Mason Via Self-Titled Mountain Fever
Mason Via has finally arrived. At least, that should be the unwritten subtitle of his eponymous latest solo album. Not yet 30, Via has been bubbling under in the roots/bluegrass world since his teens. Brought up around the summer campfires of Appalachian music festivals by his professional songwriter father, David Via, and his Deadhead mother, it isn’t a surprise that he has become an impressive guitar picker, heavily exposed as he was to the traditional music of North Carolina and Virginia. After stints in various local bands, time as a sideman, and releasing a debut critically acclaimed solo album NEW HORIZONS in 2015, he was invited to join Old Crow Medicine Show. After three years touring the world with them, and contributing several songs to their Grammy nominated album JUBILEE, Via developed a renewed appreciation of his musical roots and that influence is all over this record. This is pure roots music - described by Via himself as grassicana, it’s a wild fusion of folk, country, bluegrass and Americana.
All ten original songs were co-written by Via during his time in Nashville with OCMS. There isn’t a weak song among them, opening with the acoustic country rock of Wide Open, his story telling ability and deft lyrics expressing the pain of heartache that has ‘cut him wide open’ and even ‘white lighting can’t fix what’s left behind’. Fireball is another co-write with rising country star Zach John King, this time a real country slow burning love song, presumably inspired by his wife (they got married last year and are now based in Florida) There’s a bit of a psychedelic feel to Melt in The Sun, another love song, but this time there’s no holding back with the pace. The interplay between Aaron Ramsey’s manic mandolin and Jeff Partin’s dobro during the instrumental break is breathtaking.
As well as the aforementioned musicians, the line up is completed by Jason Davis on banjo (Grasstowne, Dan Tyminski), Jim Van Cleve on fiddle (Mountain Heart, Appalachian Roadshow) and Kyser George on guitar. Aaron Ramsey, who co-produced with Via, is also an alumnus of Mountain Heart and Volume Five, and is the resident producer and engineer for Amanda Cook’s Mountain Fever label.
Further examples of Via’s lyrically mature and captivating songwriting are the progressive bluegrass of Falling (another ear worm with funky bluesy breaks), the country flavoured Til I Don’t love You Anymore and Hey Don’t Go, a yearning for things to stay the same, even though he knows that’s not how life rolls.
Via remembers the traditional roots of bluegrass and he is joined on the gospel-sounding Oh Lordy Me by veterans Ronnie Bowman and Junior Sisk. Ostensibly a gospel song, it’s actually a pro-environment plea as well as an anti-war song, where Via wishes that soldiers would ‘put down their rifles and pick up a fiddle to play’. Rhonda Vincent duets on the other nod to tradition, the lovely Mountain Lullaby.
My two personal favourites remain: There Goes Another One is a bluegrass barnstormer (co-written with Christian Ward, who plays fiddle with Del McCoury) where the protagonist is trying to outrun the law, and Running With You is another lovesong, inspired by days on the road, ’that white line fever called me like a Holy Ghost’ but ‘you were there to change my point of view’.
One of the standout artists at IBMA in Chattanooga last September, Mason Via has 'all growed up’ and this album is highly recommended.
Eilis Boland
Bo DePeña Rather Move Up Self Release
Laredo, Texas-born and currently residing in Colorado, Bo DePeña’s fourth studio album includes contributions by a host of celebrated country players. Pedal steel and dobro were played by Zachary Moulton; Ronny Allen was on bass guitar and backing vocals; drums and percussion were credited to Josh Rogers; Ellen Melissa Story played fiddle; Bukka Allen was on accordion; and harmonica parts were added by Kevin Garinger. All guitar work was by DePeña, and the recording took place at Yellow Dog Studios in San Marcos, Texas, with Casey Johns at the controls.
Included are songs with a wide personal reach, like the confessional Bobby Houck, Radney Foster-written opener Half Of My Mistakes, alongside the simple nostalgia of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Pickup Truck Song. Other covers include Charlie Stout’s I See Stars and Tim Hus's Sasquatch Hunter but the standout tracks are DePeña’s self-writes. These include Old Bull Hunter, a swampy tale of tracking and hunting inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and the simple but splendid two-stepper Wood and Nails.
Sonically and lyrically, DePeña is Western through and through, with nods to artists from earlier decades like Jerry Reed and Marty Robbins, as well as to modern-day players like Corb Lund and Colter Wall. RATHER MOVE UP pays homage to these players that continue to fuel DePeña’s creative juices, alongside his own sharp songwriting.
Declan Culliton
The Sky Chiefs Self-Titled Self Release
The band’s name may be new to readers, but the duo who recorded The Sky Chiefs' debut album should be familiar to most. Incredibly, Virginia-born Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders, The Jayhawks) and Kevin Pittman (The Dads, The Wit Lincolns) laid down over two dozen tracks in the early 1990’s over a one-year period, only for the recordings to go missing until last year. The recordings were rescued when a friend of theirs found them in his attic, and fourteen tracks were selected for this self-titled record.
The recordings took place in the former home of a World War 1 pilot, a century-old bungalow that doubled as a makeshift recording studio. Vocals and electric guitars were played by McCarthy and Pittman, who also added bass guitar. A host of guests contributed, including Greg Perry, Johnny Holt, and Soupy Sessa on drums; Clark Bell on bass; Mike McAdam on guitar; Charles Arthur on lap steel; and Gary Fralin on piano.
The album opens with House Full Of Company, one of the first songs they wrote and a pointer towards the hook-laden, twangy, harmony-driven songs that follow. The foreboding Knocking Out The Daylights cautions of a changing world, not for the better, and how factual that premonition turned out to be. The banjo-led, played by McCarthy, Where I Wanna Be is a statement of undying love and rapture, and it’s followed by the mournful My Last Goodbye, the latter enhanced by baritone guitar breaks that emphasise the storyline's anguish. No Happiness For Sale and All Broke Down transport the listener back to London’s Swinging 60’s when pop music was brimming with cleverly written and catchy songs. Closer to home for McCarthy and Pittman, Walk All Over Me, complete with double harmony, calls to mind the magical simplicity of Buddy Holly.
The Sky Chiefs have resurrected something quite special here. Recalling vintage early career Jayhawks and seamlessly welding together country twang and 60s Brit pop, it’s an album that is easy to get totally immersed in after a couple of spins.
Declan Culliton
Jeremy Ivey It’s Shape Will Reveal Itself Soggy Anvil
Recorded at his Nashville home on a reel-to-reel Tascam 388 tape machine, IT’S SHAPE WILL REVEAL ITSELF is the fourth album from Jeremy Ivey and his first since 2022’s INVISIBLE PICTURES. That album was heavily influenced by the pandemic when Ivey, suffering from underlying health issues, was seriously ill, having been struck down with Covid and incapacitated for several months.
What started as a series of reflective home recordings, with Ivey playing all the instruments except drums by Dom Billett, eventually gave him the material for a fully-fledged nine-track record. The tracks were mastered by Drew Carroll at The Bomb Shelter Studios in Nashville.
INVISIBLE PICTURES included the song Keep Me High, a ‘loved up’ duet between Ivey and his wife, Margo Price. They join forces again on this record’s opener, Edge Of Darkness. Recorded live to mic, the song delves into the raw reality of present-day America (‘Looking for the blood of America, the footprints of the USA. And it only happens in America, God bless the USA’). Shifting tone, Ivey reveals a chirpier side with tracks like Love Is Traveler and Walk With Me, both possibly with his wife in mind, which emphasise the power of love over negativity and chaos.
Modern World considers the struggle to maintain sanity in a universe where possessions and affluence outweigh empathy and compassion. Don’t Sleep On Your Dreams reminds us that our time is limited and so, to quote Warren Zevon, 'enjoy every sandwich.'
There’s an enchanting simplicity about Ivey’s latest record, which recalls Paul McCartney’s self-titled debut album. Landing somewhere between classic pop and indie folk, and spurred on by real life and personal issues, it’s an impressive batch of tunes that, thankfully, was shared rather than remaining unreleased.
Declan Culliton
Willie Nelson Country Music Craft/High Tone
“They’re all really good songs that I grew up singing” explains Willie Nelson, who returned to Nashville from Texas to record his Grammy-nominated album COUNTRY MUSIC back in 2010. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the fifteen-track record features country standards delivered in Nelson’s distinctive soulful Texan timbre.
Fifty years after Nelson arrived in Nashville in 1960 as a songwriter with a Pamper Music publishing contract, and after recording over sixty albums, COUNTRY MUSIC was his first record to cover classic country songs written by others.
T Bone Burnett's production does justice to the selections. Keeping the instrumentation stripped back with the emphasis on Nelson’s vocals, Burnett called on a collection of Nashville’s top players to contribute. Buddy Miller played guitar, Ronnie McCoury played mandolin, Stuart Duncan played fiddle, and Russell Pahl played pedal steel.
The album opens with one of Nelson’s own songs, Man With The Blues, an early recording by him dating back to 1959. It’s fair to say that there isn’t a weak track on the album, but highlights are Ernest Tubb’s Seaman’s Blues, the traditional gospel song Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down, Hank Williams’ House of Gold and Hazel Houser’s My Baby’s Gone.
It’s incredible to think that Nelson, now ninety-two, has recorded four albums in the past two years and continues performing live. The title of his last studio album, WORKIN’ MAN, aptly describes an artist who has covered numerous genres throughout his career. This album explores his earliest musical influences and honours the artists who inspired his creativity.
Originally released on Rounder Records, Nelson’s first album on that label, this two-album set from Craft Recordings and High Tone Records is housed in a gatefold sleeve. This is a ‘must have’ for Willie Nelson fans who may not have a copy of the original CD or want to replace it with this vinyl gem.
Declan Culliton
Emily Scott Robinson Appalachia Oh Boy
Prior to the release of this new album, Emily has been working hard at building a momentum in a career that came to wide media attention after the appearance of her AMERICAN SIREN album back in 2021. The praise for that album put her on the map to a whole new audience and her strong work ethic has seen her regularly touring across America and Europe in search of further recognition.
An EP appeared in 2022 that was based around an interpretation of Macbeth and the three witches of the dark tale. It was titled Built On Bones and the six songs were a nice reminder of the talent that lay behind the well-structured arrangements and the insightful lyrics. It was on the back of a prior single The Time For Flowers (2020) that Emily secured a recording contract at Oh Boy Records and the artist-supported label has had her back ever since.
She was born in North Carolina and her heart is as big as the state in her outpouring of fellowship, kindness, and love, in all that she leans towards. In giving gratitude, Emily really opens herself to the world and embraces all the influences that brought her to this place and time. The songs on the new album are among the best she has written and she begins with a prayer on Appalachia for the folks who suffered terrible loss in Hurricane Helene back in 2025, causing widespread flooding. Emily takes the voice of a mother who has watched the devastation and who tries to place everything into a perspective of where her ancestors came from, what they endured, and how the human spirit will survive challenging times ‘ My people came from pain and famine, One hundred days on a dark sea, You think I’d let some wind and water, Tear the roots from me.’ It plugs me right into Irish history and the emigrants who left the Emerald Isle during the Great Hunger, aiming for a new beginning as they landed upon East American shores.
What follows is Bless It All and it is a hope sent out to the universe to embrace gratitude for all that this tapestry of life puts in our collective pathways ‘And bless the year you learned that everything you learned was wrong, The year that God was quiet, And in his absence you were strong.’ She writes with such insight and perception into the humanity and the soul that beats within us all.
Cast Iron Heart is a co-write with Lizzy Ross and it’s a song that Emily has jokingly said she hopes will become a favourite at second marriage ceremonies. It speaks to finding new dreams and to never letting life define you by earlier mistakes made. The song is sung with Paul Jones on dual lead vocals, and the lyrics hit the bullseye ‘We’re beaten up and broken in, We’ve tasted our own medicine, Maybe we’re a vestige of the past, Or maybe we’re just built to last.’
Dirtbag Saloon is in waltz-time and is a cutting criticism of the new rich taking over desirable little American towns in order to gentrify the locations for their summer homes. The gap between the “haves and the have-nots” is captured perfectly in the lines ‘I wish we could live here in sweet harmony, But they tore down the rentals and clear-cut the trees, To build their ten thousand square foot second homes, Ah but who’s gonna serve them, Their champagne and snow.’ A song of lost hope to try and keep the developers and land grabbers away at all costs.
Hymn For the Unholy reflects upon renewal and the need for balance in some lives that can spin out of control ‘Here’s a hymn for the unholy, For the savage and the true, You have only got one life, dear, Heed that voice that calls to you.’ The purity of Emily’s vocal is never more apparent that on this song and it is heartbreaking, both in its sincerity and its sorrow.
Sea Of Ghosts deals with grief and the loss of someone close. It is beautifully poignant in describing that thin veil that often dances in the breeze between the living and the dead ‘If you’re searching in a sea of ghosts, I’m the girl who’s wearing red.’ Such a simple yet complex description of what pain looks like. Emily is a songwriter of maturity and wisdom, and she can appreciate the challenges in life that bring hard times in order for real growth to break through. The Fairest View is another co-write with Emily’s friend Lizzy Ross and it captures a nostalgic look back at younger years, growing up in North Carolina. It also was written in tribute to a dear friend who sadly passed away at a young age by taking their own life. It’s emotional and uplifting in the chorus and reminds me in part of the gifted songwriter Krista Detor singing her beautiful Clock Of the World.
A Time For Flowers is included also, as a timely reminder that hard times and dark days will pass, and that new beginnings can open up for us all ‘The storms will rage, And the winds will blow, And you will find out, That you’re stronger than you know.’ It’s presence is a healing balm to all who feel weighed down by the burdens of life’s challenges today.
The only cover song on the record is the traditional Folk anthem The Water Is Wide and the decision to include it is down to Emily’s personal preference. It’s essentially a love song for the ages and although there have been many versions over the years, the lyrics speak of young love that eventually, with the passage of time, grows cold. Given the number of covers that exist of the song, hearing it can sometimes lose some of the original potency. Emily sings the song with Duncan Wikel as a duet, and the harmonica and violin accompaniment enhance the melody.
The strongest song is the final track Time Traveller and written in memory of Emily’s grandmother. It’s a tale of decline and dementia as the years unfold and the melody is really beautiful. That lovely tone in Emily’s clear vocal has never sounded so potent, or poignant ‘You held me on the day that I came into this world, Now I hold your hand like you’re the little girl.’
The album was recorded by Josh Kaufman at Dreamland Studios in New York over a short 5-day burst. The musicians included are Lizzy Ross who sings harmony vocals, with Duncan Wickel on fiddle, cello, and vocals. Harmonica Jerry is credited with some atmospheric mouth organ, and Annie Nero plays bass, with Otto Hauser on drums. This album is a fine testament to the growing sophistication of Emily as a songwriter of great insight and sensitivity, both in the lyrics she creates and the superb vocals that highlight her powerful artistry. As she continues her upward trajectory, the sky is really the limit.
Paul McGee
Tim Easton FireHorse Campfire Propaganda
It is said that all life imitates art. Whether this saying is strictly true or whether it also works the other way around is really of no consequence in that one certainly influences the other. There is also that eternal crossroads where art and music meet, given that music is often referred to as an artistic reflection of human experience.
For many decades now Tim Easton has walked on the invisible line that separates the two, regularly drawing inspiration from his life encounters and honing his songwriting craft as a result of greater insight and the space created for deeper expression. This is album number fourteen in the storied career of this roving troubadour. It is said that there is a good book in everyone and for sure, the life experiences and stories of Tim Easton contain a novel that would be more than worth the read.
His sister is a visual artist and her painting is the source of inspiration here, specifically a particular painting titled Red-Horse. It is used as the cover of the new album and the songs included are reflections of time spent negotiating the multiple tasks of daily living, being fully in the present, and grasping every moment. In Chinese society, 2026 is the year of the fIREHORSE and is marked by the symbol of burning fire. Those who are born under this sign are noted for their independence, confidence and a strong urge for movement and change. Sounds exactly like Tim Easton, and the life of a singing bard is certainly bound up in such colour and extremes.
Producer Kevin Nolan created the superb sound on this album and his multi-instrumental talents are used to great effect throughout. A number of songs feature the rhythm section from Lainey Wilson's band, with Matt Nolan on drums and Tommy Scifres on bass. Rosa Pullman, Jeremy Lister, and Nikki Barber provide backing vocals across the project and the sound is really bright and exciting in the song arrangements and the dynamic playing. The musicianship is of the highest quality and proof that Tim Easton is currently experiencing a purple patch in both his writing and his creative output.
Halelujah is a song that celebrates the freedom that love can bring ‘I’m not concerned with prophesy nor who believes in time, The greatest story ever told is your body pressed to mine.’ Indeed, the main theme that binds the ten songs together is one of love. The enduring message on Heaven and Hell is wrapped in a love song to family and friends ‘You hold me, and I’ll hold you, We’ll hold each other, Until this mess is through.’ A comforting blanket for these uncertain times. Another song that resonates is Don’t Let Your Mind Grow Dark which urges a positive attitude in times of trouble. It has a superb blues shuffle and the call to care for each other is delivered with an addictive groove ‘When you know something is wrong, You have to shout it out loud.’
Equally, on the paean to old mother nature, Hwy 62 Love Song, the joy of open spaces is highlighted and the presence of snow covered mountains, stars, moon and sun looking down on you. The lovely melody is capped with a superb guitar sound that stirred memories for me of old Bob Seger albums. Son Of A Tyrant strikes me as a personal song and hints at the influence of family on growing up. It perhaps captures just moments in the memory, but it’s something of a love song to a time gone by.
Elsewhere we get the wonderful, rhythmic River on the slow blues opener that jumps out of the speakers at you. The ensemble playing throughout is just superb, with a great rhythm section anchoring the beat and allowing the other players to create around the melodies. The deep groove on Heartbreaker 615 captures another memorable moment in a tale of a woman best avoided in the Tennessee area. Another Good Man Down is a song that has a focus on cocaine addiction and the price that families have to pay for dancing with the devil. There is a great New Orleans vibe to the song and I can almost see the ghost of Dr John hovering in the background.
For me the standout song is Never Punch the Clock Again which is a look at the life of the hobo, balancing boxcars and freight trains with the need to keep safe and mobile. It’s like Tim has Little Feat in the studio creating the sublime rhythm, with piano and organ riffs mixing into the irrepressible beat. Cottonfields is advice for the weary traveller and hard won experience from the road. The lonesome lines of the highway are interspersed with intermittent moments of joy ‘In Lafayette I met a Cajun Queen, She walked me through the meadow and taught me how to dream.’
Tim Easton has always been a dreamer. It’s what has fuelled his creative spirit over decades of perspiration, perseverance, and inspiration. His journey has been full of riches and we are privileged to be able to share part of his experiences with him, albeit vicariously, through the wonderful songs that he writes. This album is another stardust-sprinkled gem.
Paul McGee
The Paper Kites If You Go There, I Hope You Find It Sony
A new album from Australian quintet The Paper Kites is always something to look forward to. They create beautiful music together and their melodic soundscapes are threaded with the most soothing arrangements and serene harmonies. There is a sense of tranquillity when listening to the songs that The Paper Kites create.
The band formed in Melbourne back in 2009 and the members are Sam Bentley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, accordion, harmonica), Christina Lacy (guitars, keyboards, organ, piano, Wurlitzer, vocals), David Powys (guitars, banjo, lap steel, vocals), Sam Rasmussen (bass, synthesizers), and Josh Bentley (drums, percussion). This is album number seven, and it was recorded at the Sing Sing studios in Melbourne. Sam Bentley wrote all ten songs, including two co-writes with the band members.
If there is an observation to be levied at their overall sound, it’s perhaps that they never really change up the gears and the tempo remains firmly in the gentle tones of a quiet calm. My personal view is that the band’s sound is both a natural and organic extension of their development and a refinement of the superb ensemble playing that has reached an intuitive level in quality at this stage. It’s very much a case that ‘less is more’ in the song arrangements.
The last album At the Roadhouse proved to be a turning point regarding the band profile into European markets and the presence of extra players as part of the recording was an interesting factor, with three additional musicians drafted in to colour the overall song arrangements and the sound. This time around the skills of Matt Dixon are retained on superb pedal steel on three tracks. In looking at the ongoing band development, pedal steel fits so perfectly into the sound that it should really be a consistent instrument in all of the music output. On other tracks we have the melodic rise of cello, violin and viola to embellish the song arrangements, beautifully delivered by both Meg Cohen and Charlotte Jacke.
Paper Kites take their time, in quiet contemplation, they create a mood, a sweet sadness at the centre of these songs. Perhaps a lingering sense of something lost, a longing, coupled with a quiet yearning. And that is enough in itself. Self-reflective, intimate, a feeling, an emotion caught.
No extended solo breaks on guitar, more a sense of capturing the essence of an inner melancholia. A sense of nostalgia runs through these songs, like a river getting back to a source, sometime in the past where everything changed, a pivotal moment that was missed, as if we could ever get back to that place.
Although we are all hot-wired to move continuously forward is what life demands, these songs of regret, of perspective, of yearning, of unrequited love, of unresolved pain, are always an ever-present in the memories that we take with us. You could say that that the pace of the album stays too-predictable, but that would be missing the point… This is mood music that you surrender to; the rise and fall of the harmonies and the melodies, the brief turn of an instrument in adding colour to the mix of the sound, as if to heighten an emotion already recognised.
The gentle acoustic melody on A Word I Needed More sums up a lot of the joy on this new album, with the lines ‘Where you’ve been is not the place you’re in, Where you go is nothing sure, But every road needs direction, And I can’t find a word I needed more’ hinting firmly at that universal word – Love. Reassurance against the weight of the world and the troubles that arise, is the context of songs Morning Gum and Change Of the Wind, where the message is one of trying to impact what you can and not letting everything else stop you from living your day with some hope of optimism.
Shake Off the Rain is another song of good council about moving forward and letting the blues find their own hiding place in a dark corner, away from the light. On Every Town we are given a perspective of life away from home, travelling on the road to make a living and missing the little things ‘Tell me why I'm wide awake and dreaming you, In every town You come around, To me.’
The fear of losing connection and the risk inherent in second chances are part of Stormwall ‘With the turning of time, Could I give so much more than I find? Could you turn back these hands of mine? Come on, say that you'll try’ – and on Strongly In Your Arms ‘If you leave, I won't grieve, I could understand, Carry me tenderly, Like I know you can.’
When the Lavender Blooms has both acceptance and gratitude running through the message that letting love in can be the greatest gift ‘Running, I know I keep running, From the good love, I was given.’ There is a loyal devotion expressed on Deep (In the Plans We Made), another simple acoustic strum and a declaration of the bond and commitment between two people. The final song is Borne By You and it is another expression of love and the dedication needed to endure. Quite a statement then from a band who find their rise to prominence continuing to grow, that love will conquer all and our fears need to be held within our own sense of control. Worthy of your investment.
Paul McGee
Courtney Marie Andrews Valentine Thirty Tigers
This new release represents the tenth official album from a singer-songwriter who has continued to shine over a career that has pivoted around the wide media awareness that the HONEST LIFE release generated back in 2016. Interestingly, it’s been ten years since that album arrived and now, on the anniversary, we are given a new release and ten new songs to absorb.
Her creative spirit keeps expanding into new spaces. The use of keyboards, synthesizers, computer-aided sonics and layered sound, lead to exploration beyond her previous parameters and the creative output reveals a rich tapestry for the listener to enjoy. The album was recorded in just ten days at Valentine Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. The freedom unlocked across these songs is an obvious example of an increasing confidence in the studio and Courtney Marie Andrews co-produced with Jerry Bernhardt, both musicians playing almost every instrument on the recording. Also featured on drums and percussion is Chris Bear of the band, Grizzly Bear.
There is an exploration of the arc of love, falling into the early stages of attraction, trusting the growing commitment, only to find the pendulum swing to the other side and a cooling of the initial belief and passion towards a sense of regret. Little Picture Of A Butterfly captures the essence of this failing romance in the lines ‘Guess I'm morally impure, Guess your love is not a cure, Guess I should've known better, Guess I'm throwing out that sweater’ - the lingering coda to the song containing flute and ethereal synth sounds as her belief floats away into the ether.
Indeed, the album cover depicts a distracted Courtney Marie looking into the distance and gesturing towards an unknown figure of a man who is staring out to sea close to a cliff edge. It’s a striking imagery and one that lends itself to guessing that the stranger could well be unrequited love, just beyond the grasp of Courtney Marie as she struggles to find connection. Two songs are like a statement of her conflicted resolve and on Keeper we have the lines ‘Cause I'm a keeper of your heart, I'm a keeper of your secrets, I'm a keeper in the dark, I keep it all together until it falls apart.’ There is then the reflection on Only the Best For Baby and the regret expressed ‘I'm a masochist, I'm a marionette, I'm a mess making moves on you, You will take what I give, I am proudly wounded, I am falling too fast for you, I am showing my cards, Wondering if I'm a fool.’
The loneliness of isolation is captured on the most revealing song here and on Best Friend we have the admission that ‘Best friend, Wish I had a best friend, Someone to talk to, To tell my deepest thoughts to.’ Living essentially on the road over all these years of travel in building a career can leave little time for the simple pleasures that many of us take for granted in life. The troubadour always moves on, along in thought, meeting new people on an endless loop and trying out new experiences. Perhaps a time spent grounded is what the soul craves.
On the song Outsider we are given another glimpse of this fragile world with the lyric ‘I wanna be an outsider, It's too painful looking in, How could I be an insider, When I don't fit in?’ There is no doubting the sincerity in these songs, written from the heart and exploring both personal change and the pain endured. It’s a very brave album, within the musical landscape that is painted and with the vulnerability expressed in the words that populate the lovely melodies created.
The final song is Hangman and reference to a game we have all played as children. In the lyric there is a search for some kind of solace, some sense of certainty, so that the seeking can be put to rest - ‘Don't wanna live playing hangman, Always asking for vowels, On the edge of death, Without the truth spelled out, So tell me now… I've loved you from the beginning.’ It’s like Courtney Marie Andrews is contemplating elements of grief and mortality, the passing of time, and the inevitable march towards answering our own questions as to how we negotiate this mortal coil. Two questions to ask might be “Is love itself ever enough” and if so, “How do you make love stay?”
This is a very accomplished album, beautifully created and performed. Over the last ten years the strides made by this gifted artist are there for all to witness and I get the sense that much greater riches lie ahead in the arc of what Courtney Marie Andrews will deliver for our ongoing pleasure.
Paul McGee