Brit Taylor Land Of The Forgotten Cut A Shine/Thirty Tigers
Any fear of Kentucky-born Brit Taylor abandoning her bluegrass schooling and heading down a more mainstream musical path was firmly knocked on the head when she released KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS in 2024. That album, which featured hardcore bluegrass reworkings of eight tracks from KENTUCKY BLUE, her breakthrough album from the previous year. Her latest recording, produced by her husband Adam Chaffins, who is also credited as co-writer on seven of the eleven tracks and plays a variety of instruments, continues in a similar vein to her 2023 record, seamlessly fusing classic country with bluegrass overtones.
Expressed in her everyday accent, Taylor’s vocals are pure and unapologetically Appalachian, crystal clear and perfectly placed in the mix. She is ably supported by crack musicians whose fiddle, pedal steel, guitars, mandolin and banjo underpin her vocals. Like her peers Kelsey Waldon and S.G.Goodman, Taylor is staunchly proud of her small-town Kentucky roots, and the album’s sublime title track is a testament to that reverence (‘In the lonesome of a fiddler cry, a river runs dry, I close my eyes and I see blue, I will remember you’).
For several years Taylor financed her artistic career with her self-employed contract cleaning business and the lively opening track, Broke No More, may be a ‘thumbs up’ to a newfound full-time more stable calling (‘I’ve been workin’ and a wishin’since I don’t know when, for luck to knock on my door. Well, I don’t know when I don’t know how. But I ain’t gonna be broke no more’). On the opposite side of the fence, Done Pretending is hardly autobiographical as the exhausted protagonist attempts to negotiate all life’s chores without the support of her two-timing partner. More fact-based is Bird of Prey, which bookends the record. A heartfelt mid-paced gospel-tinged song, the impetus developed from Taylor’s frequent encounters with owls, which she believed were prompts to make various life decisions (‘I once was afraid but I’m ain’t anymore, ’cause my angel is watching over me’).
Opening with breezy mandolin, All For Sale uses clever wordplay to tell of a wife gleefully selling all their possessions while her husband is away (‘Hell, when he gets home you can have him too’). Warning You Whiskey channels classic Loretta Lynn, portraying a Kentucky wife battling to keep her man sober. Every country album needs an unrequited love song, and the ballad Queen Of Fools fills that role. The straight-talking Around and Around tackles the rat race that wears many down.
After eighteen years living in Nashville, Taylor confesses to still being homesick for small-town Kentucky and describes LAND OF THE FORGOTTEN as ‘An album that feels like driving home to me.’ You’re well advised to join her in that journey and get on board with this excellent album from an artist who goes from strength to strength with each subsequent recording.
Declan Culliton
Norma Country Catering Die With Your Boots On
The common denominator in the music Lonesome Highway receives to review from Scandinavia, particularly Norway, is the quality of the musicianship and vocals. The Nordicana genre, as it was christened a number of years ago, describes the roots-based country/pop crossover that appears to be thriving in Norway, and this album is yet another example of the local talent.
Norma is a four-piece band featuring Jørgen Nilsen (vocals, guitar), Thor Andreas Murtnes-Hatlestad (guitar, backing vocals), Levi Sponvik (bass, backing vocals) and Oskar Rølling (drums and percussion). Simen Følstad produced COUNTRY CATERING and contributed pedal steel to the album. The album follows their Spellman-nominated (Norwegian Grammy) and Fjording-winning debut EP.
Highlights are the high-energy inclusions Train Track, Who’s To Blame and opener Rabbit Feet. They are equally at home shifting gears with the mid-tempo tracks Left Hand of Art and In the Breeze, both underpinned by top drawer playing and three-part harmonies.
Living up to the promise of their debut EP, COUNTRY CATERING is likely to introduce the band to a wider audience beyond their native Norway, alongside further recognition closer to home.
Declan Culliton
The Blank Tapes Lost Weekend Self-Release
THE LOST WEEKEND initially started as an eighteen-track recording in a makeshift studio in Flamingo Heights, California, back in 2015, by Joshua Tree-based band The Blank Tapes. For the recordings, multi-instrumentalist and band leader Matt Adams was joined by Will Halsey on drums, Joe Lewis on bass, and Connor ‘Catfish’ Gallagher on pedal steel. Adams fleshed out those basic tracks over an eight-year period, adding strings, lush harmonies and more, to complete the recordings.
Joshua Tree resident Adams juggles his time between a parallel career as an illustrator for acts like the Grateful Dead, Chris Robinson, and Langhorn Slim, alongside his sometimes-psychedelic, sometimes-surf-rock, and other times cosmic country outfit, The Blank Tapes. THE LOST WEEKEND falls into the latter category, a return to the band's more countryfied and folk earlier albums LANDFAIR (2005) and SLOW EASY DEATH (2013), the exception being the addition of pedal steel on the new release.
Dumped, one of several inclusions that explore heartbreak and loneliness, opens the album. It’s a trademark cosmic country/classic pop song, and that trajectory is repeated in what follows. The inclusion of layered harmonies and swathes of pedal steel in California heightens the song's sun-kissed and hallucinatory sensibility.
Returning to the love lost thread, Adams pours his heart out in Seems Like We’re Always Saying Goodbye before the track breaks into a glorious guitar-led Grateful Dead-like jam mid-song. Things aren’t any more upbeat in the slow-paced ballad Number 2. Less solemn and more tongue-in-cheek are Waiting For The Van and LA Don’t Love Me, which touch on the perils of touring and the sometimes emotionless life in the City of Angels. Water complements the definitive ‘Brit-pop meets late 60s California’ sound that The Jayhawks accomplished in their 1992 record RAINY DAY MUSIC.
The title track, inspired by the John Lennon song, is the album's final track. Combining melancholy with reassurance, the song addresses a bleak theme and closes with an extended guitar break. Over twenty albums into their career, The Blank Tapes continue their personal psychedelic musical voyage with this impressive excursion into cosmic country, a genre that never sounds dated when handled as masterfully as it is here. The result is a resounding success.
Declan Culliton
Joshua Josué Broadcast To The Surf Ballroom Self Release
Following his well received album BENEATH THE SAND, Joshua Josué returns with a fitting tribute that plays on his love of early melodic rock ’n’ roll as well as, to a degree, his own heritage. This album is a tribute to two icons of that era: the 22 year old Buddy Holly, as well as his touring companion 17 year old Richie Valens, both of whom died (as did JP Richardson Jr - better know as The Big Bopper) together in that light aircraft crash in February 1959.
Josué has chosen to record some of the pair’s better know songs, as well as seeking out some posthumously released tracks and demos, giving them all a new interpretation that is true to their original spirit, while simultaneously giving them a contemporary sheen. This also shows how good these songs were when they were written.
A band of fellow travellers, including guitarist Ben Rice, worked together on recording the ten tracks. Some are well known, such as Wishing (a song written for, and a hit by, the Everly Brothers), La Bamba ( Valens' most well know song) and also the title of the movie biopic of the same name. Well Alright is a certified Holly classic and has been recorded by a large number of artists, not least the Eric Clapton led supergroup Blind Faith - perhaps an inspiration to the more psychedelic guitar workout of the take delivered here.
The opening song Restless Heart is a Valens song, as is Now That You’re Gone, taken from an album released after his death that put together some material sourced from demos and similar. The track Paddiwack Song was inspired by that Valens life story movie listed above and is based around the well known children’s rhyme.
As for the lesser known Holly songs, What To Do is from a demo, which was also the starting point for the version of Learning The Game here. The same is true of That Makes It Tough, all proving the quality and talent that Buddy Holly had and the loss of the undoubted artist he would have become in later years.
Oh, Selena is a Josué co-write, written as a tribute to both icons who are the feature of the album. Throughout, the obvious love for the source material is apparent, as is the need to bring this material to what could very well be a totally new audience. They have the opportunity to hear these songs and to experience the buzz of that early and influential rock sound, something that makes this album a pleasure in its own right.
Stephen Rapid
The Kruse Brothers Heartbreak And Honky-Tonk Self Release
An exciting addition the list of those newer acts whose hearts are squarely aiming to make music that can clearly identify itself as based on traditional country music mores, and not some hybrid mishmash of styles trying to cover all bases aiming for maximum mainstream acceptance. This though is not an album that is delivered in homage to a previous era, as welcome as that approach can be at times, but rather acknowledges elements of more recent essences that underscore not just traditional influences but those broader aspects that fit with the aim of taking the music to its place with today’s exponents who know the real thing from any ersatz label concoction. The Kruse Brothers come from Phoenix, Arizona and obviously grew up hearing a variety of influences, one of which was undoubtedly classic country music, as well as, it is mentioned, some classical music too.
Brothers Chandler and Miles are the central characters here, writing all the material either together or, on occasion, solo and with other co-writers such as producer Trent Willmon. They are also both exceptional vocalists and here concentrate on that, allowing others to provide the effective and accomplished musical settings. Given the list of players, the album was recorded with a couple different sets of musicians in terms of the rhythm sections, with two pedal steel players and six guitarists involved. However the album is constant and compelling throughout, held together by Willmon’s deft production.
Another factor is that the brothers' writing allows for a number of different approaches across the board, that means they never rely on one sound but rather let each song finds its home. For instance Hummingbird would be easy to imagine appearing on some classic countrypolition late 60s album. It is an immediate standout because of this. Contrast that with the opening tracks that kick up dust and get the beat driving. Both A Cowboy Gets The Blues and Cowboy Killer are full of keyboard fills, guitar riffs and lifestyle references that let you know where these boys are coming from. Where this might get you is outlined in the next song Tulsa Country Jail. The protagonists here would rather go to heaven or to hell rather than spend another night in the titular jail.
Talking ‘Bout Tonight has an immediate appeal with its hook laded guitar refrain - a song of different expectations wherein he’s talkin’ about forever while she was taking ‘bout tonight. The next song Making Mama Cry is a shuffle that again has a reflection on a man who is only good at breaking hearts and upsetting mother’s misplaced perceptions. Slower is Give Me Some Whiskey where the alcohol is a anaesthetic against the pain of loneliness.
They expand the cowboy analogy with the excellent White On The Ground, which is a cinematic story of the life and tribulations of those who spend the most of their lives on horseback, while otherwise sleeping on the ground. Cry Cowboy Cry further expands the pros and cons of an associated relationship to the enduring nature of the cowboy as a reality or myth. In a way, Saguaro Sunrise is also about the nature of wandering and seeking, it is a ballad with steel and guitar to the fore that contrasts with the more uptempo nature of the opening songs. So does the heartfelt If You’re Gonna Love Her, another strong song that is understated and persuasive in its message. The closing song returns to the second part of the album’s title with its affirmation of the pursuits of the honky-tonk and neon illuminated lifestyle pertinent to parts of Nashville’s Lower Broadway these days.
The Kruse boys are not redefining country music nor pushing its boundaries, they are simply reaffirming its strengths with a set of songs and performances that underscore why many are drawn to this music, past and present, and why it has a relevance today that is beginning to become more obvious again.
Stephen Rapid
Tyler Halverson Broadcast In Defense of Drinking CMDSHFT
Sitting somewhere between a sense of Nashville outlaw country and dance floor ready honky tonk, this album is both personal with a broad personality, and songs that look both inward as much as they do outward. Following a number of singles and EPs leading up to this release, Halverson has been honing his sound and the end result shows that he's shaping up to be a writer and performer of some personality. His voice has an enthusiasm that is often present in an artist making his early statements of intent.
The writing largely sees Halverson co-credited with from one to three other partners and he also shares the production duties. This may well be a way to allow him to find out where he wants his music to go, but it also allows him explore where he is right now. The title track is the only solo writing credit, and that is for Jon Decious, the remaining ten cuts are all ones Halverson had a hand in the writing, with Decious joining again there for three other songs.
The results of this method have produced some memorable songs that feature Haverson’s vocal well upfront but supported with backing vocals throughout. The production is contemporary, with something of a rock edge from the rhythm section and guitars, but it is still embedded in the world of country. The opening song More Heart Than Horses illustrates this well and outlines a man who broke more hearts than horses in his life. It has some well placed steel guitar and a theme that is on brand. He is joined on lead vocals for Beer Garden by fellow artist Parker McCollum who trades verses, it uses a harmonica refrain that is effective on another tale that revolves around good times and good company. That sense of detailing a more particular lifestyle is at the heart of 8 Second High, with its rodeo related lyric.
One of the album highlights is Ft. Worth Losing, with Halverson giving an inflamed vocal that realises that the town wasn’t worth the losing a partner in another town for to try to achieve a cowboy’s dream. The title song reflects on the negative results on a relationship by particular lifestyle choices - it has a nice sense of regret that seems to allow for some change. We are then back to the question could someone ever love him like the way she loves the rodeo in Like The Rodeo, again this is a memorable song with Halverson delivering a strong vocal.
There is a slightly different approach in The Dreamer, that considers both that and the opposite view in a largely spoken delivery that has a nice semi-acoustic feel, it underscores how you might approach that while theorising that you’re never too old or too young to really love someone. It is one of three standout songs that close the album. He notes in Old Men Younger Women that everything he has learned in life to date he has gained by listening to the aforementioned old men and by loving younger women. In Son Brother Beliver he makes his case for being all three and how they helped shape his life.
Tyler Halverson has made an album that offers much and points to a singer and songwriter who has a lot of potential and who has made an album that is both a statement of intent for the future, as well as one that has strong attestation in the here and now.
Stephen Rapid
James Deely The Nashville Sessions New Shot
Ten songs of real quality from the guitar and the pen of this troubadour of the musical highway. James was born in Washington DC and was raised in New Jersey, where he spent his early years developing his music as a founding member of the popular local band The Valiants. They released three albums and played many gigs in legendary venues like the Green Parrot and the Stone Pony, while their reputation spread beyond their home base.
James also spent time living in Los Angeles, where he played with The Palisades, and his travels also took him to Florida and then back to California, where he settled for a number of years. Music has always been a big part of his life and in more recent times James has released a number of albums that are available via Bandcamp or Big America Records. This latest album was recorded in Nashville with producer Doc Holiday at Sony Recording Studios and at Owen Bradley's Barn, and it has been released on New Shot Records.
The album opens with Try My Luck and a fine example of the roots rock sound that threads the whole project. James sings of trying his luck one more time with a girl and, if he had any success, then it’s probably down to the great players backing him up. We are treated to the talents of Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, (Steve Earle/Del Lords) on guitar, Garry W. Tallent (Springsteen/Delevantes) on bass, Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes) on B3 organ, Bruce Tunkel on piano, and Ron Krasinski on drums.
The title track is another run at love and this time the rich melody builds into a great work out complete with pedal steel and the girl walking in right through the front door. When It Rains is a great rocker with biting electric lines and a honky-tonk piano in the mix. There are backing singers on many of the tracks that add great character to the song arrangements and we can place ourselves anywhere along a straight line that runs from the Stones ‘exile on main street’ vibe, all the way to Bruce Springsteen and his e-street band workouts. If my information is accurate, then the harmonies are courtesy of PK Lavengood, Judy Tint, and Layonne Holmes.
Soul Desire has a slower tempo on a love song that professes ‘I wanna get close to you, Hey there’s nothin’ else I want to do.’ The soulful sound is very appealing as the backing singers harmonise with the guitar melody. The song Even Cowgirls Get the Blues reminds me of that great novel by Tom Robbins and here, James is consoling a girl about the commitment and the price paid in finding your dreams. On Custom Made we have a mid-tempo rocker that extols the virtues of a classic car and the joys of driving the open roads with a vision of the horizon, and perhaps a girl by your side who is also custom made.
Running Back 56 is pure no-nonsense rockabilly with great guitar and piano lines as the beat insists upon a twirl on the nearest dancefloor. The slow melody on Much Too Young tells of a broken heart as a relationship closes and James sings ‘ My cards are on the table, with no aces in the hole, And I’m much too young to be feeling this damn old.’ Great fiddle playing on this track washes over the warm keyboard sounds, and some fine guitar brings everything home. As we wind down proceedings Maria comes along and is a love song straight out of a Springsteen playbook with impassioned vocals, a promise of devotion, a house outside of town, and some great ensemble playing from the musicians.
The final song is The Ballad Of Kvitz, a story song about drinking on a road trip from Tijuana and trying to forget about the girl that got away. When it comes to highways, broken hearts and the hope that tomorrow will bring brighter skies, look no further than James Deely and his atmospheric songs that are straight from the tried and trusted paths he has walked over his musical career. Great stuff!
Paul McGee
The Lone Bellow What A Time To Be Alive Self Release
In the press release for this new album, the Lone Bellow declare that “We invited more people into the process than ever before. It became less about three of us and more about a little community making something together.”
Well, one abiding thing that the trio of Zach Williams, Kanene Pipkin and Brian Elmquist has always been renowned for is their sense of community in the vibrant music they create. This is their sixth official album release in a career that dates back to 2013 and their standards continue to climb in the wonderful sound that emanates when they gather together around a communal microphone.
An abiding personal memory of this boundless spirit was captured at AmericanaFest 2018 when they played a sold-out show at the Station Inn in Nashville. With the queue outside snaking well down the street, and no real hope of entry to the gig, the trio appeared with acoustic guitars and sung three songs on the sidewalk to the delighted and grateful crowd. It was a real classy move and really highlighted for me the generosity of spirit that defines the Lone Bellow.
There is a real edge to this new release from the opening track, and After the Rain is an electric power surge wrapped in a soulful blues, as the message of survival rings clear ‘Whatever gets you through the night.’ The proclamation on I Did It For Love is in celebration of a life spent in following your passions and there is cathartic release in the joyous chorus. I can see this song being a firm favourite at future live performances as the audience sing out ‘I did it for love, I did it for the thrill of it all…We’re not strangers anymore.’
Another gem is Common Folk with a sing-along lines that recognise the commitment, the compromise, and the pleasure to be found in living a meaningful life with real purpose. Kanene Pipkin takes lead vocal on No Getting Over You and it’s something of a highlight among these superbly delivered songs. Her soulful tone has always brought great decoration to the ensemble singing and here she really shines with the rueful delivery of love unrequited ‘Flick of the wrist if you insist, I'm back at the start, break my own heart, There's no getting over you.’
Say arrives at the half-way point of the album and it’s the longest song included, with the shortest lyric at just a few lines, repeated over a lovely floating melody, augmented by pedal steel, trumpet and Hammond organ – it’s lush and filled with a longing – ‘Say, let's leave this place we know so well, I'm bound to lose this fight.’ Other relationship challenges are tackled on the songs You Were Leaving and Staring At the Sun, both from different perspectives – whether moving on from something that has run aground, or whether resolving to look beyond the faults in order to commit forward.
Night Goes Black can be taken as either another relationship song or indeed a political stance on the state of the nation. The disappointment of something that has gone sour is captured in the words - ‘It's getting so hard to believe you, Everything we've been through, So hard not to let it all go dark, And every thought and every notion, Is like a ship lost on the ocean, I close my eyes to the time we won't get back, And the night goes black.’ Powerful imagery to fuel the passionate delivery.
Honeysuckle brings light relief in the form of a relationship gone bad when the travelling husband arrives home to discover ‘As I pull up to the drive see her shadow's got a twin, Ain't heard a word from her since Friday, May not hear from her again’ – it’s something of an intermezzo between the main courses, but packed with charm in the performance.
The inclusion of a Bee Gees song is quite a surprise and Islands In the Stream is something that may be a live favourite with audiences, but here it doesn’t really add greatly to the flavour of the album. The harmonies are up to the usual standard of the trio, but unless I take it as a testament to their musical bond, it feels somewhat weak in the choice made. The commitment expressed on the track I’m Here For You captures the essence of attraction and true love ‘I can't believe it, I shouldn't think of you all day, I could just spend all my time, Doin' anything that you say.’
It’s both cinematic and heartfelt, recorded at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, something of a spiritual destination for the gospel-tinged, soulful songs. Additional players on the songs include Julian Dorio (drums, percussion), Tyler James Geertsma (bass, piano, guitar, trumpet, Wurlitzer), Nate Leath (violin), Matt Pynn (pedal steel), Bennet Lewis (pedal steel), Bryan Dawley (banjo, bass, piano), David Crutcher (Hammond organ), Daniel MacKenzie (tack piano, synths, mellotron), John Truman (drums, percussion, engineering). The main trio also contribute outside their stirring vocal powers, and Zach Williams (acoustic guitar), Kanene Pipkin (mandolin, bass), and Brian Elmquist (bass, guitars, piano) bring so much to the party.
The final song is also the album title and it’s a statement of quiet resolve to continue on; both in our relationships and in our fight to make a life that can have lasting reverberance ‘I thought it through and test the odds, That we could be, that we could walk, The same big world, but chances are, One in a million… Oh what a time, To be alive.’ Despite our differences, it’s a call to find common ground despite the odds. Yet another fine album and a real tribute to the ongoing climb in this band’s career.
Paul McGee
John Smith Gatherings Commoner
This album was released at the back end of 2025 and it marked an anniversary for John Smith in his 20th year as a professional musician. To celebrate such a feat of commitment and pure will to endure, John decided to revisit his first three albums that started him on the road to world domination in the Folk and Roots community, where today he’s held in the highest esteem.
His vocal prowess has a resonance and a reverential quality that combines so seamlessly with his finger-style and flat-picking guitar talents, which focus on alternate, open tunings. To watch him perform live is something of a hypnotic experience and you are lulled into a quiet sense of reverie as the songs unfold. One of his early influences was Kelly Joe Phelps, and his admiration of John Martyn is also well documented, as John Smith learned his craft over previous years of absorbing the great music of his heroes and of constant touring..
He played recently in my home town of Dublin with his favoured Fylde electro-acoustic and Mule Resophonic guitars as trusted allies. The textures and tones that he achieves are far beyond my comprehension as a willing listener, but whatever the technical qualities of his pedal board, the results are not only mesmerising, but also laced with sorcery in the delivery.
These qualities are now evident on this look back at ten earlier song versions that John has now painted in new colours, as he re-interprets the original arrangements, and produces an album of lasting quality. The three albums that feature are THE FOX AND THE MONK (2010) with Winter, To Have So Many, and Something Terrible; MAP OR DIRECTION (2009) with Another Country and A Long Way For A Woman, and GREAT LAKES (2013) with Great Lakes, Freezing Winds Of Change, Salty and Sweet, Town To Town, and Forever To the End given a new lease of life.
Included in the booklet is the tuning for each song, should you want to practice at the feet of the master, and things kick off with the lovely harmonies of The Staves joining John and a beautiful string arrangement on Great Lakes, a song of the challenges that love demands. A Long Way For A Woman has wonderful layering on both acoustic and electric guitars, alongside the rich vocal of John and his magic box of tricks, including foot percussion sounds. On Freezing Winds Of Change we have strings (David Shaw, Gorwyn Linnell) mixing with low whistle (Mike McGoldrick), and harmony vocals from Siobhan Miller. The skills of Nick Pinl (double bass) and Sebastian Brice (percussion, vocals) are also featured across the songs.
Something Terrible is a highlight with the slow rhythm and guitar slap, against the electric guitar of Adam Levy and a love song of devotion for our times ‘I can’t get up, My legs are good as gone, Oh I love her something terrible.’ Lisa Hannigan joins with John on lead vocals and the jaunty sound of Salty and Sweet is a simple song about the varying attractions of the ocean deep. To Have So Many is the longest song included here and both Lisa Hannigan and The Staves join together on harmony vocals, with the tenor saxophone and trumpet playing of Iain and Charlie Ballamy a nice compliment to the fiddle of John McCusker.
Town To Town is a gentle song about searching for a connection, missing the girl, and wanting something of substance. On Another Country there is a commitment to stay and watch love grow, even with the pull and tug of wanting to travel away for new adventure. Winter is a real tour de force of guitar histrionics with John bringing off-the-charts technique to his instrument in a harmonic dance of melody and rhythm. It’s always beguiling to watch this song performed in a live setting and the atmospherics created make it a stand out moment.
The final song Forever To the End features Don Mangan on piano and vocals while John sings of our human condition ‘We are one, Nothing could be clearer under the sun, There’s none you should hold dearer than the ones, Who will race forever at your side, As we run forever to the end.’
It’s a timely reminder of the huge talent that John Smith brings to everything that he undertakes, and whether playing on his array of acoustic, electric or 12-string guitars, piano, electric bass or percussion, he shines brightly throughout. This is such an enjoyable album and a perfect introduction should you be unaware of the music that John Smith has created across the seven albums that define his career progress to date. An essential purchase.
Paul McGee