Amanda Cook Restless Soul Mountain Home
Floridian Amanda Cook didn’t come to bluegrass until she taught herself mandolin and upright bass as a young adult, forming the traditional bluegrass band High Cotton with her banjo-playing father in 2007. This led to launching her own Amanda Cook Band in 2015, now having adding guitar to her armoury. Moving to Virginia, she also trained to be a sound engineer and then producer at her record label, Mountain Home.
RESTLESS SOUL is Cook’s fifth band album, and it continues her exploration of a progressive sound, showing her ability to pick good songs and make them her own. Her choice of opening song lays down her life philosophy to date, New Star reflecting her constant seeking of new opportunities and challenges. Equally appropriate for a touring musician is her take on Harley Allen’s poignant and open-ended Last Road Going Home, leaving no doubt that the toll of being on the road is tough on relationships, “I’m the cause of all your pain/I wonder how you stood the strain so long”. The Devil’s Looking Glass is a dark tale, where no-one comes back alive from that foggy mountain top, Troy Boone (mandolin) and George Mason (fiddle) particularly adeptly creating the ominous atmosphere.
Right from the attacking opening chords, you know that Mitchell Mullins, from the pen of Tim Stafford and Thomas Cassell, is going to come to a sticky end, another sinister story song that bluegrass does so well. Brady Wallen shows off his driving guitar prowess, while Try Boone’s mandolin is also prominent on this one. Tom T Hall’s The Water Lily is another story song, this time desperately sad, and It’s Almost Over is a slow paced and passionately performed gospel offering. Best of all is Brink Brinkman’s Try To Catch The Wind, where the spurned lover tells her beau that he has as much chance of getting her back as he has in trying to catch the wind. Carolyne Van Lierop, who has been with Amanda since the early days, plays a mean banjo on this one. Three broken heart songs make up the remainder of the tracks on this thoroughly enjoyable album. It’s not one that grabs you immediately, but repeated listens reap rewards.
And since this album was recorded, Amanda Cook has become the owner of her record label, Mountain Home! Let’s hope that her optimism and seeking of opportunities reaps rewards.
Eilis Boland
Special Consensus Been All Around This World Compass
Amazingly, Greg Cahill’s bluegrass band has been on the road for all of fifty years, and their latest release celebrates this by gathering together most of the living alumni for a lovingly curated set of songs, old and new. All the arrangements and the production were wisely entrusted once again to their record label’s head honcho (and lauded banjo player) Alison Brown, and recorded in Compass Sound Studio in Nashville.
Many of the graduates of Greg Cahill’s band have gone on to become band leaders in their own right, and the opening song, What Am I Doing Hanging’ ‘Round?, made famous by The Monkees, is sung by one of those graduates, Chris Jones, in his ever-so-smooth vocals. The current Special Consensus road band are to the fore on all of the eleven tracks - Greg Cahill himself on banjo, Greg Blake on vocals and guitar, Dan Eubanks on bass and harmonies and Brian McCarty on mandolin and harmonies. That song was written by Michael Martin Murphey, as was another inclusion and live fan favourite, Carolina In The Pines, which has remained in their set since it was a ‘hit’ in 2010. A newer kid on the block, who now also fronts his own successful band, Rick Faris takes lead vocal and lead guitar on the Marvelettes’ Please Mr Postman (probably better known here for the Beatles’ version).
Chicago’s Dallas Wayne was a member of the band before he went down the country music route, and he comes on board for a gorgeous version of Merle Haggard’s I’m Always On A Mountain When I Fall, the arrangement and backing vocals perfectly suiting his deep country vocals. Multiple awarded guitar player and vocalist (currently with Southern Legacy, formerly with Rhonda Vincent) Josh Williams leads off on the title track, and mandolin player (and now also a successful bluegrass songwriter) Ashby Frank sings lead on the gently paced country song, The Singer. Tony Rice’s Like A Train harkens back to the very first Special Consensus record in 1979 and features the drive that Greg Cahill always strives for, this time rerecorded with Robbie Fulks on lead vocals and guitar. Fulks also leads on King Of The Road, an appropriate country song for a band who spend many weeks of the year on the road in Greg’s infamous minivan (the source of many jokes!). The latter number also gives bassist Dan Eubanks a chance to shine, but sadly he has since retired from the endless road. Producer Alison Brown joins Greg on duelling banjos for the only instrumental, Red, Red Robin.
They chose John Hartford’s I Wish We Had Our Time Again for the finale, one which Greg says brought tears to his eyes, as most of the guests joined for a riotous choral version, complete with duo instrumental breaks and brace yourself for the long joke sequence to fade out.
“It’s all about friends in the by and by ...”
Highly recommended and get ready for their bi-annual return to Ireland in January 2027.
Eilis Boland
Clark Paterson Are You Lonely Like Me?
There is something in Clark Paterson's voice that ably suggests that he is not expecting life to turn out for the best, plus given that the songs he has co-written with Mark Cline Bates (and also one song by Jeremy Climer) for this album further illuminate this sense of downbeat resolve and unsatisfactory resolutions. Yet these same lyrics that are whole opuses of self-deprecation are full of a humour that leaves you feeling good about yourself, maybe because you feel that you don’t have it as bad as he does. Paterson used to play in Robert’s Western World, that oasis of something close to real hardcore country in Nashville’s Lower Broadway, there he picked up some songwriting inspiration from those that in habited the venue and endorsed that long held cliche of country music that 'misery loves company'.
It also sounds pretty good too, Shawn Byrne and Eric McConell's production works in all the right ways that lets the band get the mood right for this contemporary take on classic heartbreak tales. Add to that such notable players as Paul Niehaus on steel and dobro, fiddler Billy Contreras and drummer John McTigue 111, to name just three of those who join Paterson and Bates in the studio. Vocally they are joined by Sierra Ferrell for one track and by Abe Partridge for a recitation on another. Luella Matthwes adds effective harmonies throughout the album too.
There is one cover here which closes the album and sounds as if it was intended in its arrangement to reflect the overall context of the tracks and that is, fittingly, their take on the Morrisey/Marr song There Is A Light. But back to the top and the album opens with If I Didn’t Laugh. You can guess the rest of that line yourself. Another defensive mode is taken then with It’s My Liver … “and I’ll do what I want with it.” The protagonist has been told to change his lifestyle if he wants to have a future. However, as the title maintains, he is resolute in his approach.
By God opens with a recitation by Partridge, which returns in the middle of the song, to offer solace and outlines the sense that what life has placed before you may not be smooth but you feel that you need to do your best for your family. A more strident message was the core of the isolation felt when confined to hospital after a heart attack and notes that’s when you know who your friends are. “Much more than the folks who surrounded you at your favourite bar.” Learning what really matters and how the world spins.
Paterson tells the tale of reaching a point where he contemplates spending the last money in his pocket. My Last Hundred Bucks shows that it will not be wisely. More in classic story telling mode is Put Me On A Train, which asks to be placed in the carriage to escape several outlined personal issues, but he lets us know that perhaps he has had a hand in this, “I admit it I ain’t no Rhodes Scholar / and most of my jokes are real off colour”. More of a groove is the song which is the fairly self-explanatory mind-set of the necessary grind but still declaring that they are Allergic To Work. Here he is joined in the spirited chorus by Sierra Ferrell.
The title track takes a step back to reflect on the human condition, noting that we all want to love and to be loved, though the actual practice of some dysfunctional relationships means that he wants to make love and she wants to make war, and that becomes the status quo. A learning curve and deeper understanding of a simple lifestyle is something Paterson encountered while meeting a man when he was a working on a farm, as detailed in Farmhand.
The ensemble gathered here has made a musically satisfying album that is as strong on that level as it is in the combined vocals and the lyrical direction, and despite its downbeat nature is accomplished and well realised. An album for the lonely and the not so.
Stephen Rapid
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs Mission of Mercy Soundly/Thirty Tigers
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs formed in 2000 as a side project to Campbell’s work with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. The band’s name derives from the slang for a broken amp dial, and MISSION OF MERCY is the band’s fourth studio album. The band is Campbell’s fellow Heartbreaker Steve Ferrone (drums), Chris Holt (guitar, keys) and Lance Morrison (bass), and the latest album is a driving, rootsy affair that welds together classic rock (Let Me Back in My Dream, Wrecking Ball) and 1960s psychedelia (Mission Of Mercy) while also including some quieter moments (Vagrant) and nods to his co-writes with Tom Petty (No Regrets, I Remember).
Morgane Stapleton (wife of Chris Stapleton) duets on More Than Gold and founding member of The B-52s Kate Pierson guests on Bongo Mania. The production duties were shared by George Drakoulias (The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks) and Martin Pradler (Ringo Starr, Robbie Robertson).
A master at creating great driving music for decades, MISSION OF MERCY is precisely what you would expect and hope from Campbell and his soldiers, echoing the heady musical sound of former eras. Alongside touring, writing and recording, Campbell also penned his 450-page autobiography Heartbreaker, which, together with this twelve-track album, is highly recommended.
Declan Culliton
Mike Richmond Without An Audience Strolling Bones
“I was asking myself, why am I writing these songs? Is anyone going to care?" questions Mike Richmond on the recording of his debut solo album, ironically titled WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE, no doubt mirroring the concerns many artists face, given the saturation level of recordings in recent years. Well, we cared enough about the twelve-track album to invest well-spent time listening to and reviewing it.
Richmond was a co-founder of the band Love Tractor with Mark Cline who, alongside R.E.M. and The B-52s, helped found the Athens, Georgia alternative rock scene in the 1980s. Richmond’s debut album travels down a somewhat different path with a more rootsy, often psychedelic, alt-country vibe than his former work. He recorded vocals and guitar parts at Japanski Studios in Athens and called in several local artists and friends to complete the recordings. These players included John Neff (Drive By Truckers) on pedal steel, Joe Rowe (The Glands) on drums, bass players David Barbe (Mercyland Sugar) and Ben Hackett (New Madrid), fiddler Adam Poulin (Grassland String Band), and guitarists Jason NeSmith (Pylon Reenactment Society) and Neil Rosenbaum (Backline Now).
In keeping with the album title and track of the same name, the country-tinged It’s Never Too Late To Finish Last is a self-deprecating inclusion. On a more thought-provoking note, Small Southern Towns recalls and celebrates the locations where Richmond played in the deep South during his heady touring days, as well as the celebrated artists who grew up there. Murder In The Forest tells the true tale of a young girl murdered close to where Richmond grew up in Athens, Georgia. Maiden Voyage looks back on Richmond’s previous life in the Naval Air Force before his career switch as a founding member of the band Love Tractor, and the rockabilly All For You harks back to his childhood and his exposure to Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
There’s little that is wildly original or innovative about WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE, just the work of an artist who knows what he’s good at and enjoys himself in doing so.
Declan Culliton
Jason Eady Tulsa Turnaround Melodyville
MISSISSIPPI, the 2023 album by Jason Eady, was a recording that recreated the music he loved as a child growing up in Jackson, Mississippi. His latest album takes on a similar dimension, in this case revisiting the Tulsa sound, a blend of blues, folk, country, swamp and rock music so popular in Oklahoma, particularly in the 1970s, by artists like J.J. Cale, Elvin Bishop, and Leon Russell.
Playing a show in Tulsa while touring that 2023 album, Eady hooked up with Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter and producer John Fullbright and joined him at a local jam session in Tulsa. That experience reignited Eady’s passion for that distinctive sound and eventually led him to approach Fullbright to produce this twelve-track album. In keeping with local tradition, the recording took place forty-five miles east of Memphis at Farmhouse Recording Studio. The studio was previously owned by the late Steve Ripley, himself a former owner of Church Studio in Tulsa, which Leon Russell opened and was considered the hub of the Tulsa sound.
Unlike Eady’s previous work, the emphasis was more on ‘the sound’ than the stories on this record. “I’m not trying to say too much or get too much meaning into these songs”, he explains, “I just want to let them live and let them feel good and let the music carry it.” Reinforcing that point, the title track, a co-write with Ray Wylie Hubbard and with a definite J.J.Cale feel to it, namechecks Cale, Leon Russell and The Gap Band. Two ‘bottle’ songs stand out. Old Drunken Sailor has a gorgeous John Prine feel to it, and the confessional country ballad Mean Spirits is trademark Eady.
You Make It Easy is a swampy delight, complete with slick rhythm guitar, harmonica breaks and hushed backing vocals and the shuffling boogie rhythm in Shotgun Shack is a joy. Returning to the classic J.J.Cale vibe, the laid-back, mid-tempo sound of Stay Up or Get Down is infectious, before the album is bookended on a similar note with the instrumental Outro.
The Tulsa sound was/is a thoughtful, genre-crossing fusion of American roots music, and Eady represents it with aplomb here. Slick playing, never overstated, mellow harmonies and Eady’s relaxed vocal all add up to forty minutes of blissful listening.
Declan Culliton
The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! Music Sound Better When You’re Stoned Self Release
New Jersey is home to Gary Van Miert, the self-styled psychedelic cowboy. Now on his fourth album, Gary decided to name his performing vehicle as The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! and he cites many influences that have inspired him over the years to create his own musical vision. Gary grew up with the Beatles and the Stones; however, he was as much interested in their original influences, as he was in the music that both groups were making.
Not only has Gary spoken of the influence of Carl Perkins, Hank Williams and Muddy Waters; he has also referenced other key artists that shaped his musical vision, such as Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Brother Joe May, Charlie Feathers, Smiley Lewis, Brother Claude Ely, and Ernest Tubb. The ten songs included on this latest album are all written by Gary, and he plays every instrument, as well as self producing the entire project. Kudos for the obvious talent involved in all of this.
His electric guitar work is both impressive and prominent in the song arrangements, and there are also rich keyboards to swell the sound. Some tracks use brass and organ sounds, and is that a Rickenbacker guitar that jangles, perhaps that’s a Farfisa keyboard, or a pump organ on a track that brings the music to life? In putting the individual arrangements together, Gary made use of Nashville Master Tracks; a group of musicians, engineers and producers who assist in turning music ideas into master recordings.
Without individual musician credits, it’s an impossible task to pinpoint who plays what on each of the tracks, but the overall impact is certainly entertaining and very listenable. The title track kicks everything off with Gary extolling the virtues of listening to music while high. There is a big rocking sound on the arrangement with guitar leading the charge, and then on Come Out and Play the more mellow tempo hints at a growing love and the hope of sunny days into the future.
There is a psychedelic Alice In Wonderland vibe to A Mad Tea Party and the sense that all the best folks taking part are a little bit crazy. Wurlitzer sounds trip lightly along as the pipe organ leads into a nice guitar solo; all very enjoyable as we sip our tea. This leads to a real flight of fancy and a trip to space on Across the Milky Way a song that might have been conjured by any of the 60s psychedelic bands. Changing Of the Guard is more of a straight rocker and it speaks of shifting sands, the passing of the baton to a younger generation, and time passages.
The brass sound on My Doppelganger supports some fine New Orleans style piano as the lead instrument. We are all supposed to have our doppelganger walking around somewhere in the world, and if we ever were to find our exact look-alike, I wonder just what we would choose to say to each other. Perhaps getting stoned is not such a bad option after all. Harsh Toke is another rock-oriented groove and the feeling of having taken too big a hit from a joint can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and of panic.
Stoners Circus is about turning up at the big tent and realising that all the performers are also high on various substances. The authentic sounds of the circus are recreated on accordion and brass, pump organ and other instruments in the background. On Time isn’t Real the concept of passing days and months is debunked; time is just a concept, and we should just smash all our timepieces in attempts to increase our happiness potential.
The final track is Star Child, and it is a nod to the joys of youth, footloose and free, as we sail across the skies in search of adventure and fun. The universe is both shaped and at the mercy of our future actions and Gary Van Miert wants nothing but positive vibes to unfold on the new frontier. Being stoned is an option, but it certainly comes recommended in Gary’s book of life. A fun project that delivers plenty of strong moments. It may not appeal to everyone but isn’t that the true essence of music – to find what inspires you.
Paul McGee
The Glass Hours Chapel Glass Cornelius Chapel
Contemporary folk duo Megan Barbera and Brad Armstrong enjoy tight harmony vocals and a predominantly acoustic sound across the ten songs that make up this third album release. Adaline is a track that addresses a deceased mother who is trying to communicate with her living child, left to grow up alone and in need of comfort “I left some money in a cigar box/ I know it isn’t much.” An interesting take on the grief that death brings to a family unit.
Man Who Had Everything looks back at a past relationship that has failed. It is filled with regret and has some plaintive guitar that echoes the loneliness. North is a song with a country swing and a couple looking to take a road trip in order to find that lost spark once again.
Not Your Ordinary Heart slows everything down to an acoustic strum and leads into quiet accompaniment from Baxter Alexander on keyboards, Matt Patton on bass and Jason Lucia on drums. On Colorado Megan Barbera sings a tribute to her home state wrapped in a love song about waiting for her man to return home. Brad Armstrong is the perfect foil for Barbera’s vocals, and his guitar playing and harmonies fit snugly into the arrangement. With the country stroll of In the Morning, we can see the summer fields and the dog running ahead on the trail. Talk of leaving for fresher fields is in the air, however.
The songs were recorded in just five days, live on the floor of Dial Back Sound studios in Water Vally, Mississippi. Co-production is courtesy of Clay Jones, together with the duo, and the creative mix works well. Providence is a highlight, a song about breaking up and the words tell the full story “There’s a place I can get to where nothing is broken in me.” The banjo on In the Pines is played by Armstrong to bring a tangible atmosphere on a sad tale about not being able to find peace. It’s a real country slice of hard times “roll on river, carry me.”
The up tempo and bright sounds on You Set the Sun deliver a nice easy rhythm with both Barbera and Armstrong in synch on vocals. Love is in the air on this one, and again, the banjo parts add a nice touch. The title of the album is also the final track, and it reminds me of a Lyle Lovett song in the delivery, all reflective, yearning and graced with a gentle delivery. An interesting album that is rich in both the songwriting and the musicianship.
Paul McGee
Ellen Braun The Doldrums Self Release
This album is a debut release for Canadian singer songwriter Ellen Braun. She lives in Alberta and was the recipient of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to assist in the making of this record. She also ran a successful kick-starter campaign to help cover the album costs, and the production duties were entrusted to Howard Bilerman at Hotel2Tango studios in Montréal.
The studio players deliver a very interesting set of ten songs, and their interplay is both understated and always on point. Ellen Braun (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stef Schneider (percussion), Sage Reynolds (upright bass), Mike O'Brien (acoustic and electric guitars), Sarah Hiltz (vocals, piano, synthesizer) perform these self-penned songs in impressive style. The abiding theme running through the songs is that of love, in all its complex aspects. Whether winning in relationships, breaking away from broken romances, stoking the fires on new possibilities, or simply reflecting upon the mistakes made and the lessons learned; these are the challenges we all face in choosing love and the dilemma of whether to stick or twist in the great card game of liaisons and life.
The title track deals with a struggling relationship where the metaphor of stormy seas highlight the struggle “The waves are crashing / I could swim/ but I can’t watch you struggling / and we’re still so far from land.” Similarly on the song Gravity there are communication challenges and the use of sand and sea in the lyrics as visual signposts. The relationship has run its course on You Had My Love and the blame falls openly “I’m doing what I need to do / It’s not me / it’s you.”
Fall Away is a song about letting go of doubts and fears and being vulnerable in the presence of intimacy and on Map Reader there is some fine restrained guitar against the doubt of knowing which direction to take “Unsteady hands / unstable ground / shaking my fate / unfamiliar sounds / surround me now / lying in wait.” There is a fragility in the words here and these personal songs open a window into the internal process of this interesting songwriter.
On the Line is a song about leaving and the lyrics paint a clear picture “Thin strips of light / casting their beams against the door / Open suitcase on the floor.” The same theme is explored on The Book with the ending of a romance “Take one last look and taste what you took / We wrote the book.” There are lovely piano and guitar parts that lift the melody, which unfolds above a rich bass line.
The up-tempo arrangement on Walk On adds some welcome dynamic in the delivery with fine electric guitar and a pulsing rhythm section playing in unison with the building keyboard sounds. It’s a highlight in terms of letting the band stretch out. I See You is a song that tackles domestic abuse and the price paid for not standing up to the bullies “I want to make it end / I wish there was something I could do / Rather than witness what he puts you through.”
With all the challenges and complications displayed by the previous songs on this album, it’s self-evident that relationships are often doomed to failure, despite love being the original goal, perhaps concealed in all its different guises. What is this fatal attraction that pulls and tugs at us, where we commit to feelings, even if they portray some form of unreal emotion? We are like lemmings falling off a cliff.
The final song Nashville is a statement of intent to live in a manner that is true to the self. Let the spirit out of the bottle and choose happiness “I miss the music that fills up my heart / that kept me from breaking/ from falling apart.” The rousing chorus of “I’m singing my song” is delivered in full harmony and to great effect by The Nashville Choir: Sarah Hiltz, Stephanie Gagnon, Laura Newman, Babette Hayward, William Kuklis, and Joseph Shea.
This is a very fine example of a contemporary singer songwriter who is unafraid to reveal her real emotions on a record that dissects relationships from every angle, posing as many questions as she has found answers. Worthy of your time and a very strong debut.
Paul McGee