUBLE FINDING WORDS (2023).
Pettersen describes her latest eleven-track record as ‘a spiritual successor’ to WILDHORSE, and it’s fair to say that it more than lives up to the quality of that album. She travelled to Nashville in 2020 to record that album and recruited big hitters, including pedal steel player in the Grand Ole Opry Band, Eddy Dunlap, and Misa Arriaga (Kacey Musgraves, Lillie Mae, Caitlin Cannon), among others, to play on the recordings. Working closer to home on this occasion, Pettersen self-produced at Amper Ton Studios in Oslo and worked with musicians that she has played with for many years, Øyvind Blomstrøm on bass, Nikolai Grasaasen on guitar and piano, Stian Jørgen Sveen on pedal steel, and Sigmund Vestrheim on drums.
Pettersen’s core sound is textbook Nordicana, a crossover of roots with classic pop, without ever descending into the dreaded country/pop currently dominant in America. Her songwriting is intelligent and profound, matched by her outstanding vocal phrasing and expression.
Highlights on her latest record include the gently seductive title track, with Pettersen’s crystal clear vocals in front of dreamy pedal steel and stacked harmonies. Picking up the pace, the electric Carolina enters cosmic country territory, and the love song Cargo is a two and a half minutes melodic gem that ends all too quickly. If the groove-driven Number and a Street recalls a failed relationship of yesteryear, the swampy and somewhat cryptic Baptize Me offers a backdrop of longing and desire. The rocker Free is also a standout track with thumping drums, swirling keys harmonising with Pettersen’s spiralling vocals.
Continuing to go from strength to strength, Pettersen has hit the mark with WILDFLOWER, which, for this writer, is the jewel in the crown in her hugely impressive back catalogue.
Declan Culliton
Nate Currin Ghost Town Archaic Cannon
Listening to this album is not for the faint hearted. The fifteen songs clock in at fifty-seven minutes and the abiding theme running through the tracks is one of heartbreak and loss. No doubt that Currin is exorcising his hurt, and the great majority of these explorations track inner reflection and pain, self-doubt and ask where things went wrong with a recent relationship.
It’s an exercise in purging the self and hoping that new beginnings and a deep spirit will survive. There is little respite, with the songs treated as a way to vent, while no doubt saving a fortune on therapy. And what better way to clean the slate than to pour your heart out in song to an audience that will listen? According to the press release, this is Currin’s ninth album. When I go searching I can only find a few prior releases, the earliest dating back to 2010.
This time out the album was produced by Jon Poole in Northern Georgia and at Gray Matters Studios in Nashville by Matthew Odmark (Jars of Clay), and the band comprises Nate Currin (lead vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, harmonica), Matthew Odmark (additional guitars, horn arrangements, additional acoustic guitar, organ, vocals), Jon Poole (drums, keyboards, synthesizers), joined by quite an array of other musicians who contribute across various tracks.
Peyton Parker provides very memorable vocals on four songs, and there are three separate bass players credited in Tom Ryan, Stephen Mason and Matthew Chancey. Additional drums are handled by Aksel Coe, with both Matt Koziol and Cody Preston adding great parts on electric guitars and pedal steel. Charlie Lowell is the keyboards, organ and piano maestro with other players guesting and fiddle, saxophone and trombone feature. The overall sound is varied and dynamic in the mix and the entire project is big in the speakers and worthy of both your time and interest.
Paul McGee
Tekla Waterfield and Jeff Fielder Mother Mind Self Release
This is the fifth release from Seattle-based singer-songwriter Tekla Waterfield and it continues her productive and rewarding partnership with her husband, Jeff Fielder. He is a respected producer and multi-instrumentalist who is also a regular touring musician with artists like Amy Ray, Mark Lanegan (R.I.P.), and Indigo Girls.
Tekla released her debut album THIS NIGHTLIFE IS WEARING ON ME in 2015. This was followed with THE CURTAIN FALLS in 2018, and then two separate projects over 2021, with NEW SKIES and TROUBLE IN TIME adding to her reputation as an artist of some gravitas. Tekla writes all the songs here and her engaging vocal delivery is a central pivot for this album of deeply personal and sensitively delivered reflections on life. The studio musicians who colour the song arrangements and melodies are comprised of a core four piece; Tekla Waterfield (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Jeff Fielder(electric, acoustic and slide guitars, electric bass, keyboards, percussion, Vocals), David Salonen(upright bass, violin, harmony vocals), and William Sage (drums).
They are joined on selected tracks by additional musicians that include Daniel Walker (piano, B3, Wurlitzer, accordion), and Sietse Van Gorkom (violin and string arrangements), with Eric Eagle (drums) and Elsie Suttie (backing vocal) adding to individual songs. There is also a group vocal performance on the final song Will You Remember Me with the presence of eight voices, including a cameo from Tekla’s young child that is especially charming in its innocence. So, eleven portraits of restrained elegance in the performance and a quality to the songs that resonates within the impressive delivery. Anchoring everything is the warm vocal tones of Tekla.
The first song I Am Alive is a reminder-to- self that no matter what pressures life brings to your door, you have enough resilience to endure and to realise that you are enough. Something My Own is self- assessment of a young life spent constantly on the move and now wanting to put down real roots ‘Is it crazy to want something of my own.’ The song I See You Mama is a tribute to her mother who raised Tekla single-handed and always found a way to bring love and comfort to a growing child. Lately reflects upon depression and has a plea not to abandon someone who is going through a hard time ‘Don’t give up on me.’
I Saw Myself In Her looks to external inspiration found in others as something that can inspire and bring an increased hope, while A Million Times is a sweetly delivered song with some lovely fiddle to soothe the troubles of a sad heart trying to get back home to the source. Keep It Upbeat looks to maintaining a positive perspective and not wallowing in self- pity. The soulful delivery is a perfect vehicle for the nuanced vocal delivery of Tekla, and Slowboat is a blues groove that suggests passing a burden over to someone else to run with, laying your worries down and relaxing in a soothing feeling of being in the moment. Some superbly understated guitar courtesy of Jeff Fielder, who excels throughout with his dextrous touch.
Sad delivers another blues and gets into the feelings of trying to get beyond a crushing sense of post -natal depression which Tekla battled after the birth of her daughter. In her honest approach to laying bare her inner emotions she has to be applauded. This is a really striking track for all these reasons and more. Visions Of A Life is a reflection on what other roads could have been chosen instead of the one that is presently unfolding. Careful what you wish for in the sense of thinking that the other man’s grass is always greener, but it is just as difficult to mow! The lovely sounds of Tekla’s baby introduce the final song Will You Remember Me and questions the way in which a child will recall their parents in later years and in trying to keep their memory alive.
Produced and Mixed by Jeff Fielder, the album is both honest and cathartic, exploring the virtues of parenthood while acknowledging all the pitfalls involved in coming to terms with the reality of it all. This couple are very much a potent energy in the world of contemporary folk and roots music. An album that engages and inspires in many ways and on many fronts.
Paul McGee
Vincent Cross A Place Where Songs Come To Live Self Release
Born in Ireland, Cross emigrated to Australia at a young age, returned again to the Emerald Isle, jumped over to London for a period, and ended up in New York City. Such is the life of many a robust Irishman who took a leap into the great unknown in search of adventure and better options. While his parents made the best of what they found on their travels Down Under, Vincent Cross began absorbing music with each experience, and exploring new paths on his own journey.
With three prior albums to his name, Cross has now released A PLACE WHERE SONGS COME TO LIVE. So much travel leads to a strong urge for a place to call home and I wonder whether such a ‘place’ either in physical form or as an internal refuge, drives these songs. Opening with Heat Of Hearts this appears true in a track that is looking for a place to return, somewhere to enjoy the flow of life.
Other songs look at the challenges of filial love, with family ties cutting deep, and In the Eyes Of My Father the parent and child divide is captured, on a song that reflects upon the generation gap that manifests over the years. Elsewhere, the returning daughter to look after her sick father on Barefoot With the Blues reflects on the sacrifices that sometimes are made for family loyalty and tradition.
The unspoken, often unacknowledged devotion, of a mother is woven through Momma Can’t Sing the Songs She Loves where parental love is the duty borne above any sense of self-interest. Sibling love is the subject of My Sister Was Like A Mother To Me and Cross speaks of the deep gratitude he holds for his older sister and her commitment during earlier, troubled times.
Wanting to live free and to move forward is a theme on both Horses Are Wild and Goodbyes Are Never Good My Friend where being able to dictate the manner in which you want to live is the key to inner happiness. Water Under the Bridge is a metaphor for a dying romance and being stuck in the same place, while Boombox is a retrospective look to a time when music first began being transportable and how it acts in the role of companion and saviour to so many of us on a daily basis.
The final song The Bright Crystal Fountain is about preparing for death and the inevitable fact that we eventually run out of choices and time. It is a message that love endures and throughout the album this is the central theme; different types of love and the search for a soft landing to call home.
The musicians that perform these fine songs are Mike Robinson on sublime pedal steel, James Panagakos on bass (five songs) and Stephen Anthony Elkins on bass and harmonies (seven songs), Shane Kerwin on drums, and Vincent Cross on lead vocals, harmonies and guitars. This is an album with so much to recommend it. Get on board.
Paul McGee