New Album Reviews

Caleb Elliott Weed, Wine & Time Single Lock

My introduction to the music of the Muscle Shoals classically trained cellist, Caleb Elliott, was his 2019 album FOREVER TO FADE. Described as ‘swamp art rock’, its blend of soulful summery tunes, bordering on prog at times, was a breath of fresh air and it was an album that I found myself returning to quite regularly that year.

WEED, WINE & TIME follows a similar musical template. Recorded at the Florence, AL studio Sun Drop Sound, Elliott teamed up once more with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, John Paul White, Lera Lynn) to co-produce the eleven tracks. They work their magic throughout, incorporating strings, keys and gentle harmony vocals in all the right places and also creating some dreamy radio-friendly gems. The opener Sweeter Paradigm and Sister, which follows, are cases in point. The former is an exceptionally well-constructed instantly catchy nugget and the latter, motivated by his sister’s struggle with cancer, is simply beautiful and the album’s standout track.

Echoes of Neil Young and Dylan Le Blanc were close to the surface on Elliott’s debut album and appear again here on the grungy No Telling. He’s equally at home dishing out more laid-back ballads Warships and Union Of Strangers or foraying into soulful prog on the duet Isolation with AJ Haynes of Seratones.  

Maybe it’s the weed or the wine, but WW&T is every bit as trippy and funky as its predecessors and is an equally impressive and easy on the ear creation from one very laid-back dude.

Review by Declan Culliton

Dean Owens El Tiradito (the curse of sinner’s shrine) CRS

Recorded at WaveLab Studios in Tuscon, Arizona, and released in 2022, SINNER’S SHRINE evolved from Dean Owens’ sessions with Joey Burns, John Convertino and a host of their Calexico collaborators and players. Following on from that delightful suite of desert border sun-drenched songs, Owens has released EL TIRADITO. It’s a double album, one disc featuring instrumentals that did not make the cut for SINNERS SHRINE and another disc that gathers together the material that appeared on Owens’ three-disc release, THE DESERT TRILOGY EPs. Reworkings of two tracks, La Lomita and The Hopeless Ghosts, are also included as bonus tracks.

The legend behind the title EL TIRADITO is one of passion, lost love and tragedy and is marked by a ‘sinners’ shrine’ to the present day. The location marks the spot in Tucson, Arizona, where a ranch hand, following a passionate affair with the wife of his boss, was murdered by the rancher, who in turn is scalped by Apaches while on the run. The eight instrumental tracks that feature were written by Owen as a soundtrack of an imagined ‘spaghetti western’ movie telling the tale of those ill-fated events of unbridled passion, danger and chaos.

Standout tracks previously recorded on THE DESERT TRILOGY EPs and featured are the haunting Dolina, adorned by Jacob Valenzuela’s booming trumpet, and the quite stunning Riverline, with Owens’ by now trademark whistling working alongside slick guitar playing by Naim Amor. Others that make their mark are the eerie murder ballad The End and the evocative Ashes & Dust.

The quality of the material aside, credit goes to James Morrison and Luisa Carmela Casasanta for the striking artwork for this and, indeed, for all the previous album covers from the project. This is most likely the final chapter in what has been a purple patch in the Leith, Edinburgh, singer songwriter’s musical career to date. Having said that, I suspect that the lure of the burning deserts, the Morricone-themed western soundtracks, and those mariachi horns, may raise their heads once more in future Dean Owens projects.

Review by Declan Culliton

Leftover Salmon Grass Roots Compass

Credited as one of the principal forefathers of the burgeoning newgrass/jamgrass scene, Colorado-based Leftover Salmon have dipped their toes into every sub-genre of acoustic bluegrass over the band’s three-decade existence. The current line-up of the band is made up of founding members Vince Herman (guitar) and Drew Emmitt (mandolin), Greg Garrison, Andy Thorn (banjo), Alwyn Robinson (drums) and recent recruit Jay Starling (dobro, keyboards).

Joined by wonder kid Billy Strings founding member of The David Grisman Quintet, Darol Anger and the frontman of The Wood Brothers, Oliver Wood, the band reconstruct bluegrass standards on the album and put their individual stamp on songs by Bob Dylan (Simple Twist Of Fate), The Grateful Dead (Black Peter), Link Wray (Fire and Brimstone), Tony Rice (Blue Railroad Train), and David Bromberg (The New Lee Highway Blues). Much of this featured material is songs and tunes that Herman and Emmitt originally performed in The Salmon Heads and The Left Hand String Band prior to forming Leftover Salmon.

As you would expect, the playing is exemplary throughout and no more so than on the racy instrumental Nashville Skyline Rag, with Billy Strings adding additional guitar firepower, and the raging Riding On The L&M.

Readers already familiar with the back catalogue of Left Over Salmon won’t need any convincing to get on board GRASS ROOTS and with the ever-growing interest in the genre from a younger audience, the album is likely to spread their word much farther afield.

Review by Declan Culliton

Kassi Valazza Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing Loose

HIGHWAY SOUNDS, a four-track EP from 2022, was my initial introduction to the musical world of Portland-based singer songwriter, Kassi Valazza. That encounter, impressive as it was, led me back to her 2019 album DEAR DEAD DAYS. Both recordings were a gateway into the sonic leanings of an artist who seemed every bit at home pouring her heart out with a country ballad as she was executing a sophisticated and often cosmic-leaning folk song.

Splendid as those recordings are, her latest album, KASSI VALAZZA KNOWS NOTHING, raises the bar a considerable number of notches. There is a consistency and noticeable common ground across the ten tracks on the album that suggests an artist that knows exactly what she’s doing. The overall mood of the album is a trawll through the intimate space in the creator’s personality. Relationships are recalled, possibly with as much regret as fondness, leaving the listener to interpret the song’s often romantic inner meanings. 

An anxious live performer by admission, Valazza cut her teeth on the live circuit as a backing vocalist with the late Patrick Haggerty’s country band, Lavender Country before concentrating on a solo career. Despite her stage unease, intense and spellbinding live performances and the quality of her writing have created a growing audience and interest in her work. This latest suite of songs perfectly captures what she’s about. The album’s title is taken from the name of Valazza’s studio band, TK & The Know Nothings, and their low-key arrangements are the perfect foil for Valazza’s calculated and gently delivered tales.

The isolation and loneliness of life on the road emerge in the postcard-type lyrics of Room In The City and matching apprehension and self-doubt populate Long Way From Home (‘I’d rather be lonely than be on my own’). Darkness also seeps through on the hauntingly lonesome sound of Smile. While much of the album maintains a consistent sonically-muted ambience throughout, the stand-out track, Watching Planes Go By, allows her band to drift off into a trippy meander mid-song, stretching the song to the six-minute mark. She closes the album with a cover of Michael Hurley’s Wildgeeses. It’s a fitting tribute to the free-spirited artist and poet who was an integral part of the Greenwich folk scene in the 60s and 70s and is revered by Valazza. It also mirrors the decades where the album finds its closest links, whether that is the classic folk sounds of the East and West of America or those of English folk at that time.

Far from a Saturday night listen, KASSI VALAZZA KNOWS NOTHING is an enthralling portal into the music and compositions of an imaginative mind. Backed by some very talented players and with a silver-voiced vocalist, it’s both fiercely intensive and deeply absorbing. 

Review by Declan Culliton

GracieHorse L.A.Shit Wharf Cat

After an eight-year hiatus, Los Angeles-based GracieHorse’s return to the recording studio has been well worth the wait. Previously a member of Boston-duo Fat Creeps, Gracie (Jackson) has constructed a nine-track album with twang, edginess, and psychedelia in all the right places, bringing to mind the many experimental acts that earned the alt-country tag in the late- 20th century.

Rather than pre-meditated, the writing and recording process came about by happenchance. A nurse by profession, Gracie was recovering from a work-related injury and that misfortune, alongside the pandemic, found her revisiting previously written songs and also creating newer material. Calling on a number of L.A. players, including members of Cairo Gang, Ty Segal and Bonnie Prince Billy, she recorded the album at Jonny Kosmo’s Slime House Recordings.

Reinvigorated and with quite a lot to say, Gracie’s gritty vocal deliveries and sharp lyrics, alongside that crew of players, deal with multiple issues, from the grinding reality of survival in both L.A. and an unforgiving music industry. The gilt-edged opener, Hollow Head, laced with pedal steel and razor-sharp guitar breaks, is a defiant statement of setting free and taking control. Equally gorgeous are the country noir What I’m Missing and the banjo-led and even darker, Northwind.  It’s not all totally avant-garde either, Backup Slowly is a witty barroom country affair and If You’re Gonna Walk That Way Son, It’s Only Gonna Hurt - great title – doffs its cap in the direction of Neil Young. Bookending the album, with the expressiveness of a movie score, is the twangy and galloping Words Of The New West.  

The highest compliment I can pay this album is that I found myself revisiting it regularly after a few initial plays and enjoying it more on each listen. It epitomises what is so appealing about like-minded acts like Jim White, Freakwater, Blue Mountain, and others who, ignoring the mainstream, step into unchartered territories to create arrangements packed with left-of-centre diversions.

Review by Declan Culliton

Tapestri Tell Me World Shimi

Tapestri formed after the chance meeting in 2019 of two already well established Welsh bilingual folk artists, Sarah Zyborska (aka SERA) and Lowri Evans. Judging by this, their debut album, this was a creative match made in heaven. From the Everly-esque harmonies (so good that they could be mistaken for siblings), the sensitive intelligent songwriting, the memorable tunes, and the Americana flavoured production, it’s not a surprise that they are classed firmly within the newly coined Cymrucana genre.

Anyone who has had any involvement with the tyranny of domestic violence, either as a victim or supporting those victims (as I have), will quickly recognise that the upbeat title track is actually written from the viewpoint of the unfortunate victim. It expresses the conflicted feelings she experiences as she attempts to gather the courage to leave, wavering between staying or going, in this case spurred on by the love for her child - ‘you raise your hand/I raise a child/she deserves better than this’. Female empowerment is again celebrated in Waiting In the Background, an exploration of the changing role of women from the 50’s through to the present day.

As well as sharing vocals throughout, both women play keyboards and Lowri Evans also plays acoustic guitar. Evans co-produces with Lee Mason, who contributes guitars and organ. They are bolstered by Dave Walsh on drums, Jake Newman on bass, and Henry Priestman on Hammond. We’re introduced to the sweet pedal steel of David Hartley on the outstanding Save Your Love, a bittersweet song of unrequited love, with the protagonist attempting to let her lover down gently, ‘I will be your lover/but I won’t be your wife’. She’s A Lover, with its gentle acoustic guitar, upright bass and piano, celebrates the sassy older woman that we all recognise - she ‘doesn’t always believe your stories/ doesn’t always believe her own’ but ‘she’ll never leave you lonely’ and ‘she’ll have one more ride on the rodeo’. Hartley’s pedal steel also adds magic on several other tracks, including Genes, prompted by the birth of Zyborska’s daughter and on Atgofian/Sweet Memories (sung in Welsh) which was inspired by the emigration of Evan’s great aunt to the US in the 40’s, never to see her family or Wales again. Come Alive appears to return to the character we first met in Tell Me World, but this time she is beginning to blossom in the morning sun after a long period in the darkness, her release celebrated in the swelling and cascading harmonies. Mention must also be made of the other Welsh language track, Y Fflam/Open Flame, where the powerful feeling of being in love also carries inherent risk, like the moth to the proverbial flame.

Completed by a nature and music inspired cover art, this is an album I urge you to seek out and enjoy.

Review by Eilís Boland

JD Darling Looking Forward Thinking Back Self Release

Another hard-working farmer, JD Darling takes care of his acres and during that time he also thinks about the music he makes. He is living in Tennessee currently, though he was previously based in Texas and was born in Alabama, and as a result, has been listening to country music most of his life. He has a special love for the artists who released albums that came out in the 90s. The opening song on this lengthy sixteen-track debut album focuses on that era, as do some of the sounds on this album, though he is not strictly trying to mimic what made the charts then - and perhaps those albums would not do so now. Though that may be something of a debate, given that there is a growing interest in what now seems more of a golden age for music that, good or bad, was identifiably country.

We get into the heart of the album early on with tracks like Some Are Lonely Nights. A tale of possibilities which is given a suitable slow paced reading that highlights its poignancy. Much of these themes are based on personal feelings and observations. You Can Feel It references “the boys of summer out west” and their hopes and fears. One Way Or Another appears to be about a sense of duty out on the range or in other circumstances. Hell No (All The Time) is about saying no to change, no matter how well it is being sold or even, perhaps, needed. Other immediate standouts include I’ll Swing By Sometime and Hold On To Me in which Darling’s vocal delivery is notable. There are also times when the band rock out, which gives the album another direction that fits the overall scheme.

The album was recorded over a period of time in Nashville and from the fifteen musicians listed it appears to have taken place over a period of time, allowing Darling and co-producer John Kennedy the space for the sound and vision to find itself. One of the things that was important to integrate into the sound was the pedal steel. It appears throughout the album’s tracks and allows four different musicians to be credited with the instrument. 

All the material was written by Darling, who has been true to himself, his surroundings, and to his music. With sixteen tracks there are naturally going to be favourites for all listeners but that doesn’t mean it can’t be taken in sequence either. These are solid performances from all involved who give life to the songs and make for a satisfactory listen. That allows for looking forward to a better time while retaining some of the real values of the past history of country music, especially for those in thrall to the sound of 90s radio.

An artist like J.D. Darling is unlikely to be looking to see his future entirely in the music business, but at the same time, it offers a balance to a grounded farm working existence, which in turn has informed his music and outlook. Like some other similar artists, he has put his heart and soul into making this album. That in itself makes it worth a listen or two at least. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

Whitney Rose Rosie MCG

Canadian songwriter Whitney Rose grew up listening to, and singing songs from, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Kitty Wells, which were the touchstones alongside Hank Williams, George Jones and Keith Whitley on the male side. It was from these she developed her own traditionally influenced sound. This new album is her fifth since 2012, and carries on her path to hone her songwriting craft. On this album, all but one track are self-penned originals, touching on the concerns of womanhood, relationships and locations that are steeped in meaning for the characters.

Rose co-produced the album with husband Michael McKeown and they brought in some familiar names to bring the right feel to the album with the Lisa Pankratz and Brad Fordham rhythm section, and Dave Leroy Biller and Rich Brotherton on guitars (and stringed instruments of different varieties). Warren Hood was the fiddle and strings man, while Michael Guerra added accordion on occasion. Trevor Nealon played keyboards and Bonnie Montgomery sang backing vocals. A top class team who excels througout.

Rose opens the album with soft, sultry vocals on the alluring Tell Me A Story, Babe. The only song not written by Rose but by Joanne Mackell follows and that is Can’t Remember Happiness, a song steeped in regret, as are many of her own songs as they come in the wake of a serious illness that forced her to return to Canada to recover. The songs Built My Own Jail and Minding My Own Pain relate directly to the idea of confinement both physically and mentally. The former is about a deliberate isolation from possible harm and the latter about the casual conversation that happens in bars while she listens but sits quietly trying to look after her own thoughts and worries. Vocally she excels and the band supports her sense of isolation.

By way of contrast she alleviates that to a degree by thinking of a Honky Tonk In Mexico. She wishes to be there to let off steam a little. More of a groove underpins Memphis In My Mind, which takes a similar mental journey to that particular place of memories. The sliding sensuous steel guitar that features alongside the piano and fiddle make You’re Gonna Get Lonely a statement of intent for country music lovers. Then, she takes on the need to feel some hurt in order to say I Need A Little Shame, with the organ adding some soul to that pain. 

The album finishes with Barb Wire Blossom and the idea of something not seeming what it might be on the surface. A touch lighter and more whimsical is the final track. Again both highlight the strength and diversity of Rose’s strong writing and a reinvigorated vocal delivery. Mermaid In A Pantsuit is a gentle and aquatic sound that use the vocal and backing vocal to illuminate an atmospheric mood that has some less country, but equally effective, guitar lines.

Overall, this is a welcome return for Whitney Rose and quite possibly her best to date. Given the times that went into its making, it is that much more remarkable for what she has achieved, in the wake of what was undoubtably a difficult time. However this is an album that isn’t. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

Joey Frendo Bound For Heartache Horton

From the get-go, this album from the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based artist draws you in, with this debut full-length album that has echoes of some mid to late 90s alt-country. A mix of country rock edges and red-dirt twang that is grounded with some organ and piano pedal steel, some of that provided by fellow artist of that parish, one Jesse Aycock, one of eight players who grace these story-laden grooves. Others include Paul Griffith on drums and Fats Kaplin on fiddle.The essentials of this are, again, a strong vocal delivery and some strong writing craft. 

Witness the song (and single) Old Fashioned Country Singer which mentions Hank Williams in its evocation of the world weary subject’s life and times which, though hard, wouldn’t be changed. It has a sense of acceptance, that in despite of everything, this is the only way to go (out) and it is enhanced by some edgy playing. It is an immediate keeper. Sad State of Affairs is more straight up country and both tracks are stand-outs that let you know that this a serious set of songs played out for you.

Following on from pandemic restrictions and personal loss, Frendo channeled these events into some career making songwriting. The story of the accused outlaw in Leaving’ Eden knowing that “the sherrif’s on my track” fits the pattern of some of those tales that the best town might be the one you just left - for a myriad of reasons. There are ballads too that are rooted in specific places, such as Nebraska Rain, a harmonica featuring rumination on being down and out and wondering what might be life’s solution to this.  

In a more considered take on one’s fortunes, he reasons that there’s Nothing Wrong With Silver, especially when gold is hard to find. The risky business of trying to find one’s place is laid out in Building On Quicksand, something that is always open to deeper consideration, but one often needs to start laying down foundations somewhere.

These are the everyday stories of everyday people delivered in a way that country music has done, when it’s done with a sense of honesty, since it first was recognised as a form. Frendo is not rooted in the past, nor trying to recreate a different decade. Rather, he has taken its truths as his own and made them a part of his journey to finding his own path, and BOUND FOR HEARTACHE is full of the human touches that make that journey special.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Caleb Elliott, Dean Owens, Leftover Salmon, Kassi Valazza, GracieHorse, Tapestri Music, JD Darling, Whitney Rose and Joey Frendo

New Album Reviews

Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives Altitude Snakefarm

There are elements to this new album from Stuart and his band that go back to their last release WAY OUT WEST, as well as to time spent working with surviving Byrds members Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. But they also go back further in time to the late 60s and an exploration of that cosmic psychedelic influence that began to appear in many forms and genres of music, in some subtle and some not quite so subtle ways. That Stuart is a stalwart of traditional country and its values is apparent in his music, photography and curation of the artefacts of a form that for a time was being eroded. Many can be seen at his recently opened museum, Congress Of Country Music in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Here, with this new album, he and the band and guests create a vision that includes the expansion and exploration of the traditional forms.

Few who have followed his career will be surprised at this and the different twist and turns he has taken musically since he played with The Sullivans at the age of 12 and through over 20 plus albums since 1982. These have taken in rockabilly, gospel, bluegrass, country, surf sounds,  rock and soundtrack music along the away. Many of these can be found in the tracks here.

The album opens with the instrumental Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 1) which to these ears has a relationship with the music played by The Byrds themselves in their Clarence White incarnation. It also has hints of Mali as well as the Mojave. Then the twang springs into action with the resumé of a life on the road that is Country Star. The chiming Rickenbacker that is central to Sitting Alone is a sound further emphasised by its 60s rock harmonies. There is perhaps in the song A Friend Of Mine something of a nod to the similarly titled but differently intentioned Byrds song, He Was A Friend Of Mine. It again completely accentuates just how good a band this is, with its musical interaction and energy. 

Much more atmospheric is Space, with Stuart’s sitar providing a link to that instrument’s very specific tone and place in rock music, either with the established Indian original form or with its, more common, electric approximation. The title track follows and it is a summation of an attitude and vision that is everything you would expect from Stuart. There is more of that sparkle in Vegas, which is a hymn to that fabled town’s reputation for riches but equally also for ruin.

The Sun Is Quietly Sleeping takes a more considered approach, featuring an effective string arrangement under the gentle reflection of the night. Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 2) is another short instrumental interlude that offers an effective cleanser before Night Riding takes a trip down the highway of life. Next they turn up the tempo, with some Luther Perkins licks and more dexterous guitar runs, for the story of Tomahawk, which tells us that there is “absolutely nothing new underneath the sun.” The plight of the Native American people forms part of its story and journey. Time To Dance is just that, as it extols some of the better moments in having time to dance, love and live. It features more of the band’s great guitar interactions. By way of contrast The Angels Came Down strips things back to something more spiritually enhancing, with Marty’s rich vocal delivery and some strong vocal harmony blending over the acoustic guitar’s reflection. Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 3) is a very short instrumental coda that finishes what is a captivating listen that should be take in context, from start to finish, to reveal all its lasting allure.

Produced with conviction and clarity by Stuart and his superlative band of Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson and Chris Scruggs and the indispensable Mick Conley, this is a tour de force that will be welcomed by fans of the band. It is a demonstration of how to take country music down new channels, ones that fit with its deep history but also aware of optional routes that seem right. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

Luke Daniel Rock 'n' Roll Americana Edgewater

The title of Texan Luke Daniels’ debut album is simple and to the point. With a core sound ranging from Southern Rock to what was once known as Cowpunk, he pours his heart and soul out on the nine-track record.

He’s out of the blocks with a full-throttle on the opener Lost In The Gap and only occasionally takes his foot off the gas. He does allow time for reflection on the acoustic slow burner, Dig In, and Saturday travels from mid-tempo to a rap-like vibe, but he’s at his best spitting fire on the toe-tapping barroom rocker Get My Shit Together and the funky Bad Gas Travels Fast. Dusty Rhodes is a tongue-in-cheek serenade to an imaginary suitor and he’s just about happy with his lot on Doing Pretty Good.

Produced by Derek Hames at his Edgewater Studio in Sugar Land, Texas, the former member of Three-Car Garage and Red Scare recreates a sound that crackles with energy and no doubt replicates what can be expected from Daniel in a live setting.

There is a lot of groove and understated humour on Daniel’s debut album. His lyrics fit the songs like a hand in a glove and without attempting to reinvent the wheel, he has delivered an impressive album of hard-edged heartland Americana. Go and see him live if he’s in your neck of the woods, I can only imagine that he puts on a more than lively show.

Review by Declan Culliton

Angelica Rockne The Rose Society Loose

 Voted Best Country Singer by LA Weekly back in 2019, that accolade, though richly deserved, might suggest that Californian Angelica Rockne’s music output is restricted to one single genre. In reality her music branches far and wide beyond country and if her debut album, QUEEN OF SAN ANTONIO from 2017, was a tour de force in cosmic country, her latest record travels far beyond that genre. THE ROSE SOCIETY also brings on board Rockne’s classical, jazz and folk influences, and they merge beautifully across the album’s ten tracks.

A number of issues in Rockne’s life in the six years between her debut album and this record are visited in the songwriting. Following a less than fulfilling move from Oakland  to Los Angeles, Rockne departed that city and its hectic culture to return to a more relaxed environment, met her fiancé and celebrated the birth of her daughter. THE ROSE SOCIETY addresses its author’s personal journey over that period, navigating its way across a variety of emotions, from remorse to fulfillment.

Recorded in Nevada City, California and self-produced, the opening two songs, Age of the Voyeur and the title track, immediately give the listener a flavour of the multi-influences in the writer’s cannon. Parallel to her Laurel Canyon influences, echoes of British folk also emerge, the title track, in particular, has shades of Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention but with a West Coast overhaul. Relationships and friendships struggling to survive emerge on White Cadillac and that theme of lovelorn despair is close to the surface on The Distance Is High and also the tender and confessional album closer The Night Dreams of You. The prayer-like Protection, Prayers and Vigilance brings to mind the novel soulful sound of Canadian, Frazey Ford, and closer to home, Crystalline recalls early career Joni Mitchell.

Showcasing both Rockne’s vocal ability and the dexterity of the musicians around her, THE ROSE SOCIETY captures everything that is so exciting when an artist can integrate numerous musical styles and produce a body of work that is impossible to brand or pigeonhole. Five years in the making and fiercely intense and first-hand, let’s hope that it is an introduction to an artist with more strings to her bow rather than a one-off classic. Intoxicating.  

Review by Declan Culliton

Cian Nugent She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living No Quarter

 The first album in seven years from singer songwriter and acclaimed guitarist Cian Nugent was born out of ill-fated circumstances. Moving back to his family home in Dublin to care for his mother, Kathy Nugent, who was rehabilitating from a stroke, Nugent’s latest album not only confronts the challenges presented to him but also allowed him the time out for personal reflection. The album’s title is derived from a phrase randomly repeated by Nugent’s mother while she recovered her speech during that period and the cover artwork was a canvas she painted while in hospital.

 Beauty is often born out of crisis and this eight-track album most certainly bears that out. Giving the listener a tour of where he was at that time brings about Nugent’s most unashamedly frank work to date.  Pass The Time Away and the closing track, How The Time Passes, with a combined length of over twelve and a half minutes, are wonderfully brooding. The former displays echoes of Nick Drake, giving the listener an inkling of what lay in the writer’s head at the time. The latter, an instrumental, is a six-string guitar-driven cosmic journey. However, the album’s tender heart lies in the gorgeous steel guitar drenched opener Empress and the equally melodic The Sound of Rain, which follows. Radically shifting style, High Up Airplane, chock-full of intricate guitar work, transports the listener on a nearly seven-minute jam-like astral trip. 

 A body of work that captures the mood of the writer and his personal journey at a particular time, it touches on the grinding reality of the unexpected and unknown. An open-ended collection of songs, often unalike but somehow managing to sit comfortably alongside each other, it’s not necessarily an album that hits home on the first spin. However, it is one that richly rewards and opens new doors on repeated visits. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Joost Dijkema After Thunder Sun  Twin Dimension

Probably best to know that this musician pronounces his name "Yowst Dykuh-ma." The Dutch language can certainly throw you a curve ball and it is best to get this name right in order to mention his talent to your musical friends. Believe me, you will want to spread the word.

With two previous albums to his name, Dijkema has delivered a superbly crafted third release and you know the old saying about lucky three… well, with a fair wind, this should be the one to reach a much wider audience. The fingerstyle guitar playing is quite brilliant across the ten tracks that are mainly instrumental, with only four songs containing lyrical content. The instrumentals are all played with such effortless ease that the temptation is to simply hit the repeat button when the album comes to an end – something that I am happy to admit to doing.

The artist was inspired by Leo Kottke and Michael Chapman in honing his musical prowess and there are many other artists that have shaped the beautiful acoustic sound along the path. I’m reminded of John Martyn at times, and elsewhere, Bert Jansch. Dijkema is a multi-instrumentalist and showcases his talents on lead vocals, guitars, banjo, pedal steel, drums, bass, percussion, and is joined on single tracks by vocalists Bram Menninga (Beautiful Ride) and Flora Karsemeijer (Buddy).

The joy of motion and an open road is highlighted on the song Beautiful Ride and the metaphor of driving your life like a beautiful car is well delivered. The guitar showcase Vic’s Raga is a real tour de force and a superbly crafted instrumental. The blues feel on Train Of Doomsday is also a stand-out track that highlights the dexterity of this musician on the fretboard. Shards Of Love is just as the title indicates, a cul-de-sac for relationships, where love is double parked.

The gentle playing on Anne’s Island is a counterpoint, with the reflective mood illustrated by some wonderful acoustic guitar playing. Similarly, the playing on Buddy is restrained and fluid, a tribute to a loyal dog who passed away, yet who still lives in the memory of the owner.  Final tracks Let It Rain (like it used to rain), and the Chap From Wrytree (written for Michael Chapman) are beautifully delivered instrumentals with lots of ‘wow’ moments in the playing. A very impressive album and one that will bring many moments of musical pleasure. Definitely a keeper.

Review by Paul McGee

Imelda Kehoe Leave Your Light On Self Release

Such a pleasure to be able to review this special album. Imelda Kehoe has released two previous records on her journey towards her musical awakening and identity. With this release, she has reached her destination. The sense of right place and right time, together with the magic of the moment have conspired to deliver a set of songs that enrich the listener and invite you into the world of this interesting singer songwriter.

The passage of time is viewed in these musings as something akin to a slow motion replay of many life memories and the freeze frames along the way are beautifully captured. Whether it’s that moment in a relationship where you feel true connection; that sense of when things are falling out of symmetry; the decision to blow up the past and press the reset button  -  it’s all captured in these mature reflections on life and everything after. There is sadness, hope and joy in the reflections, coupled with insightful memory and  wistful longing. There is questioning and wanting to know our place in all the vagaries of life. When will the curtain open and the true meaning of it all reveal itself?

Imelda displays a sense of timing and vocal phrasing that is quite superb, and her innate gift celebrates that road we all walk in the direction of our desires. There are many stand out moments on the album and Where To Now, the opening track questions the randomness of life and the things that fall outside of our control. The abiding feeling is one of having to carry on in memory of those who have gone before. It’s a deeply personal song that references the death of her father.

Ohio is a sensitive look at the futility of war and the bond that can form between two friends who experience the worst traits of humanity in trying to survive. The song was inspired by the wonderful writing of Sebastian Barry and his book, Days Without End.

Leave Your Light On is a tribute to Imelda’s brother, who died from melanoma during covid lockdown. The song reflects on memories shared and the heart-breaking lines ‘Leave your light on, then I will know if you are home; Leave your light on, then I don’t feel so quite alone,’ capture the loneliness of grief and the sense of loss.

House Of Flowers deals with the need to have a safe place to escape to. The fragility of life and the sense of wanting time to just slow down in order to catch our breath; ‘Take me to the House of Flowers, Maybe we could pass the hours, Maybe we run out of our dreams, Take me there, I need some healing, Take me there, I need that feeling.’

The song 404 is that moment when you realise that the thing you held precious is actually what is hurting you and causing you pain. The term 404 is an error message displayed by a browser indicating that an internet address cannot be found. Such a clever analogy to draw upon in the wages of love and loss.

In a previous life Imelda trained as a nurse and practiced in the north of England. Her experiences of the people she helped and those who left enduring impressions are captured in the song Invisible. It looks at the spirit displayed by those who are sick and the resilience that often is the very thing that keeps their quality of life intact.

Seventy Five Beats refers to the resting heart rate of a person that is considered normal, although some research has appeared that shows this could also have long-term health risks. The song references the fact that passing beyond is something that we all have to face eventually.

Final song, Send In the Angel, examines the conflicting urges within all of us, the drive to be something we are not and the hope that we develop into decent human beings with a generosity of spirit. The challenge is not to get lost in the search for ego driven satisfactions in life.

Piano is the instrument of choice for Imelda and she surrounds herself with some talented players to augment her musical vision. Michael Egan (guitar), Horacio Valdivieso (guitar), Peter Eades (keyboards), Yoed Nir (cello), among others, join together in the creation of the album and the overriding sense of reflection is captured so perfectly in the eight songs that exude a gentle knowing and acceptance.

This is contemporary folk music that brings a gentle calm and a rewarding listening experience. An early contender for Irish album of the year?  Never bet against a woman who is stepping into the full range of her power.

Review by Paul McGee

Hiss Golden Messenger A Loner Alive Heaven and Earth Magic

This live album is subtitled “Songs from the Western Part of the United States of America.” It was recorded at gigs in Mill Valley, Mariposa and Healdsburg in California and Tacoma, Walla Walla and Spokane in Washington State earlier this year. MC Taylor performs under the stage title of Hiss Golden Messenger and his creative output has been consistently strong since his debut album arrived in 2009. His output includes as many live albums as it does studio recordings and Taylor is often joined by Scott Hirsch, his long-time ally and multi-instrumentalist.

Whether performing as a solo artist or part of a musical collective, Taylor delivers his folk and country soul musings with great resonance, reflecting both his internal and external anxieties, fears, hopes and dreams for a better world than the reality of what he sees around him.

On this outing, Taylor plays in a solo capacity and the twenty one songs feature eight of his studio albums with four songs included from each of BAD DEBT(2010), LATENESS OF DANCERS (2014), and QUIETLY BLOWING IT (2021). Taylor keeps the in-song chat to a minimum preferring to let the stripped down, acoustic arrangements speak for themselves. His guitar technique is quietly hypnotic and the subtle chord progressions and rhythmic strumming lull the listener into a place of peaceful reverie. Admittedly the dynamic doesn’t change much across the songs and the downside of live recordings often point to the reality that being in the room was so much more immersive an experience than hearing the intimacy partially captured on any subsequent recorded output.

“ I’ve got that ‘acoustic guitar voice’ adrenalin pumping through my veins” comments Taylor as he begins the superb Heart Like A Levee. Taylor indeed wears his heart on his sleeve and although the songs can be open to personal interpretation, he delivers with a sense of tired acceptance while at the same time, remaining optimistic for a brighter tomorrow. Other songs Sanctuary and Lateness Of Dancers are complimented by Hardlytown and Highland Grace in their naked delivery and honest fragility. The inclusion of both Caledonia, My Love and Saturday’s Song is an inspired couplet and the closing Black Dog Wind (Rose Of Roses) is a song about leaving family ties behind and branching out on your own. An appropriate sentiment upon which to bring this solo concert to a conclusion..      

There is no real sense of the different venues used across the recordings and the set could just as easily have been delivered in a single location, such is the seamless quality and flow of the songs. If you are already an admirer of MC Taylor then this will confirm everything that you already hold as special. For those of you who come to his music for the first time, this is a fine introduction and something of a high water mark among the rest of his output.

Review by Paul McGee

Trapper Schoepp Siren Songs Self Release

This Minnesota born artist has a number of prior releases, including PRIMETIME ILLUSION(2016), an album that included a co-write with none other than Bob Dylan. The story goes that Schoepp came upon a lost song of Dylan’s titled On, Wisconsin that was never finished or released. Schoepp decided to add some additional words and melody.  It’s a similar story to that of the Old Crow Medicine Show who took an old Dylan chorus and wrote the verses to the song Wagon Wheel that turned it into such a big hit. Fortune favours the brave and Schoepp sent his song version to Dylan’s management and received positive feedback and an agreement to release the song.

This sixth solo release follows in the same confident mood with Schoepp including twelve new songs that inspire and leave their mark. Produced by John Jackson (The Jayhawks, Ray Davies) and Patrick Sansone (Wilco), the recording sessions happened at the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tennessee where Schoepp and his collaborators recorded with borrowed instruments – ranging from Johnny Cash's 1930s Martin guitar and June Carter Cash’s Steinway piano. The studio band included Jon Radford (drums), John Jackson (mandolin, violin), Patrick Sansone (keyboards), Quinn Scharber (guitar), and Jim Hoke (tin whistle, accordion). Schoepp’s brother makes an appearance on bass, and this allows Trapper to join with Tanner for sibling harmonies.

Queen Of the Mist captures the mood of the album perfectly with the tale of  Annie Edson Taylor, an American schoolteacher who became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. There are songs that reference nature and imagery of rivers, storms, wind, sea, flatlands and the moon. The song In Returning tells the tale of a sailor who is comfortable with a life on the ocean wave, only to fear what awaits on his return to land. The lyrics include the siren songs of mermaids and an albatross guiding ship journeys, portents of doom to a mariner.

Both Secrets Of the Breeze and The Fool have traces of an Irish melody in the arrangements and both speak of different lives, the road not taken and the path you’re on. Silk and Satin is an interesting song about a drag queen on the local scene in Brooklyn and has gentle acoustic guitar and violin to spin out the tale of attraction. There are some nice mandolin and piano parts on Diocese, a song that sees a young girl moving out of her local community and heading for the bright lights of Boston.

Good Graces gives advice from bitter experience to not hold back on love and to just go for it. It is a very bright and catchy tune. Eliza contrasts with a bluesy arrangement including a nice organ solo and a song of warning that danger lurks ahead. The twelve songs play out over forty five minutes and there is plenty to enjoy among the different colours and shapes in the music.

Review by Paul McGee

Mike Tod Self-Titled Self Release

Based in Alberta, Canada, Mike Tod has a Masters in Ethnomusicology and has just released this debut album that takes a reverential look back at old-time music. Tod wants to honour the great traditions and the unknown artists of a time long gone and he certainly achieves his goal in breathing new life into traditional songs through a modern lens.

These ten songs are a mix of traditional tunes that Tod researched and recorded with new arrangements, and some covers of songs from artists as diverse as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ola Belle Reid, Tim Spencer and the Romaniuk Family – a country music vocal and instrumental group from Edson, Alberta. Members Ed Romaniuk and his sisters Elsie and Ann were known for performing in the style of the Carter Family.

Tod co-produced the album with Pat Palardy at Public Lunch Studios in Calgary. The musicians who produced the subtly inventive music are Mike Tod (acoustic guitar, harmonium, vocals), Keith Rodger (bass), Nathan M Godfrey (resonator guitar, mandolin, banjo), Laura Reid (violin), Wayne Garrett (pedal steel), Jeremy Gignoux (violin, viola), Travis Miller (percussion), Melodie Ayoungman and Opal Ritzer on vocals.

Flowers Of Edinburgh has a very strong Irish melody as does Cold Frosty Morn, both instrumentals, and featuring some delightful ensemble playing. One can but imagine the history of immigrant music across all of these old-time tunes that developed as cities grew up with different ethnic groups interacting with new tunes. The stand out song is Little Wheel Spin and Spin (Buffy Sainte-Marie) and the sense of foreboding is palpable as the song builds. Wait For Me has a soft lilt, akin to an old lullaby, as two lovers declare their love for each other, and final song My Alberta Rose is a fitting tribute to the Romaniuk Family and their old-time harmonies and understated playing.

This is an excellent album and it will delight the music historians who like to study the original melodies and tunes upon which so much of today’s music is based. Admirers of Jake Xerxes Fussell, and his traditional folk and blues music of the south will also find much here to inspire. A very engaging album.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Rose City Band Garden Party Thrill Jockey

Singer songwriter and ace guitarist, Ripley Johnston, wears a number of different hats. A member of rock bands Wooden Shyips and Moon Duo, his solo project Rose City Band is a vehicle for Johnston to explore and create music in the style of the classic cosmic country rock that blossomed in the late 60s, prior to it being commercialised and cannibalised a few short years later. The Byrds, The Burrito Brothers and Grateful Dead influences are all over GARDEN PARTY, the fourth album released by Rose City Band.

Johnston recruited Barry Walker (pedal steel), Paul Hasenberg (keyboards), Dewey Mahood (bass) and Dustin Dybvig (drums) to record the eight tracks at Center for Sound, Light, and Color Therapy in Portland. ‘I was trying to capture that feeling when you take psychedelics and they just start coming on – objects start buzzing in the edges of your visions’ explains Johnston. That trippy sensibility certainly works throughout and no more so than on Porch Boogie with its gripping backbeat and slick guitar and piano breaks. Walker’s weeping pedal steel underscores a similar sonic terrain on the ghostly Saturday’s Gone and the funky Moonlight Highway tips its hat in the direction of Steve Hillage. Slow Burn interprets the signature sound that The Byrds might have followed after SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO, had Gram Parsons not jumped ship.  

As we anticipate the approach of warmer days, the unhurried, unrestrained and summery vibe of GARDEN PARTY is a welcome addition to the back catalogue of Rose City Band. Continuing on his mission as one of the premier architects of a timeless and vital sound, Johnston has come up trumps once more with this five-star record.

Review by Declan Culliton

One Night in Texas: The Next Waltz’s Tribute to the Red Headed Stranger The Next Waltz

Released one day before Willie Nelson’s ninetieth birthday, this tribute album was recorded by a host of household names with one common characteristic; careers hugely influenced by both the songs and fearlessness of the original and quintessential outlaw, Willie Nelson.

Nelson’s output in the 1970s was possibly the most inspirational for many aspiring artists and features prominently in the fourteen tracks on the album. The brainchild of the project was singer songwriter, producer, and the owner of The Next Waltz label, Bruce Robison. As a long time disciple of Nelson, Robison had little difficulty gathering together the more than willing artists that contributed to the recording at Nelson’s Luck Ranch in Spicewood, Texas.

With Robison allocated the duties of band leader, a large backing band of players was gathered with one pre-condition; they had to be familiar with all the selected songs, which wasn’t an issue as most of the musicians has been either listening to or playing all the songs for decades. The result is a party-like atmosphere and a delivery of some of Nelson’s best-known compositions, alongside a few covers that he put his stamp on. It’s a difficult task to identify the stand-out performances, as there’s merit in them all. However, the ongoing influence of Nelson on newer and emerging artists shines brightly on the opener by Vincent Neil Emerson, Bloody Mary Morning and Texas legend Robert Earl Keen’s version of Pick Up The Tempo is memorable. Margo Price, whose 2017 album, ALL AMERICAN MADE, featured a duet with Nelson, is in fine form on a funked-up Shotgun Willie and Sheryl Crowe’s jazzy and swinging Night Life works a treat. The album’s final inclusion is The Party’s Over by Phosphorescent (Matthew Huck), whose wonderful 2009 Nelson tribute album, FOR WILLIE, also closed with that song.

The recorded performances were followed by Nelson taking centre stage with his trusted guitar Trigger in hand and willingly closing the party.

The track listing is as follows:

Vincent Neil Emerson – Bloody Mary Morning; Margo Price – Shotgun Willie; Robert Earl Keen – Pick Up The Tempo; Shinyribs – I Gotta Get Drunk; Nathaniel Rateliff – Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain; Steve Earle – Pancho and Lefty; Emily Gimble – Down Yonder; Sheryl Crow – Nightlife; Bruce Robison – Last Thing I Needed First Thing In The Morning; Ray Wylie Hubbard – Whiskey River; Shinyribs  - My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys; Nathanial Rateliff – Crazy; Bruce Robison – How Will I Know I’m Falling In Love Again; Phosphorescent – The Party’s Over.

Review by Declan Culliton

Esther Rose Safe To Run New West

There is something comforting about Michigan-born Esther Rose’s music. It may be her somewhat whispered, almost childlike vocals, or her plainly spoken and to-the-point lyrics that draw you into her songs, but listening to her albums is like comfort food, highly soothing to the senses.

SAFE TO RUN is Rose’s fourth album and follows the release of HOW MANY TIMES back in 2021. Listening to both of these albums back-to-back reveals an artist that has grown vastly in confidence over those few short years. A songwriter of emotional depth, her core subject matter remains similar on both albums, but her latest offering finds her in an entirely more buoyant and assured mood. Both albums are also heavily influenced by Rose’s decade-plus years residing in New Orleans and the idiosyncratic musical styles of that city. As a result, SAFE TO RUN gifts the listener with an album that is far from strictly a country album and is more like a cosmic journey that also embraces elements of folk and indie pop.

As in her previous albums, much of the writing is self-directed. She could be sitting on a physiotherapist’s couch on certain tracks but elsewhere she also raises issues of sexism, climate change and her own nomadic travels. Whatever the genesis of the eleven tracks, it’s fair to say that there is not anything approaching a weak moment on the album. She is joined by a similarly free-spirit Alynda Segarra (Hurray For The Riff Raff) on the gorgeous title track. Other previous NOLA neighbours of Rose also contribute, including the band Silver Synthetic who feature on a number of the songs and Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes who also contributed. The production duties were handled by another close friend and regular collaborator, Ross Farbe.

Standout tracks are the gorgeous Insecure and the jangly power pop gem Levee Song. She puts closure to a bad relationship with Spider (‘Remember when you used to be mine and every day started with a fight. Scaring the neighbours, scream at the night’) and bookends the album with Arm’s Length, which points towards a new beginning.

Currently residing in Taos, New Mexico, Rose has hit the bullseye with SAFE TO RUN. An artist never afraid to lay bare her mental vulnerabilities, but also more than capable of injecting gentle humour into her writing, Rose may not yet have arrived at her final destination. Having said that, her latest album, both deeply melodic and assured, suggests an artist just about ready to fly high.

Review by Declan Culliton

Eilen Jewell Get Behind The Wheel Signature Sounds

With over a dozen acclaimed albums under her belt, Idaho-born Eilen Jewell’s latest album may well have been the most challenging group of songs she has written over her nearly two-decade career. With her income stream on hold during the pandemic and dealing with the breakup of her marriage to her husband, band manager and drummer, Jason Beek, she faced a worrying and uncertain future.  Rather than licking her wounds and writing a maudlin album reflecting her woes, Jewell has come out fighting and with a positive mindset. The sureness and optimism kick in on the booming opener Alive, and she gives the listener a tour of her journey from separation to revival on the ten tracks that follow.

Trademark distinct vocals, a tight rhythm section, and the exquisite guitar skills of Jerry Miller have been the foundation of Jewell’s impressive back catalogue and those factors are still to the fore on this recording. That rhythm section consisted of Jason Beek – who remains part of Jewell’s band – on drums and percussion, Steve Fulton on keys, Matt Murphy on upright bass and the aforementioned Jerry Miller on electric guitars. Adding to that talented crew was Fats Kaplin on pedal steel, and Will Kimbrough - who co-produced the album with Jewell - on guitars, percussion and keys.

Kaplin’s contributions are particularly noteworthy on the tracks Crooked River and Winnemucca. The former compliments the healing powers of the location which gave Jewell comfort during the solitude days of the pandemic and the latter, some three hundred miles south in the desert lands of Nevada, was a source of serenity and meditation for her. Departed family and friends are graciously remembered on You Were a Friend of Mine and the troubled times endured and overcome are acknowledged on the scintillating album closer, The Bitter End. Elsewhere the bluesy Outsiders stemmed from Jewell revisiting the movie The Outsiders, having been fascinated by its characters as a young child and the dark side of attraction and infatuation raises its head on Lethal Love. 

Few artists can blend country, blues, swing and rockabilly in a fashion that Jewell has perfected over her career. She more than achieves that with GET BEHIND THE WHEEL. Rather than being just another album under the ‘pandemic blues umbrella,’ the album is a personal and masterly coup and Jewell’s bravest effort to date.

Review by Declan Culliton

Ben Bostick The Rascal Is Back Simply Fantastic

From the opening title track onwards, this album will get your feet tapping, make you smile and perhaps tell you a few things about yourself that you recognise in Bostick’s characters. “How y’all, did you miss me?” are the opening words on this album before revealing that, yes, the rascal is back. After several albums that have been well received, he’s back with perhaps one that will please those who love their roots music full of twang and tongue-in-cheek writing. Bostick wrote all the songs featured and he produced and arranged the album in a studio in Atlanta, with some additional recording in Lilburn, both studios in his home state of Georgia. So this is exactly the music he wants to release right now. It is not going to go about changing the perceptions of this wide genre but rather is a prodigious listen with some memorable and melodically effective material that, while it has humour as a key ingredient, is neither novelty nor nonsense. 

There’s a plaintiveness to You Can Leave In The Morning, a plea for some time together but without being too pushy about it. Big Sister And Me has an almost 60s power-pop feel that works well. Big Train has a great deep set back vocal over a stop/start rhythm. Po No Mo has a walking bass line and twanging guitar that reasons that he doesn’t want a great deal but equally doesn’t want to be poor no more. I Don’t Care is a good for nothing’s no need to work raison d'être that would, with a few extras turns on the volume dial, make a something of a punk anthem. Strange Duck is an acceptance of being different with, naturally, a duck call featuring. 

Bostick worked with seven additional players on the album with the pedal steel, keyboards and guitar players all giving their best to enhance the songs over the rock solid rhythm section. With four previous full album releases on his side, Bostick has built a solid following that will doubtless be welcome to his existing fan base. This album is a perfect introduction to his music for those who want to check out some rewarding roots music, that highlights Bostick’s talent as writer, player, producer and his embodiment, musically, of a rascal with a heart. He also demonstrates a solid vocal style to match the material on offer.

The eleven songs on THE RASCAL IS BACK are going to make those in the know want to have him stay around and continue making his music for a while longer. Like many he continues to record and release his albums with the commitment of someone offering an antidote to difficult times, but in a way that is rewarding and worthwhile.

Review by Stephen Rapid

The Malpass Brothers Lonely Street Billy Jam

For a long time now there has been a general outcry among those who listen to (and review) hardcore country  and that is that the music has been taken over by industry demands for greater exposure, and therefore profit, at the expense of the traditional sounds and themes that were once inherent in the genre. However I always found reasons to feel that not all was lost - there have always been acts who adhered to the music’s roots in terms of attitude, performance and (often) in they way they dressed. Often a “country” act is heralded in a post as a country act and from first look and listen it is so obvious that that word has again been misused and misappropriated.

One act that has always been an oasis for the “three chords and the truth” is the Malpass Brothers, Chris and Taylor. They may not be that well know in wider circles, even in the roots community, but they are exactly what many would look for in a real country act. They have strong vocals and sibling harmonies and choose their material wisely, mixing co-written original songs as well as a perfect choice of lesser know covers by artists they admire. One such artist was Merle Haggard, who they toured with and recorded in his studio as well as covering his songs. There is more than a passing nod to Merle in some of the material here and on their previous four album releases. 

They come from Goldsboro, North Carolina, where they grew up nurtured by their Grandpa’s record collection. They are relatively young performers but steeped in the kind of music that I think they won’t be changing from any time soon. They also use humour in their stage show and have a good repartee with each other, showing no signs of the sometimes apparent sibling rivalry that brothers within the music industry are known to exhibit. There are hints of those exchanges in the album’s opening song, penned by Chris, Paying For The Dream.

This new album LONELY STREET was produced by Ben Isaacs and Doyle Lawson (the noted bluegrass stalwart who performs with his band Quicksilver). Isaacs also plays bass here (and is also a member of the bluegrass family band, The Isaacs). This might suggest that the album would be more inclined to head in that direction, as the brothers have also played bluegrass in the past themselves. In fact they performed at the Omagh Bluegrass Festival in Northern Ireland in both 2009 and 2011 (the first time as a duo and the second with a bassist and drummer).

This record, however, is as country as it comes. Alongside the brothers (vocals, guitars and mandolin) and Isaacs on bass, they are ably accompanied by Mike Johnson on steel guitar, Stu French on lead guitar, drummer Tony Creasman and Gordon Mote on piano. A pretty lean and mean(ingful) team. The Man I Aint (another Chris written track) tells of a man coming to terms with his demise thanks to a woman who can “freeze the the ground in mid July.” It kind of goes without saying that relationships are at the heart of the songs here. We Don’t, from the pen of Jeannie Seely, is an album highlight, a tale mired in the sadness of a couple facing divorce and the inclusion of Brennen Leigh makes it even more special. 

The next two songs, Love Is A Lonely Street and We Can’t Still Be Friends, further explore the emotions of pain and lost passion.The former is fairly self evident from its title, while the latter written by Chris Malpass, Shawn Camp and Taylor Dunn (as are two other tracks) reasons that friendship is unlikely to be an option after a parting of the ways. It would please any fan of Merle’s and the lead vocals are a delight. Out Of Sight And Out Of Mind finds the two brothers singing together in perfect harmony, in more than one sense. It may seem on the surface that an album full of break-up and heartache might be too much, but that is not the case for anyone who loves what is the staple of real country, the sad songs are a central crux of this musical form. Merle Haggard and Ronnie Reno wrote Love Slips Away and it’s performed with reverence while being as much theirs as it might be considered his. That’ll Be The Day is a great song too, one of those about never getting over someone so special in your life. By way of contrast Sleep When The Party’s Over is all about having a good time and hoping it won’t end.

Two songs that may underscore some of the country music critics’ appraisal of the sentimentality involved might find that both Daddy Don’t Cry and Road Of Memories do just that. But for many others, the sincerity of the material delivered with understated passion will be memorable moments here. The former,  written by Mac Davis and recorded by Elvis Presley, takes the joint perspective of a child and a father dealing with the loss of a mother. The latter, the final track of the album, is a co-write by Chris Malpass which recalls the influence that his family including his Grandpa, parents and his uncle had and how those memories remain as a potent force.

This release immediately finds itself placed among contenders for the album of the year and as fine an example of what county music should be and should remain. While others in this category have added something new that is explorative to the form, while still being undeniably country, Chris and Taylor Malpass’ music is both timely and timeless.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Apple and Setser Self-Titled  Bell Buckle

The decision taken by Brad Apple and Pam Sester to join their talents and create this debut album is an inspired one. Their combined musical expertise is very impressive and both artists blend perfectly together to make music that is both memorable and packed with personality. The ten songs are firmly rooted in the best traditional music experience and the delivery is quite addictive. The opener Hand Me Down My Walking Cane is a traditional song, given a fresh arrangement by Apple and the bluegrass playing is a real joy from the ensemble of musicians that includes Tim Crouch, David Johnson, and both Apple and Setser.

Grandma Danced With the Arkansas Traveller is a standout with the hint of a traditional Irish air woven into the song arrangement, capturing the innocence of time past and the love of simple pleasures. Apple also provided arrangements to a number of other traditional songs, featuring Rake and the Rambling Blade, When You and I Were Young, Maggie (beautiful instrumental version) and a fine collaboration with Setser on the superb When the Wagon Was New.

Two other songs written by Setser more than find their place with Too Far Gone and Hayes’ Hoedown setting the performance standards even higher. Piano from Danny Crawford on the former is perfectly judged along with the mandolin of Sam Cobb, and the latter is a rollicking instrumental that celebrates just being alive – rousing acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjo and dulcimer adding to the fun.

The Paul Anka song, It Doesn’t Matter Anymore is given a great reworking in a traditional country style with Setser shining on lead vocal. I’ll Love Nobody But You is a cover of the Jim and Jesse McReynolds song  and another example of the wickedly good bluegrass chops that these musicians possess. Apple produced the album and plays guitars, mandolin and bass in addition to lead and harmony vocals. Setser plays dulcimer and provides lead and harmony vocals, with Tim Crouch (guitar, fiddle, banjo, bowed bass, djembe) and David Johnson (fiddles, viola, clawhammer banjo, dobro, acoustic guitar) providing stellar musicianship throughout.

This is a fine example of all that is best in country music these days and I highly recommend that you add this album to your collection. You will not be disappointed.

Review by Paul McGee

Taj Mahal  Savoy Stony Plain

The term ‘living legend’ is one that gets used too loosely these days and often the subject of the hype is not worthy of all the media fuss that is made. A false praise that rings hollow.

In the case of Taj Mahal the term does not get used enough in my view. An artist that has defied narrow categorisation all his career, Taj Mahal has always been genre fluid and open to taking chances in expanding his musical palette. Since his seminal debut album in 1967, Taj Mahal has been prolific in his search for the next project, the next opportunity to explore another new direction and to collaborate with some of the finest artists in the music industry. His discography runs to some thirty studio albums, with as many live and compilation recordings to match.

Growing up in Harlem and influenced at an early age by his musician parents tastes in jazz, gospel, Caribbean and African roots, swing and bebop; also led Taj Mahal to absorb the roots of R&B and early country blues. His music has always incorporated these and many other styles, including elements of reggae, calypso, zydeco, and gospel music. From his early collaborations with Ry Cooder as part of the Rising Sons group that mixed blues and folk influences, to his recording with Toumani Diabaté, the Malian kora player, and onward to the more recent project with Ry Cooder, Get On Board (2022), Taj Mahal has always pushed the boundaries and refused to be pigeonholed.

This latest offering is the perfect case in point with a sentimental look back to his roots and the wonderful music of his parents era. They actually met in the famous Savoy ballroom in Harlem and the fourteen tracks included here are all treated with tender loving care in their recording and delivery. Co-produced by long-time friend and associate John Simon (The Band, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin), the big band sound is a delight and the playing is of the highest quality. These standards include tunes from Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan and George Gershwin among others. The instantly recognisable vocal of Taj Mahal lends complete authenticity to the tunes and his occasional scat vocals are very impressively delivered also. Among the favourites here are versions of Sweet Georgia Brown, Baby, It’s Cold Outside (with Maria Muldaur), Do Notin’ Till You Hear From Me, Stompin’ At the Savoy and Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby.

As a strident proponent of American roots origins there could be no better tribute than to look at the era that spawned so much new music after the war years and the development of RnB, rockabilly, western swing and country genres. 

Having played with many top line artists and bands over his career, including the Rolling Stones and Van Morrison, the reputation of Taj Mahal has continued to grow and he has been honoured with three Grammys and the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement award. This new album is a real treat and packed with great moments that highlight the talents of the great man. Put some Taj Mahal into your life.

Niall Summerton  What Am I Made Of?  Tiny Library

This debut album from English artist Niall Summerton is a gentle affair and a dreamy stroll down some backroads of his creative muse. The ten songs hardly break sweat as they unfurl and the ethereal sway of synths and understated guitar take hold in their delivery. The entire album has the feel of a less-is-more approach to the recording process and Summerton used a number of his musical friends from the Yorkshire area to play on the tracks. There are contributions from Jacob Andrews (guitar), Tom Kettleton (sax), and various synth sounds provided by Joel Johnston, Megan Lama and Jacob Cracknell.

There are songs of introspection and self-reflection. They hint at lost relationships and feeling of isolation.  The lyrics are somewhat cryptic in places and reference dogs, riding bikes, dusty places, and slowing life down. The song Playing Dumbcontains the lines ‘All the cruel words that I said, that I play back in my head, They linger in the air, Nothing real is ever fair.’

Other song titles such as When You’re Not There, Wish You Could Speak, Human Dying and Need You point to personal relationships woven into the fabric of these vignettes and the atmospheric feel of the production by multi-instrumentalist Summerton has an easy-going style that is both heartfelt and quietly plaintive. Handle with care and file under pastoral folk.

Review by Paul McGee

Rose City Band, Esther Rose, Eilen Jewell, Ben Bostick, The Malpass Brothers, Apple & Setser, Taj Mahal, and Niall Summerton.

New Album Reviews

Jaelee Roberts Something You Didn’t Count On Mountain Home

Just because your father is a member of The Grascals (Danny Roberts) and your mother is a bass player and a bluegrass booking agent (The Andrea Roberts Agency) doesn’t necessarily imply that you have any musical talent. However, the release of this most impressive debut album, from a young woman barely out of her teens, hints that perhaps all those days backstage at The Grand Ole Opry weren’t wasted on the young Jaelee. Of course, she had the benefit of fiddle lessons at four years old, followed by piano, mandolin and guitar, and she willingly embraced all musical opportunities from the start. She also shows that she is developing as a songwriter, with four of the twelve songs here being written or co-written by her. However, outstanding above all of these attributes is Jaelee Roberts’ simply stunning voice.

The title and opening track is a barnstorming kickstart and also introduces her hot band of bluegrass players: Kristin Scott Benson on banjo (The Grascals), Alan Bibey on mandolin (Grasstowne), Jimmy Mattingly on fiddle (Dolly Parton, Reba McIntyre) and Tony Wray on guitar (Dan Tyminski). It’s all consummately produced by Tim Surrett, who also contributes the tasty dobro and bass. Roberts can slow it down on heartbreak songs like Think Again or the moving gospel song I Owe Him Everything. She’s equally at home burning it up on Sad Songs or on Molly Tuttle’s You Can’t Stop Me From Staying. There’s a gorgeous cover of Stevie Nicks’ classic Landslide, where she’s joined by the unmistakeable vocals of Vince Gill, and she calls in Amanda & Kenny Smith for harmony vocals on her cover of Gram Parsons’ Luxury Liner, among other tracks.

Also a member of roots/bluegrass supergroup, Sister Sadie, and studying songwriting at university, this young woman is one to watch. Already with one foot in traditional country and the other in bluegrass, I won’t be surprised if she becomes the ‘Dolly Parton’ of this generation.

Review by Eilís Boland

Shawn Williams Sulking In Love Self Release

 New Orleans singer songwriter Shawn Williams’ 2022 album, WALLOWIN’ IN THE NIGHT, was a ‘no holds barred’ affair of heartbreak, hangovers and hardship. Describing her music as alt-country rockabilly, Williams’ emotional outbursts on that album marked her out as a songwriter cut from the same cloth as her namesakes Lucinda Williams and Hank Williams Jr. If that fine suite of songs was an attempt to finally exorcise vexations and bury some past failed relationships, it may not have entirely succeeded as Williams is still spitting fire on her latest record, SULKING IN LOVE.

She gets down to business from the onset with the opener I Need More (‘let me tell you what’s been on my mind... ‘cos I need more trust than I’ve been giving’) and closes the album on a less than upbeat note with the confessional and mournful mid-tempo ballad, Lonesome Blues. In between these two tracks, her collected stories are rich in detail and content. The wonderfully brooding Call Me Up aims its trigger in the direction of a past suitor and Where I Stand is cut from the same cloth, following a matching ‘busted heart’ thread. If the rawness and the emotions vented in those previously mentioned songs indicate the approach of a breaking point, the album’s standout track, Givin’ Up, goes a step further, approaching the verge of physical collapse. It’s both brutal and brilliant and wouldn’t have been out of place on Lucinda Williams’ self-titled album or Marianne Faithfull’s masterpiece BROKEN ENGLISH. Society (‘I sure as hell can’t afford to leave and my family’s family’s family fill these cemeteries’) finds Williams venting her anger against the gentrification of her home town, New Orleans.

Williams hired a talented bunch of players to replicate the organic sound that worked so well on WALLOWIN’ IN THE NIGHT. Joining her in the studio were Michael Chaves (Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull) on guitar, keys, strings, harmonica and tambourine, Daryl Johnson (Emmylou Harris, Neville Brothers) on bass, harmonies, and percussion, and Omari Neville (Omari Neville & The Fuel) on drums and percussion. Grammy Award winner Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, REM, Lucinda Williams) supervised, produced, and mixed the tracks and captures the dominant mood of the songs perfectly.

An album that travels from the composed to the frenetic, SULKING IN LOVE continues where the writer’s last album left off, with William’s trademark unflinching lyrics and raw vocals offering a gateway to the darkness lurking underneath personal distress. It’s also one for the slow burner so don’t expect to connect on the first play, it does take time to absorb. However, time invested offers rich rewards on each subsequent visit, from an artist never afraid to challenge the tried and trusted. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Diana Jones Better Times Will Come - Reimagined & Remastered Proper

It’s hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since the release of Diana Jones’ celebrated album BETTER TIMES WILL COME. It’s also poignant that the optimism and hopefulness expressed in the album’s title have not yet come to fruition and that many of the sentiments addressed on the album remain fractured.

Revisiting the entire recordings for the original album with studio engineer Steve Addabbo (Bob Dylan, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega), was both an uplifting and emotional experience for Jones. She admits that tears were shed while revisiting the recordings of the title track and hearing the late Nanci Griffith’s vocals once more. The new version of that song that opens the album includes an additional chorus with Griffith’s harmony vocals. The album’s sequencing was also altered. The anti-gun and domestic abuse song, If I Had a Gun, appropriately follows that opening track with its clear and simple message - no guns and no one gets shot. An additional song, Call Me Daddy, which also addresses domestic violence but didn’t make the original cut, is included.

The love letter penned by the miner trapped underground on Henry Russell’s Last Words and the meeting of two people eventually finding love on Cracked and Broken sound as vital and timeless today as they did fifteen years ago. Soldier Girl tells of a woman heading off to war by way of a necessary career choice and the autobiographical in part, All God’s Children (‘I search for faces that look like my own’), considers the plight faced by the orphaned child. As was the case on the original album, the album closes with The Day I Die.

Diana Jones’ writings have consistently focused on dark and harrowing topics, a celebration of the classic folk ballads so close to her heart. With her delightful vocal purr and joined by musicians whose playing is suitably understated and more than complements those vocals, BETTER TIMES WILL COME established itself as one of the quintessential Americana recordings of its time. This remastered edition and its thought-provoking and powerfully emotive songs, fifteen years after its initial emergence, remain a joy to behold.

Review by Declan Culliton

Casey Prestwood Where I’m Going Is Where I’ve Always Been Self Release

There can be little doubt that Casey Prestwood has always been a believer in the righteous ways of traditional country music, something that is exemplified in his music, his mode of dress and his long-standing honky-tonk attitude. He also uses his deep knowledge of the history of the music to create original material that would fit as much back then as it does in today’s climate, though not perhaps in the way that many have come to regard as country music, based on current commercial dictats that seek to move the music so far from its roots that the title is virtually meaningless. Things might be about to change, to some small degree perhaps, with some of the more true to genre artists making breakthroughs in the mainstream.

I don’t feel, though, that Prestwood is focused on that particular goal with his music. Rather the Denver, Colorado based performer is more concerned with getting his music right and true to his personal vision. Neither is he prolific in the release of his albums. His last outing, BORN TOO LATE, came out in 2016 (it is available with some other releases on his website).  However, the wait for this latest collection of songs has been worth it.

He recorded the album with a like-minded and thoroughly respected producer in Justin Trevino. They recorded in Trevino’s studio in Brady, Texas. He was joined, as he has been over several previous recordings, by his Burning Angels rhythm section of Kevin Finn (drums) and Jeff Martin (bass) and new member David Knodle played electric guitar. Add to that Hank Singer on fiddle, Floyd Domino on piano and Tyler Hall on steel guitar. The backing singers are notable too, with Sierra Ferrell and Amber Digby adding their vocals to balance Prestwood’s ever assured and nuanced lead vocals. The sessions were recorded largely live, which gave an added presence to the overall country shuffle sound that is apparent in the self-written tracks.

As is perhaps natural, the songs touch on the perennial themes that were the staple of country music over the last few years. Paralyzed Heart is the opening song and is a nod to the Bakersfield inspired sound that has a fondness for the truck drivin’ stories of Red Simpson among others. Crossed Signals is a song about the importance of getting to the point in a relationship. It heralds in the classic shuffle sound with fiddle and steel well to the fore. Out Of Place (a co-write with Josh Berwanger), that has the darker side of drug use at its centre, features Sierra Ferrell in a mash up that Prestwood describes as “the Gatlin Brothers meets T Rex!”

There are two songs that directly touch on that other seminal theme of drink in Wine Drunk wherein that state of inebriation is a place he wants to take his girl. Day Drinking, on the other hand, recognises that as the years pass it’s not often possible to carry on as it was easy to do in the past. 

Cheating, as you might expect, has its place here too - and from both sides of the fence. In Slipping Away he is the one facing up to the pain of the realisation that he is no longer wanted, while  the song Crazy Girls addresses the running around he did in his younger days, especially in relation to touring and playing. Maybe I’ll Be Happy describes a petulant mood that finds him heading to the place where he thought he would be happy, following a fight with a girlfriend. That mood is again addressed in Leave Me Alone, the detail tells it all. 

The overall perception though is of an excellent album that captures the well intentioned balance between artist, players, producer and material, that makes it one that it is easy to love on those different levels. A work of heart. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

White Rose Motor Oil The Gift Of Poison Self Release

A husband and wife duo of Eryn DeSomer on vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion and Keith Hoerig DeSomer on drums, bass and handclaps. So by the very fact of that particular line-up, they will doubtless draw parallels with any similar duo but especially, perhaps, The White Stripes playing a Dolly Parton song. They have been compare with the Jack White produced Loretta Lynn album Van Lear Rose, as well as to Neko Case’s more country-styled output. Pop-country is a term that has been used about them too but that has connotations of something far less palatable. They are closer to the best of power-pop in terms of energy and enjoyment and their country veers towards the traditional, rather than the more recent mainstream pap. That, at least, will give those unacquainted with their output some Idea of what to expect.

They put out a series of EPs back in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 respectively. YOU CAN”T KILL GHOSTS, their debut album of original material, came out in 2021 and was preceded by an album of cover versions. They have obviously gained a lot of studio experience from those recordings to get them to the place for this album.

This twelve track release is good fun and the sound, produced by Brian Hunter who worked with them on previous recordings and who also recorded, mixed and mastered it, is vibrant and accessible and on the rock side of rootsy. They hail from Denver, Colorado, a city that has thrown up some interesting outfits in recent times like Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Casey James Prestwood and The Burning Angels through to The Cowboy Dave Band (to name but three).

The songs deal with the trials and tribulations of love, with titles such as Just Your Type, Meet Me At The Bottom, Trouble Or Nothing, Only In Dreams and Ain’t No Saint giving hints of that state of mind and mood. Most of the songs are uptempo and upbeat despite the sometimes alternative nature of the lyrical content and story songs. The single outside track here is a version of Carlene Carter’s Every Little Thing that reminds one of a great song, artist and a reference point in time that is as valid in this version as the original was in its time.

One things that is apparent is that this couple, on record at least, don’t need anyone else to keep you listening. Eryn has a powerful, confident and versatile voice that can handle all the songs with equal ability, whilst musically they offer a similar credence and credibility. 

This gift is one that, so far, sounds like it will keep on giving and that White City Motor Oil lubricates many parts of the country rock motor, something that keeps us in tune and our motors running.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Pete Berwick The Damage Is Done Shotgun

Described as a cowpunk pioneer, Berwick this time sounds a lot less of the former and more firmly rooted in the latter demographic. This is the seventh release from Berwick and continues his hard rockin’ trajectory which began with his initial cowpunk outfit, Peter Berwick & Interstate. This album has been produced by Charlie Bonnet III, who has also furnished the buzzsaw guitars to Berwick’s often angry songs and delivery. The studio team is rounded out by engineer/ mixer Dave Summer’s worthy contributions on bass, drums, keyboards and additional guitar. Ashley Argo provides some backing vocals, joining the male trio to provide some additional vocal presence.

There is hardly a let up in pace and intensity from the open trio of hi-energy tracks that would likely please any Social Distortion fan or, for that matter, fans of power-pop fuelled punk in general. Time Clock On The Wall takes a step back with a slower paced guitar-led ballad. In an equally balanced step back from the raging fire is Ghost Tears, with some melodic atmospheric harmonies behind Berwick’s straining vocal that hints of the 60’s and the Ramones’ Spector recordings. Don’t Know How is another tale of hard times delivered, as the song’s message befits, at a less hectic pace and again is used to offset the full tilt punk boogie of the other songs, such as the beat-up hard edged beat for the remaining songs, one of which You’ll Get Used To It takes you back to the genesis of UK punk in London in ’77. The mid-paced Haunted Heart was written by Bonnet, the only song not penned by Berwick himself.

Berwick has thus far released some nine previous albums and anyone acquainted with his releases will know what to expect from this seasoned performer. It seems after such a long engagement with his music that this album has not seen him mellow though he has, on occasion, moderated his music to explore some other possibilities. Here he is back to demonstrating why the “cowpunk” connection was made in the first place, even though there is less obvious twang in evidence.

Berwick is also a working character actor with a lot of experience, who currently features in a new film One Night On Dover Street. His biography notes he has been a stand-up comedian, a theatre actor and an author, as well as playing both Elvis and Johnny Cash  He has also had his music included in a variety of movies over a number of years. One song taken from the album of the same name is Ain’t No Train Out Of Nashville that featured in the film about aspiring Nashville songwriters entitled A Thing Called Love. But it is his solo work his has forged his roots rock path, that sits alongside his musical journey since he began performing in the late 70s.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Cinder Well Cadence Free Dirt

Amelia Baker is one of the brightest talents to emerge on the music scene in recent years. Her debut album arrived back in 2015 and she has been slowly building a career that has seen separate album releases in 2018 and 2020, with a few singles and a live recording included along the journey.

Her vocal is very hypnotic and captures the listener with its intimacy and purity in the delivery. These are songs of meditative space and timeless quality. There is a deep resonance in the melodies and the song arrangements that lingers and demands attention. The music is deeply rooted in the feel of the process and the musicians are very intuitive in their interplay. Baker called upon the talents of Philip Rogers (drums), Neal Heppleston (bass), Jake Falby (violin), and Cormac MacDiarmada (strings) during the recording.

Having lived in Ireland for a number of years, Baker decided to return to her original home in Los Angeles and to touch base with her past. The album reflects the distance between these two parts of her experience, the time spent of different coasts, both very beautiful and both very different. The song Returning seems to capture this dichotomy with the refrain ‘The returning takes its own time’ hinting at the perspective needed to reconcile the two different worlds.

The title track is one that drips with atmosphere and reflects upon the rising and falling of life’s experiences; the vocal mirroring this sense of movement and passion. The sombre violin tone sets the atmosphere and the understated playing supports the song at every new inflection. The project was recorded at Hen House Studios near Venice beach but there is no sense of sunny days or long beach walks in the reflective and intimate sounds of songs like Well On Fire and Crow. The undulating waves perhaps played a part as Baker took in the beach vistas and superimposed them upon the rugged seas of the west of Ireland. Darkness and light, pleasure and pain, introspection and remembering to caution restraint.

Gone the Holding reflects upon the path that Baker has taken with images that reference birds, ports, the sea and time running out. Her experience of Covid isolation cannot have been easy for a writer who requires stimulation to feed her creative muse. A Scorched Lament is a slow melody with the imagery of a blackbird carrying messages of inner thoughts to places unknown. Final song I Will Close In the Moonlight has a certain calm that channels a delivery that is very reminiscent of Natalie Marchant in its lament to passing ships in the night, people who touch our lives, and then move on. Compelling and swathed in sounds to both heal and renew. A superb album in every way.

Review by Paul McGee

Hillsborough Comin’ back For You Heartsville

This band is based in the Queensland area of Australia and comprises the twin talents of Phil Usher and Beata Maglai, with Robbie Zawada on double bass, and Jonathan Pickvance on drums.

Opening track Trouble Finds Its Way is a perfect start to these songs about pleasure and pain. ‘There’s a price to walk away, But it’s death to try and stay, Walk the path with heavy boots, When trouble finds its way to you.’ In a similar vein Magnetic Lives and Exit Wounds circle the same territory of lost relationships and wanting to move on from a bad situation.

When Nobody Knows Your Name speaks of a life spent in isolation and the urge to be independent ‘When no one knows your name, You can lay your own track, It’s a two-headed coin, When you break from the pack.’ Maybe it’s just following a dream or maybe it’s a case of just lying to yourself? Other songs like Stitches and Comin’ Back To You tell about the other side of relationships and the feeling of being together with your love on the same path.

The country noir sound of Port Jackson Blues is typical of the great rhythm that runs through these song arrangements with the pulse of the backbeat and the distant howl of guitars laying down a sense of foreboding. Equally the insistent guitar groove on Laughing Clown is deeply infectious and the lines ‘No matter how you spell it honey, I’m just a wandering soul, You better save up all that money, My feet are made from gold.’ Another song that speaks of getting away and starting over is Far Away From Here and the urge to escape childhood constraints is strong ‘When you’ve only seen the night, You can’t recognise the light, The charred remains of your former life, Forge a prison for your mind.’ The slow strum of guitars, impassioned vocals and harmonica all add to the dynamic. The final song Queenie is an ode to a lost friend and the hope that they can meet again further down the dusty trails of time. ‘This is how it ends, Speeches given by old friends, The volumes left unsaid, And hope that we will meet again.’ A nicely framed sentiment and a tribute to the past.

This is outlaw country with a ragged sense of time and place despite the miles that separate Texas from Queensland. It has a swagger and a real taste of gritty maturity that is endearing.

Review by Paul McGee

Drew Young Bourbon and Bad Decisions Self Release

This album came with little information but on searching further it transpires that the release date was June 2022 and the fourteen songs were a “collection of previously releases singles, remastered singles, live versions and never before released singles.”

My copy of the album has only twelve tracks included but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment factor. The arrangements and melodies are very bright and clean in the overall production and mastering. These are songs of loss and longing. The lessons learned are hard fought and the insights gained are worth the pain in the end.

Young sounds like Gorden Lightfoot across a number of these tracks with a resonance in his voice that is both deep and resonant. The title track references the road taken by Young in getting sober and joining the ranks of the ‘Friends of Bill.’   The nice groove and rhythm is similar to other tracks like You’re Just Too Good To Let Go, Falling Down and It’ll Be Soon. Another song The Geogia Line is similar in tempo to a Richard Marx hit, Hazard, from some years ago.

Stuck On Believing and A Couple Of Rounds Before I Go are two highlights with some sweet guitar and keyboard sounds filling the arrangements and excellent background vocals from an uncredited female voice that is impressive and succeeds in lifting the songs to a sweeter spot. This release will give you a strong impression of a consistent and strong song-writing quality and an urge to check our more of this artist’s back catalogue.

Review by Paul McGee

Jaelee Roberts Music, Shawn Williams Music, Diana Jones - Singer/Songwriter, Casey Prestwood, White Rose Motor Oil, Pete Berwick, Cinder Well, Hillsborough - Music, and The Drew Young Band.

New Album Reviews

Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2 Full Time Hobby

Playing pedal steel in Caitlin Rose’s band when she toured Europe, Spencer Cullum was encouraged by Rose and her guitarist, Jeremy Fetzer, to relocate to Nashville where the burgeoning Americana scene had the potential of offering the young East Londoner considerably more work opportunities than in his hometown. Cullum soon found himself very much part of the bohemian musical community in East Nashville and his avant-garde style of playing led to the formation, with Fetzer, of the instrumental band Steelism. Twelve years later, while Steelism still exists, Cullum’s impressive workload includes playing three-week residencies in Las Vegas as Miranda Lambert’s pedal steel player and numerous calls to the studio to work with a variety of artists and bands including Lambchop, Angel Olsen and Deertick.

A lover of various genres but with a particular fondness for the UK Canterbury sound and the classic British folk music of the late 60s and early 70s, Cullum discovered that his close friends and peers in Nashville- Erin Rae, Caitlin Rose, Sean Thomson and Andrew Combs - were also fans. (Cullum told us in a recent interview that when he first heard Erin Rae sing at The Fond Object, he was instantly reminded of Sandy Denny). What initially kicked off as loose evening jam sessions with friends eventually morphed into the recording of Cullum’s debut solo album COIN COLLECTION in 2021.

That album’s successor loosely treads a similar musical path with smatterings of krautrock and jazz alongside some classic Brit-folk. The track Betwixt and Between is a case in point and one that had me hitting the repeat button a number of times. Its origins stemmed from a fun Halloween night where Cullum and his associates covered the soundtrack of the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man, which encouraged him to write and record a traditional folk song along similar lines. It’s a thing of beauty, with Cullum and Erin Rae’s vocals married to perfection. Cold Damp Valley, a co-write with Sean Thompson, affectionately recalls a few damp days the pair spent in a little village in West Yorkshire.  More experimental are the tracks Kingdom Weather and the opener What a Waste Of an Echo. The former includes chorus vocals, recorded remotely, by Japanese singer songwriter Yuma Abe, the latter features harmony vocals by Dana Gavanski alongside Cullum’s spoken delivery. The Three Magnets, running over the six-minute mark, is a racy krautrock instrumental featuring guitar and synths by ambient and spiritual jazz experimentalist, Rich Ruth.  Also included are the gentle folk ballad Green Trees and the dreamily psychedelic Out Of Focus.

While the album seldom strays too far from the genre-hopping delights of its predecessor, it does suggest an artist with multiple tricks up his sleeve and one growing in confidence both as a songwriter and a collaborator. If, like this writer, you’re a fan of the work of the delightfully eccentric Robert Wyatt, this record will be right up your street.

Review by Declan Culliton 

Carter Sampson Gold Horton

The latest album from Carter Sampson, the artist affectionately known as The Queen of Oklahoma, finds her sharing the production duties with multi-instrumentalist Kyle Reid, who played pedal steel on Sampson’s 2018 album LUCKY. That collaboration led to Reid touring with Sampson and Jason Scott as a three-piece in support of her last studio album, TRIO, from 2019.

Given that association, it’s little surprise that Sampson’s latest recording GOLD, from the intro on the opener and title track, is pedal steel - laden, and all the better for that. A writer who gives the impression of one who has lived through every lyric she writes; Sampson is particularly contemplative and plain-spoken on this ten-track collection.

Unlike her previous full-length albums, where she invited guest musicians and friends to contribute, the only players to feature on this occasion, other than Reid and herself, are Johnny Carlton, who plays upright bass on a couple of tracks, and Lane Hawkins, whose fiddle playing features on one track. This scenario was forced rather than intended, due to the majority of the tracks being recorded during lockdown. To observe social distancing, Reid ran cables from his house to a makeshift backyard studio where Sampson was set up, a somewhat unorthodox manner of recording. The process was completed by the addition of some innovative overdubs by Reid. Given the improvisation, the end product works remarkably well and gives the sense of a live recording with Sampson’s vocals particularly in fine fettle.

That previously noted opening track is a defiant thumbs up in the direction of her mom (‘Momma don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine..cause you made me out of gold’). Exploring a wide range of issues alongside her personal plights, she digs deep into her western vibe on the swinging Yippy Yi Yo (‘it’s hard being a woman today’). She recalls the drought-stricken terror of the 1930s Dust Bowl in Oklahoma on Black Blizzard and brazenly declares the acceptance of her career vocation on Can’t Stop Me Now. The album closes on a hopeful and reassuring note with the acoustic There’s Always Next Year.

For sheer charm and listening pleasure, look no further than GOLD. Beauty is often born out of chaos and tribulation; this collection of tales is a case in point. A dynamic storyteller, by recognising past challenges, exorcising them, and moving on, Sampson has struck gold and created another superlative album equal to anything in her impressive back catalogue.

Review by Declan Culliton

Robbie Fulks Bluegrass Vacation Compass

Over a three-decade career, fifteen solo albums and two Grammy nominations, Robbie Fulks has crisscrossed seamlessly between traditional country, alt-country, folk and singer songwriter genres. The common denominator in all his musical excursions has been the quality of the end product. Raised in North Carolina and surrounded by a musical family - Fulks’ mother played autoharp, his father was a proficient guitarist and two of his aunts played banjo and violin respectively - Fulks owned his first banjo aged six and was also an accomplished guitar player by the age of ten.  Prior to launching his solo career, he was also a player in Greg Cahill’s bluegrass band, Special Consensus. Given that history, it’s hardly a surprise that Fulks has finally recorded a full-blown bluegrass album, BLUEGRASS VACATION.

A regular collaborator himself, it’s fitting that Fulks was joined in the studio by bluegrass royalty in Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, Ronnie McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Alison Brown, John Cowan, Brennen Leigh and Jerry Douglas.

Fulks previously wrote satirically and with ‘flowery’ language about his less than favourable association with Music City with Fuck This Town on his 1997 album SOUTH MOUTH. I had the pleasure of witnessing him performing that song at American Legion Post 82 in Nashville a few years back. The reaction was divided between abject disgust amongst the more mature regulars at the venue and hilarity from the younger and hipper attendees. Like a sore not yet fully healed, Fulks revisits that jarred relationship with Nashville Blues (‘I’ve got the blues, those Nashville blues, ain’t got no hair, ain’t got no shoes’). The equally impressive Molly and The Old Man is an endorsement of the potency and restorative qualities of old-time music as it passes through the generations. It features a gorgeous vocal contribution from Brennen Leigh and fine banjo playing from Alison Brown. The album is not strictly bluegrass throughout, Fulks strays into country folk with memories of parent-directed rebellion while moving through adolescence into manhood on Angels Carry Me, and the gentle ballad Mommas Eyes visits the hurt and grief of losing a loved one. He hasn’t abandoned his sardonic writing style either - no surprise there - and he kicks off the album with a tongue-in-cheek rouser, One Glass of Whiskey (‘one glass of whiskey to ease my mind and another to take it too far away to find’).

‘Electric guitars might give way to computers, as seems to be happening now, but the mountains will still be right there’ reflects Fulks. It’s a fitting contemplation and a reminder of the significance of honouring and sustaining the excellence of music from the past. Fulks has more than played his part in that regard and continues to do so with flying colours with BLUEGRASS VACATION, which should appeal to both bluegrass lovers and devotees from the roots and Americana world.

Review by Declan Culliton

Ben De La Cour Sweet Anhedonia Jullian

A new album to savour the delights in the exploration of the many characters created by Ben De La Cour, taken from many walks of life, though most are traveling on those uneven paths you end up tripping up on. This time out De La Cour turned to a producer he felt would be sympathetic to his overall vision. That was fellow singer/songwriter and life-experienced troubadour Jim White. White has not drastically changed the overall musical direction but brings a subtle hand to the desk, one that highlights the details and mood of these new songs.

Again we are guided through dark backroads, dark thoughts and the darker landscape that permeates the polarised viewpoints that are more than apparent in America (and elsewhere) these days. However the idiosyncratic apprehensions of many of his subjects would suggest that they have more immediate concerns than worrying about any such weighty ideals - no matter how much that may come to have relevance in the long term.

There is a core empathy in De La Cour’s writing that suggests he has an understanding of what forces bring them to that place in their lives. Like many writers of this quality, he inhabits these persona and lays out a place and time without making a judgement on the nature of that person.

Appalachian Book Of The Dead opens the album and from its conspicuous title augurs the tales to come. It reads like a screenplay synopsis for an American noir which reveals itself in small non-linear scenes an enticing introduction to the material that follows. The element of chance and luck is the premise of Number’s Game, a song written with Lynne Hanson and featuring Becky Warren on vocals. Why this the song was released as the first single is apparent from its immediate sense of melody, even if lyrically its sense of realism would mean it’s unlikely get played on mainstream radio. 

From there on we take a journey down a particularly heartworn highway that passes through Maricopa County, wherein the solo trumpet adds to the sense of foreboding on the track. Shine On The Highway travels that road with an endless vista of a forgotten small town America. It again highlights De La Cour and White’s marriage of interesting sounds and sugary writing. The title track is a somewhat softer take on the lives of those whose faces don’t entirely rhyme, who tend to be in a place where they can feel nothing at all. Elizabeth Cook joins in on the kind of gritty savageness that is well expressed by the title Suicide Of Town. Next we’re heading into Palookavile with mining camps, memories of Buddy Holly and unsuitable venues along the way to that final destination. Trumpet and piano are again central to the pervasive mood and noirish frame of mind.

Taking a more personal insight is Brother, which looks deep into another life who may or may not be a sibling, but offers the credo to “keep your head up high and keep your profile low” on the off chance you might avoid the devil’s glance. More discordant, with a distinct Tom Waits disposition in the first part, is the penultimate American Mind - as fragmented as you might expect in current (and past) times. It has an arrangement that seems to divide the song into two distinct sections that work in tandem, noting that “the road to heaven is paved with sorrow.” The album ends with a sense of hopeful ambiguity, over an acoustic guitar and fiddle treatise on what thinking I’ve Got Everything I Ever Wanted and what that might be.The child’s voice in its coda points to a hope for a better future for the next generation.

Of course, these are my interpretations of these intriguing songs, and may not entirely be what was intended by their author. Nevertheless, this is an album I have been listening to for some time and it is a career best for De La Cour and one that singles him out as being among the very best singer/songwriters working today (or at any time).

Review by Stephen Rapid

Discovering new music is not always the easiest thing, you rely on reviews from certain magazines where you know the writer’s own preferences are close to your own. Or there are a number of websites you trust to give you the heads up. Apart from that you need to sort through submissions, many of which are totally unsuitable for Lonesome Highway. You can, though, discover some real gems that way too. The following album was one highlighted by the Saving Country Music website - a site well worth investigating.

Sam Munsick Johnny Faraway Self Release

The Munsick family are a well regarded family of musicians, whose father Dave was a champion fiddle player who taught his three sons to play - all have a love of country music (especially with the added defining suffix of Western) which they play together as The Munsick Boys. Tris released his debut solo album NEXT TO NOWHERE in 2010. Ian is the youngest but has signed a deal with Warner Music Nashville and may have the biggest profile.

However the family member we are most concerned with here is Sam. He has released this second album, JOHNNY FARAWAY, recently as a follow up to his debut RODEO ROAD. The album is honest and true to a tradition which has seen a major resurgence in recent times, led by artists like Colter Wall, Corb Lund, Riddy Armen, Andy Hedges and Wylie Gustafson. The loss of icons of the genre like Ian Tyson, Don Edwards and Chris Ledoux means there is a need for new artists to fill that saddle.

Sam Munsick is a definite candidate with his tales of cowboys, rodeos, ranches and the characters who inhabit them and the bars that service them. He does so here with nine self-penned songs that are as full of life as the people who are the subjects of the material. The album features some top notch playing from co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Cody Angel, alongside the other producer and rhythm guitarist Tyler McCollum. The rhythm section is Glenn Fukunaga on bass and drummer Pat Manske. Ron Huckabee plays piano and brothers Dave and Ian are involved too. All in all, a set of players well able to do justice to these likeable songs.

Sam adds his prominent, personable voice and guitar which serve as the core of the performances. While some artists have favoured a more stripped down approach (campfire like) of voice and guitar with some subtle additional instruments touches, this album seems more like a Friday/Saturday night out. There is the opportunity to sing along, to dance and to be drawn into the obvious joy that ensues. 1-80 Lady and Marana Marie are taken up with the subject of the ladies who are very much a part of the lives of these folks. There is a country rock edge to Old Montana that feels right for the song and for the album’s overriding balance of work and play. 1922 is about the comparison between thinking of departed love and a painting by the renowned western artist Charles M Russell. It compares the fact that his paintings are still around, unlike the person he wishes still was. Cayuse Twister is the tale of an old timer whose saddle was his home. It has a Western Swing flavour that is pretty tasty. There are similar approaches to songs such as Smokey’s Bones, though here it is the horse not the man who is lauded. The attraction (or addiction) of the rodeo life is the theme of In Trouble On The Bubble.

The ballad setting of the title track feels like it could have been based on an old Irish traditional song from sometime in the last century, as many of the songs of the genre did. It again highlights the warmth of Sam Munsick’s voice and how easy it is to enjoy the whole dang thing. The final track Smokin’ Joe ends with a spoken outro, like a stage announcer thanking us for joining Sam in this particular performance.

Well I for one sure did and I think you might too if you have a liking for country and western music this well put together and played. This is music from the heart, coming from an authentic place that is never faraway.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Jake Ybarra Something In The Water The Orchard

A new name to me and to many others I would imagine but if he continues to develop the potential that he shows on this his debut album, he will be a name to watch out for in the future. Ybarra (the Y should be pronounced as an E) has written all ten songs, which show a writing style that manages to consider some of the less obvious but revealing details, alongside those bigger issues that are part of the day to day existence that so many face and can therefore relate to. He has an unmistakeable understanding of those he writes about. That may be from personal experience or from close observation of these he has, thus far, encountered, often influenced by several authors rather than just singer/songwriters.

He is a Texan but grew up in South Carolina and there was a member of a choir, which was where he began to explore what a voice, and specifically his voice, can do. That was in the Southern Baptist community, and his next interest was on the sports field, before he immersed himself in the blues guitar styles that were much in favour. The next revelation was when he began to consider the lyrical content of the material he was listening to at the time, noting the sadness and beauty those songs and writers revealed.

He released an EP locally before that led to the opportunity of recording this album. He worked with William Gawley as producer and a team that included Billy Thomas on drums, bassist Dow Tomlin, David Flint on guitar and keyboardist Dane Bryant rounding out the band. They all serve Yberra well and bring something extra to the songs, something that is pretty crucial on a debut release.

There is a variety in the delivery in terms of tempo and mood and one is immediately taken with songs like the title song both with the arrangement and with the story line unfolding. Equally, Savannah’s Song is a similarly paced acoustically rooted song with subtle instrumental support. The contemplative Long Winter is a descriptive tale of remembrances of that season’s time and endeavours. Call Me By My Name has a sense of longing and a wish for company that is perhaps both hopeful as well as having a degree of dejectedness that fits the musical setting. We are again in similar territory with Disappear. 

Other songs such as Bloodfire or the riff-woven A Whole Lot To Remember and the lead track (and one of the album highlights) Late November kick it up a notch and drive the album along in a way that sees the running order working as a balance that gives the whole album its overall identity.

Throughout Ybarra’s voice and songwriting impress, with his ability to mix the plaintive and plain-spoken with the  perceptive. All in all, a thumbs up for a new name that is likely to have a a shot for a place alongside the greats of the Texas troubadour tradition. It must be something in the water.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Maggie Fraser The Way That I Wish It Was Self Release

This is a debut release from Toronto based Maggie Fraser, a songwriter with many years of experience writing for other artists. In 2008, local Ontario singer and multi-instrumentalist Colleen Hodgson paid tribute to Fraser on her release, Songs of Maggie. All these years later, Fraser steps up to the microphone and takes her place in the spotlight. There is a sense of symmetry in the fact that Hodgson appears as a support and background vocalist on two of the ten songs featured here.

Fraser handles all of the song-writing duties and plays acoustic guitar on six tracks. She also takes all lead vocals and her delivery could be something of an acquired taste to new listeners. It is a cross between Marianne Faithful and Lucinda Wiliams in cadence and timbre. Production duties are handled by husband Alec Fraser, who also contributes on bass and guitars, banjo, keyboards, drums and percussion.

Other musicians on the project are Denis Keldie (electric piano, organ, accordion), Chris Bartos (violins, moog bass, fiddle, pedal steel), Rich Roxborough (keyboards, piano), James McKie (mandolin, bodhrán), Chris Staig (guitar), and Ed White (drums). Together, the band recorded at Liquid studio in Toronto and the results are captured in this engaging album of songs that cover a whole range of emotions, from self-reflection to fear of the future, analysing grief and trying to get beyond feelings of depression, to embracing hope for the future.   

Outside of her interest in music, Fraser is a qualified Psychotherapist who runs her own practice and who navigates life changes for her clients as much as she tries to express her own journey in song. Her husband, Alec Fraser, as well as taking on production duties is also a respected blues musician who developed the Circus Bass, an upright bass with seven drum sounds attached, played with his hands and a brush. He plays this instrument on three of the songs featured here.

Your Ghost is an interesting take on the grief of losing a loved one and the lyrics ‘Tomorrow is a betraying word, Don’t believe all the lines you’ve heard, Just when you need her most, she doesn’t come through,’ give a sense of loneliness and a sense of fear in the future. The Cornfield is a song that laments the way that the earth has been abused and the image of its essence as a young girl that has been ignored is wrapped in a country tinged arrangement with pedal steel and fiddle featured.

After the Loving is a song about lost love and Our Little Canoe looks at the ability to carry on regardless, no matter what life puts in our way ‘Our little canoe, onward we travel, Though kingdoms unravel and time falls away.’ With the song, The Way That I Wish It Was, Fraser looks at a life lived by an immigrant who was married at sixteen as part of a pre-arranged union. The difference in the lives that we are given, and forced to live against the freedom to choose. It takes strength to endure.

Going to Hell is about domestic abuse and the regrets born of the price paid for dark deeds. The title track tells of unrequited love and has an easy country influenced arrangement with some fine piano and guitar lines, courtesy of Denis Keldie and Alec Fraser. Wild Black Dogs looks at our fears and our hopes, keeping down the feelings of being out of control. The final track Song For Susan is a tribute to a friend who has passed on.

As a debut album, this contains plenty to entertain and is an interesting look into the creative muse of a talented artist.

Review by Paul McGee

Dougie Poole The Rainbow Wheel Of Death Wharf Cat

This New York singer-songwriter has been releasing music since his debut EP first appeared in 2016. He released a full album Wideass Highway in 2017, and followed this up with a second release in 2020 and the arrival of The Freelancer's Blues. The lockdown years proved a time of both challenge and reward for Poole as he negotiated his feelings and emotions across the isolation of having to stop playing and touring for a living.

In 2021 he released a 13-track Live Bootlegs album that covered recordings between 2018 and 2020. All the songs were performed at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn, New York and originally released on the podcast, Dougie Poole's Special Delivery.  He is a very interesting artist who has taken his early influences from indie-based music and punk to approach a new take on country music as a genre that can fuse genuine songcraft with synth based sounds, Wurlitzer and traditional pedal steel. The results are very impressive and engaging across nine tracks that run just short of thirty-four minutes and leave a lasting impression.

The title track refers to that icon that greets us on our computer screens every time our machine buffers and the waiting can be related to feelings of being stuck, something that we all experienced during the pandemic lockdowns. Poole sings ‘Been waiting here so long, For something good to load.’ In the very poignant High School Gym Poole reflects upon those who have died and now form part of his dreams where they populate the benches in his old school gym. ‘There’s just one question that’s on everybody’s mind, Hell, they ask me every time that I stop in, Can’t you turn back time? Can’t you curve that line? So we can roll the old dice again, Oh, but the house, it always wins.’ Superb song-writing and such bittersweet reflection on the wheel of life.

Poole delivers a soft vocal that blends in easily with the understated playing. It’s very much a case of less is more in the gentle melodies and song arrangements. Worried Man Blues 2 and Nickles and Dimes are two songs about relationship woes and the ever-present push and pull of conflicting emotions mixed with poor communication channels. Beth David Cemetery is located in New York and the song talks of regular undertaker visits to deliver another corpse; ‘I’m headed home to give you back another one.’

Must Be In Here Somewhere is a search on a computer hard drive for an old message that has gotten lost and the memory of an old lover that lingers and haunts.  I Lived My Whole Life Last Night has a similar sense of something lost and speaks of regret ‘I ate the whole apple in just one bite, I ate the core, the seeds, the stem, just like I said I might.’ The final song is one of guarded hope and the overriding emotion of I Hope My Baby Comes Home Soon is one of wanting to be held and comforted.

Poole wrote all the songs during 2021 in his apartment before bringing them to co-producers Nate Mendelsohn and Katie Von Schleicher. Over a period of five days they worked in the intimate space of a suburban home, temporarily turned into a small studio and invited a group of players to join in the live, off the floor experience. Sean Mullins (drums, organ, wurlitzer), Brian Betancourt (bass), Mike Etten (guitars), Jack McLoughlin (pedal steel, resonator guitar) were joined by producer Katie Von Schleicher (Wurlitzer, synths, vocals), and Nate Mendelsohn (vocals, horns), Dan iead (pedal steel) and Zhanah Wyche (vocals) appear on  different tracks. Dougie Poole leads the ensemble on main vocal duties together with guitar, synth and harmonica contributions. This is a very restrained album that is full of sweetly observed moments and it is certainly worthy of your investment.

Review by Paul McGee

Roxy Gordon Crazy Horse Never Died Paradise Of Bachelors

A renowned Texas poet, journalist, artist, activist, and musician; Roxy Gordon was a Choctaw and Assiniboine native American. He lived from 1945 until his death in 2000 and is remembered on this reissue of a previous work that was first recorded in 1988. In his day he was feted by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, and Terry Allen. Butch Hancock, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Billy Joe Shaver also identified with him as fellow Texan songwriters. However, Gordon was more defined by his wide-ranging work that encompassed poetry, short fiction, essays, memoirs, journalism, and criticism. His primary subject as a writer, musician, and visual artist was always American Indian culture, specifically the ways it collided and coexisted with European American culture and with his own life experience.

I am reminded of the similar works created by John Trudell (1946-2015), another native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, and his pregnant wife, three children and mother-in-law were killed in 1979 in a suspicious fire at the home of his parents-in-law.

On this album of ten spoken word pieces, Gordon comments on the way in which history has been written and distorted by the white man in the search for land and wealth across the great plains of America. History is always written by the victors and in subjecting native American first nation peoples to life on reservations, the hurt and callous disregard for empathy and human kindness can never to forgotten.

The indomitable spirit of a subjugated people can never be broken and that very fortitude is perfectly captured in the soul of Crazy Horse. He stands as an enduring symbol for the ongoing fight and for the past suffering that has paved the way towards a challenging future. Both The Hanging Of Black Jack Ketchum and I Used To Know An Assiniboine Girl recount the true stories of events that went unpunished and Life As A Living Target sums up the reality of having to survive against the odds of keeping others alive by personal sacrifice, being willing to die for the ultimate survival of other races.

In An Open Letter to Illegal Aliens Gordon highlights capitalism, communism, materialism and money, Christianity, and Judaism, as the sickness imported by European immigrants to the USA and  to unspoilt lands that had been thriving for thousands of years before their arrival. This is a timely message that conservative white America should absorb in the midst of their current hysteria about immigration policies.

The musical accompaniment is provided by Brad Bradley on keyboards and guitar and Frank X Tolbert on washtub bass.  It is a stark recording, raw at both the core and along the edges. It is an absorbing listen that reaches from beyond the grave full of insight and sharply honed wisdom.

Review by Paul McGee

Carter Sampson, Robbie Fulks, Ben de la Cour, Sam Munsick, Jake Ybarra, Dougie Poole

Spencer Cullum Jr., Maggie Fraser, Roxy Gordon

New Album Reviews

Rachel Baiman Common Nation of Sorrow Signature Sounds

Aside from being a gifted multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist, Rachel Baiman’s unwavering commitment to addressing social issues and injustice is in little doubt. A co-founder of the musician-led organisation, Folks Fight Back, Baiman is Nashville based but was raised in Chicago by parents who both were political activists. Her 2017 album, SHAME, tackled thorny political issues head-on and featured in our favourite albums of that year. Her second full album, CYCLES, which followed in 2021, also addressed more personal matters of the heart.

This self-produced album was recorded in twelve days at The Tractor Shed in Nashville and was mixed by Tucker Martine (Rosanne Cash, My Morning Jacket, Aoife O’Donovan). It plays out as a ‘state of the nation’ in political terms, with particular emphasis on the economic oppression forced upon so many ordinary people in America. Baiman sets that scene with the opener SomeStrange Notion and airs her frustration and exasperation on Bad Debt. Optimism is seldom on the agenda, although the Gillian Welch-sounding Bitter, notwithstanding its lyrical content, is simply gorgeous. The banjo-led John Hartford cover, Self Made Man, is an endorsement of Baiman’s love of old school country and Lovers and Leavers is directed towards her bipolar disorder, a diagnosis which she only received in recent years. Annie, possibly autobiographical, is written from the perspective of a young girl trying to make sense of the adult world surrounding her. 

 Despite the dark overtones, and bruised and tender lyrics, Baiman has created an uplifting listening experience with COMMON NATION OF SORROW. While the album's quality owes much to the intimate vocals of Baiman and harmonies from Erin Rae, the standard of musicianship from the assembled players is equally splendid. An artist always questioning while on her creative quest and never one to reinvent herself, this record is a worthy companion to her previous recordings and a highly recommended listen.

Review by Declan Culliton

Dom Flemons Traveling Wildfire Smithsonian Folkways

Chicago-based musician and historian Dom Flemons’ latest recording, which runs for a healthy fifty-six minutes, is a fifteen-track album of both original songs and reconstructions of traditional folk songs. The Grammy award-winning artist describes the collection as ‘a statement of my personal travel experiences…. and stories can travel from generation to generation bringing important lessons from the past into the present and the future.’

Together with vocals, the majority of the instrumentation (acoustic guitar, banjo, drums, percussion, electric bass, electric guitar and quills) was performed by Flemons. Contributions are also credited to mandolinist, Sam Bush, and former  Pogues accordion and piano player, James Fearnley. Ted Hutt, previously a member of Flogging Molly, and who worked at the controls on albums by Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucero and Violent Femmes, produced the album, which was recorded at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles.

Flemons’ work with Carolina Chocolate Drops was a refreshing venture into the traditional musical history of yesteryear embracing folk, country, western and blues genres and he continues that application on TRAVELLING WILDFIRE. Opening with a waltz, Slow Dance With You, and closing with the lively instrumental, Songster Revival, there is nothing approaching a filler in between. Impressive covers of Dylan’s tribute to Woody Guthrie, Guess I’m Doing Fine and the Jimmie Strothers’ penned We Are Almost Down To The Shore are included. Every bit as fetching are self-written westerns, Nobody Wrote It Down and Dark Beauty.

There has been a noticeable resurgence in Western culture in album releases in recent times and this gem is a continuation of that welcome development. A leading light in this regard, Flemons’ 2018 album DOM FLEMONS PRESENTS BLACK COWBOYS was another signpost to his commitment to this genre. Romantic without being overly sentimental and political without being high-handed, this release addresses its author's personal journey, together with that of his forefathers, elegantly and noteworthily.

Review by Declan Culliton

The Scarlet Goodbye Hope’s Eternal Angel Dust

The pedigree of Minneapolis band The Scarlet Goodbye is most impressive, combining the talents of Daniel Murphy (Golden Smog, Soul Asylum) and singer songwriter/ producer Jeff Arundel, whose back catalogue includes five previous albums dating back to his debut record COMPASS from 1993.

Following a ten-year absence from recording (‘In 2012 I sold all the guitars and amps, now I’m busy buying them all back’), Murphy’s interest in making music was rekindled once more by a casual invitation into Arundel’s studio following a chance meeting in a local coffee shop. That meeting of minds and renewed enthusiasm on Murphy’s part soon morphed into the pair writing and recording the twelve tracks on HOPE’S ETERNAL. Similarly to the brainstorming that resulted in four exceptionally listenable albums by ‘supergroup’ Golden Smog, you could be forgiven in assuming that this recording was an archived album, recorded in the late 60s, but only seeing the light of day now. The duo gathered together a host of Minneapolis’ finest players in Ben Peterson (drums), Patrick Nelson (bass), Michael Nelson (percussion, keyboards) and Pat Fredrick (violin) to fashion this blend of breezy Brit power-pop and jangly American country rock.

The pick of the crop are the instantly catchy and sweet-sounding Angel Dust and Sandy, the latter recalling Fountains of Wayne at their sharpest. It’s not all fun-filled stock either. The dark and brooding The Ballad Of Julie Ann and the album’s swansong Minor Things, which addresses dementia, both tackle thorny matters sensitively. A cover of Husker Du’s Celebrated Summer is also included, but unlike the manic original version, the inclusion is less chaotic and unrestrained.

Despite The Scarlet Goodbye being christened ‘the most unlikely mash-up in Minnesota music history’, HOPE’S ETERNAL is loaded with positive energy, and hooks galore, and is a lovely listening experience.

Review by Declan Culliton

Bennett Wilson Poole I Saw A Star Behind Your Eyes, Don’t Let It Die Away BWP/SRD

A meeting of minds between three artists with somewhat dissimilar backgrounds, the self-titled album from Bennett Wilson Poole, released nearly five years ago, resulted in the band winning the 2019 UK Artist of The Year Award at the AMAUK’s.  Deemed a diversion and a one-off at that time, such was the acclaim of that album that Tony Poole (Starry Eyed & Laughing) Danny Wilson (Grand Drive, Danny & The Champions of The World) and Robin Bennett’s (Dreaming Spires) thoughts turned to a further musical adventure along similar lines.

Covid and illness among the ranks delayed the release of this ten-track album by a couple of years. The end product, while deviating somewhat from the more West Coast vibe of the debut album, recreates the classic three-piece harmonies, sublime guitar playing, and razor-sharp rhythm section, the latter courtesy of Fin Kenny (drums) and Joe Bennett (bass), which worked so well on their first project.

While not entirely abandoning their West Coast influences - echoes of CSN&Y are to the fore on the gorgeous Help Me See My Way - dynamics closer to home dominate, in particular 60s Brit-pop. In a manner similar to Starry Eyed & Laughing unapologetically following in the footsteps of their principal mentors The Byrds, the album plays out like a ‘thumbs up’ to the bands and artists closest to their hearts. With the master craftsman and godfather of the band, Tony Poole, at the controls, the production is faultless with emphasis on the shared vocals and harmonies.

They name-check their American heroes -   Andy Warhol, Kerouac, Grateful Dead, Aretha Franklin, Walt Whitman and Bobby Kennedy - against the backdrop of the Trump-era with I Wanna Love You (But I Can’t Right Now). Tie-Dye T-Shirt, with its slick Who-like intro, takes a pertinent dig at the ghastly TV makeover shows and cleverly includes a one-off refrain borrowed from Love Affair’s Everlasting Love (‘open up your eyes, open up your eyes’). The melodic Yvonne tips its hat in mid-60s Lennon/McCartney direction and Heart Songs has a matching classic vintage pop undertone.

Harking to past eras but with a modern spin and a fitting heir to its predecessor, I SAW A STAR BEHIND YOUR EYES, DON’T LET IT DIE AWAY has the capacity to set your pulse racing in places and provide tender and reflective moments elsewhere. Doffing their collective hats in the direction of best-loved artists and eras, and unashamedly nostalgic, the album is classic jukebox fare from a bygone time.

Review by Declan Culliton

John Calvin Abney Tourist Black Mesa

When the world decided to stay home when the pandemic hit, John Calvin Abney did the complete opposite. His lease was up in California (and the wildfires were raging) so he decided to go on a road trip through the US, staying with friends or in hotels, through Nevada, Texas and his native Oklahoma, and that trip fuelled the songs on his latest album. Aptly named TOURIST, he recorded the album solo in his portable studio (whatever that means), and sent the songs to John Moreland, who produced it remotely, while also adding percussion, bass and backing vocals. The result is a pop leaning, folky affair filled with melodic hooks, and layers of dreamy vocals, creating a shimmering soundscape.

Holy Golden West is one of the standout songs - influenced by his Californian environment, Abney’s lyrics are keenly observed, with descriptions of nature, but then ominously ‘ashes fall like snow from cigarette skies’, an obvious metaphor for the wildfires. It’s a personal cry for help and a seeking of safety, the ache in his breathy vocals almost drowned by the layers of soft percussion, piano, bass, chimes and harmony vocals. Watch Me Go (Back In Time) is another tale of unravelling and vulnerability, while By Your Leave uses acoustic guitars and swirly synths to good effect in this slow paced evocation of silence, sunset and moonlight.

Abney somehow manages to play a myriad of instruments on this record, from guitars to synths to Wurlitzer and more, presumably not all were stashed in his vehicle for the journey!

Worth checking out - it’s a grower.                

Review by Eilís Boland

Kelley Smith Moon Child Self Release

Sometimes, just sometimes, a record comes along and stops you in your tracks. That is what happened when I first listened to this debut 5-track EP from Kelley Smith. Unusually, Smith only began to write songs in the past couple of years, while approaching her 40th birthday. A Minnesota native, who plays several instruments, she has been busy with life, including rearing four children. She freely admits that she has social anxiety, and has recently discovered her voice through songwriting.

The title track takes the form of a conversation between a couple, where one is a dreamer and one the steadying tether. There’s a pull, over and back between the ‘moon child’ and ‘her anchor, her stay’, ‘Moon child, the night is for dreamers like us/So I’ll be the tether to your wanderlust’. Swathed in gently fingerpicked acoustic guitar, supported by claw hammer banjo, and a hint of slide guitar, it’s also our introduction to Smith’s most distinctive vocal tone - somewhere between Iris deMent and Gillian Welch. Marriage is a taking stock in a long established relationship, ‘seems we close our eyes and wake up old’, where staleness has crept in, ‘did we almost lose each other/in the arms of one another’? But where there’s love, there’s hope, ‘find some patience and some kindness, too/melt the ice that grew in me, and you’.

Smith credits her Toronto based producer, Joel Schwartz, for ensuring that she managed to realise her dream of making a record, something she thought unattainable. His production here is sublime, allowing her vocals and lyrics to take centre stage. He adds resonator guitar, along with a soupçon of mandolin, banjo, electric guitar or piano, exactly when needed, barely there yet so effective.

Dust is one of the most powerful songs exploring grief that I have ever heard. Poignant, yet full of celebration of the love that existed in life, and still remains. ‘Seems like yesterday your hand was warming mine/And now you’ve slipped though my fingers…’ In Tea and Whiskey, there’s a longing for the early days, the carefree days of youth and early love, and a whimsical journey of escape to the moon. Clearly autobiographical, in the exquisite I’ll Let Go she takes a leap of faith, into the unknown, ‘take me now, to the end of the road/beyond what I think I know’.

I, for one, am glad that Kelley Smith took that leap of faith and I can’t wait to hear where the road will lead her next.

Review by Eilís Boland

Peach and Quiet Beautiful Thing Self Release

This album is a follow up to a 2021 debut, Just Beyond the Shine, which was recorded during the pandemic and released to very positive reviews. The partnership of Heather Read and Jonny Miller join together as the creative centre of the music and the twelve songs are very much based around the topic of relationships in all their different forms.

As a couple, their talents and commitment shine through and their songs of love and life certainly leave a positive impression. Their romance is celebrated in the opening song and album title Beautiful Thing and their life on the shores of Pender Island, off Canada's west coast, sounds idyllic.

This sense of joy as a duo is also celebrated in songs like That Is For Sure and When You’re Gone, both of which speak of a shared devotion and a love united. However, there are plenty of dark turns on the road and the search for happiness and this duo mix it up quite a bit on other songs, with Pockets Empty visiting the topic of domestic abuse and Oklahoma or Arkansas highlighting the urge to just get away, buy a motor cycle and drive out towards new beginnings.

The theme of missing someone and the lonely feelings of separation are captured in other songs like Just Before the Dawn, This Time and Save Me Tonight. The dual message of desire and longing is captured nicely on the bluesy groove of Horse and Saddle with the superb pedal steel and keyboard infusions adding great dynamic to the playing. Heather Read features on four songs and her arresting vocal is a highlight; Jonny Miller provides lead vocal on the other songs and together, their harmony vocals dove-tail sweetly together.

The musicianship is quite superb throughout with the dual guitar playing of Read and Miller perfectly complimented by producer and guitar maestro Steve Dawson.  He brings the magic dust to so many of the albums that he produces, with just the right amount of what is needed on the overall feel and groove of every track. Chris Gestrin plays keyboards on the project and his inclusion is a change from the first album which works really well, adding nice colour and warmth to the songs. The rhythm section of Jeremy Holmes on bass and Gary Craig on drums features again and provides the foundation for the other players to enhance the arrangements. A really tight band sound with great moments of guitar and keyboard embellishment.

Behind the Sun is the longest track here and a real joy with the guitar playing channelling the energy of a Neil Young work-out. A song that has a brooding quality and great imagery around the dark spectre of dishonesty and secrecy. Take a well-earned bow to all concerned. A very enjoyable album with much to recommend it.

Review by Paul McGee

Steve Dawson Eyes Closed, Dreaming Black Hen

This release completes a hat-trick of albums, referred to as the “pandemic trilogy” by Steve Dawson and all released within the last twelve months. Gone, Long Gone appeared in March last year and it created the blueprint for what has turned out to be a thrilling and productive time in Dawson’s career. Phantom Thread followed in August last and was an instrumental album with eleven songs of timeless quality played by a select group of players that just merged seamlessly into a cohesive whole. The quality of playing across the three albums has been of the highest level and the featured musicians compliment Dawson so perfectly in the beautiful playing.

Alberta songwriter Matt Patershuk has worked with Dawson over past years and five albums appeared as a result of their collaboration. The duo have developed a song-writing partnership over the course of this album trilogy and four of the tracks featured here are a strong example of success achieved in their shared talents.

Dawson also covers songs from Ian Tyson (Long Time To Get Old), Bobby Charles (Small Town Talk), Cowboy Jack Clement (Guess Things Happen That Way), and John Hartford (Let Him Go Mama). There are two interpretations of traditional songs, House Carpenter and Singin’ the Blues, both of which highlight the scope of inventive playing by the trusted musicians that Steve has called upon from past projects. Regular studio stalwarts Gary Craig and Jeremy Holmes provide the always inventive rhythm section with Chris Gestrin contributing on all manner of keyboards. They are augmented on various tracks by the drumming and percussive skills of Jay Bellerose (five tracks), with Fats Kaplin and Tim O’Brien guesting on mandolin. Vocals are ably handled by Dawson himself and Alison Russell guests on three songs, as does Dawson’s daughter Casey. Kevin McKendree adds organ and piano on one track and Keri Latimer appears as guest vocalist on two songs. The horn section of Jerry Cook (baritone sax), Dominic Conway (tenor sax) and Malcolm Aiken (trumpet) make a great impression on Small Town Talk and also returning are the excellent Ben Plotnick (violin, viola) and Kaitlyn Raitz (cello) on the standout Hemmingway.

Mentioning all these players is important in the context that four separate locations were used in bringing the overall sound together. Various recordings were captured in Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto and Vancouver on a remote basis and it is a huge tribute to Dawson that he makes the disparate parts blend so easily together. The production is vibrant and filled with great moments where you just want to hit the repeat button and experience the brilliance one more time. There are two instrumental tracks, Waikiki Stonewall Rag and Singin’ the Blues, both of which perfectly illustrate the immense talent of Dawson across a range of guitars, proving beyond all doubt that he is indeed the king of the strings, no matter what form they may take! A vital record and one that breaks through all the confines of musical constraints.

Review by Paul McGee

One Adam One Where Do I Begin Die Trying

This release marks a welcome return to Adam Reichmann, once band leader of Nadine, alt-country darlings of the late 90s who released four albums on an excellent run, before breaking up to pursue other interests. Only five songs feature on this EP and the running time of eighteen minutes just leaves the listener wanting more. Reichmann is a fine writer and has such a haunting vocal style to match his languid delivery. The title song speaks of a confused state and trying to make sense of the surrounding world. Feelings of isolation come through in the words and a sense of longing for days gone past.

Living Between the Lines is a gentle, soothing lullaby that speaks of ‘counting dollars and days’ as a way of getting through the daily routine and ‘bottles full of wasted time, pretending that it’s fine.’ The sweet vocals of Stephanie Stewart add greatly to the sense of acceptance and getting on with living.

The song arrangements are beautifully structured with swathes of melody wrapping the vocals and heightening the performances. Hollywood Ending is one of those songs that stays in the memory as something that is infinitely hummable. Again, the wistful vocal style and the easy groove and chorus leaves you feeling fully invested. Cold Murmurs has an up-tempo beat with the harmony vocals complimenting the rhythmic drive of the song. The production builds to a great crescendo and we are asked to come ‘out of the shadows and into the light.’

The final song Platte River looks at memories of Nebraska and days spent trying to decide whether a relationship was worth a lasting commitment. Name checking Pink Floyd, Vonnegut and Salvador Dali captures the heady joys of youth ‘painting the landscape of a young man’s mind’. The song has memories tinged with regret at what gets left behind. The guitar break is nicely judged and the melody frames the realisation in the words that ‘I just wasn’t ready for love to be true, Sweet Alisha whatever happened to you.’

St. Louis, Missouri remains the home of Reichmann and his original Nadine band mate Todd Schnitzer produced this project in addition to co-writing all of the songs. I can’t wait for the second instalment.

Review by Paul McGee

Rachel Baiman, Dom Flemons, The Scarlet Goodbye, Bennett Wilson Poole, John Calvin Abney, Kelley Smith, Peach & Quiet, Steve Dawson, and One Adam One.

New Album Reviews

Chris Murphy Two Rivers Crossing Friendly Folk

Not many artists would have the ability, experience and confidence to pull this off, but for his nineteenth album, Chris Murphy has pared it right back to the bare bones. It’s just his violin, vocals and looping effects, a marked contrast to his previous recordings, or his work as a band leader and composer. Murphy loves touring constantly, both in his home state of California and occasionally in Europe, so this minimalist approach will naturally lend itself to travelling. Calling to mind the songs and playing of John Hartford, to an extent, Murphy’s influences, however, are very wide. Growing up in upstate New York, and as a student in NYC, he was exposed to a myriad of genres from bluegrass, Turkish, Irish (with a name like Murphy, his Irish roots are evident!) to gospel and jazz. This six track EP features five songs and an instrumental, and demonstrates his versatility and virtuosity on the violin, but also his ability to write a good song.

Early Grave finds him complaining about his woman, inspired in theme and sound by pre-war blues artists like Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. She’s ‘cuter than a button, smarter than a whip’, ‘but she’s gonna send him to an early grave’ he intones in his warm and mellow voice, accompanied by his violin and a foot stomp. He adds plucked strings to fill out the sound on Into The Past, an intriguing series of vignettes about various characters on a long train journey, all of whom are either running from the past or even running back towards it. Long Ago uses layers of haunting violin and percussive looping to evoke a dream-like sequence, again reminiscing about past events and a certain person who haunts his thoughts, ‘we were friends once, long ago’. The menacing spirit of the border town on the porous Mexico/Texas border inspired The Wolves of Laredo, the stark fiddle accompaniment and soaring solos lending atmosphere and pathos to the story of the damaged characters inhabiting the song. Complete Surprise is an upbeat ditty of positivity, and the closer, Shantallow, is an instrumental in a sombre march, with a Celtic feel.

Review by Eilís Boland

Slaid Cleaves Together Through The Dark Self Release

First and foremost, Slaid Cleaves makes albums that sound good, they entertain and in a meaningful way offer an insight into the human condition that lingers in the mind. These are songs that detail the often overlooked details of the lives of the ordinary (and sometimes not so ordinary) men and women for whom the trials and tribulations of daily life are rarely easy. That he does so in a way that musically resonates too is not always the case, when the lyrical content is often so raw.

The album was recorded in Dripping Springs, Texas by Pat Manske, who also played on the album with the album’s principle players and co-producers, Cleaves and multi-instrumentalist Scrappy Jud Newcomb. This is the third album that the duo have made together and it’s obviously a team that works so well together. There is a depth and texture that never feels sparse or underplayed, but rather they get the balance right again.

The twelve songs have all got individual strengths and nuances that start with Through The Dark, an acclamation of love and togetherness against the gathering dark. It was co-written with Cleaves’ long time friend, and sometime co-writer, Rod Picott. This is one of several songs that talk about relationships from both sides, which is envisioned by the sentiment of Next Heartbreak, and how there is a need to carry on with hope, even when contemplating the next disappointment. Sparrow, also written by Cleaves and Picott, deftly considers the particulars of the isolation of a man who has lost his wife.

More reflective is Puncher’s Chance written by Cleaves and Brian Koppelman. It details a man looking back on some welcome mayhem from the past and admitting “I sometimes think about those wild, wild nights.” More in the nature of story telling, which he does so well, is Arnold Nash - based on an article in the Bangor Daily News, it turns out he was in truth “a good prisoner, a bad citizen / A terrible family man.”

Double Shift Tuesday weighs up the drudgery of work in a situation and life that could and should offer more than a minimum wage. It was written by Cleaves, Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. The lines emphasise the feeling of trying to figure how they did “end up here”, its sadness underlined by the stripped-back arrangement. That theme appears again in the Adam Carroll co-write, Second Hand, that has Robin Ludwick on harmony vocals and the title conveys a life lived in that way. Put The Shovel Down offers an option to take the time out from the seemingly endless work and a likely end that finds a shovel again involved. Getting away, making a new start and moving from the city is the subject of Terlingua Chili Queen.

A wider view is the subject of Nature’s Darker Laws, a song he wrote with Karen Poston, weighing up the current divided landscape of America and beyond, in these troubled times. It is graced by a subtle musical performance that again highlights that aspect of the album, something that, as mentioned, is consistent throughout the album, and perfectly aligns the crafted writing with a context that brings the two together and accentuates the over-riding talent that Cleaves has developed through his albums, travel and personal growth.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Tim GrimmThe Little In-Between Cavalier

I have listened to the music of Tim Grimm over the years and it has always been a rewarding experience. He seems to be always moving forward,or at least consolidating and developing his ability to observe and comment on the people, places and political manifestations he encounters on his path. This new album, I think, does just that. It also brings the talents of the great Sergio Webb back into focus. Formerly Webb was the guitar foil for David Olney and a member of Pinto Bennett’s Famous Motel Cowboys. He, however, is just one of the components in place that lift this album to a new level. Alice Allen plays cello which gives a resonant character to the tracks she plays on. Webb is joined by Mark Clark and Justin Bransford on drums and bass, while Grimm adds his robust vocals and guitar to the forefront of the recordings.

This is his fourteenth release so, by now, he knows his way round the process of delivering his work to his audience. He has worked in the balladeering tradition of folk music that focused on his community, his family and his beliefs - often based around his family farm in Indiana. Here, he has again looked both inward and outward, and does so by placing the lyrics from a first person perspective throughout. The songs were written and recorded (Grimm’s parts anyway) in Oklahoma, with the Allen parts recorded in Scotland and the band tracking in New Mexico. It also marks the first time Grimm’s voice has been heard without harmony or backing vocals. There is a strongly emotional feel to many of the songs that are rooted often in the landscape and love.

The Leaving opens the album with voice, guitar and cello offering the hope of finding a new welcoming shore. By way of contrast, the next song Lonesome All The Time has more that a hint of Hank Williams Senior’s troubled tales and features, very effectively, Webb on guitar and pedal steel. These two directions offer the musical compass points that the album travels between. I Don’t Know The World has a discordant tone that fits and offsets the directness of Grimm’s voice and guitar.

The lyrics of Stirrin’ Up Trouble take a shot at those who like to poke their noses in where they are not wanted, again balancing the acoustic strumming against the electric guitar tone. More gentle and reflecting on the earth and the trees, nature and the loss of such is where The Breath Of Burning takes us. The lyric “the hardest part of losing things/is knowing when they’re gone” offering a truth to be told. New Boots is a gentle but heartfelt remembrance of his father (and mother) delivered in its simplest form, as suits the song. 

The list song format sees Grimm detailing again the association between a person and place.Twenty Years Of Shadows effectively uses the band to give it a driving rhythm and a harder edge. The closing song is a straight love song that offers a hope that is available to all and finds the two guitars intertwining to an effective liaison.

Album fourteen proves that Tim Grimm is far from the end of his musical journey and his partnering with Sergio Webb offers the possibility of an alliance that will be fruitful for both parties going forward.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Dave Gonzalez / Susanna Van Tassel Grits’n Gravy Lux

Perhaps best know for his role in The Paladins and The Hacienda Brothers, Dave Gonzalez is the heart of this album, which overall is closer to the soul-country that was part of the latter band’s sound. He is central here, playing guitars, bass and drums on several tracks but also producing and recording the album in Texas with Dillon Fernadez. Susanna Van Tassel adds her versatile vocals on several tracks on both lead and background vocals. They also have a wide cast of additional musicians involved on percussion, brass, keyboards and steel guitar.

Gonzalez is the main writer of the material included, mostly co-writing with a selection of partners. He has also chosen a number of covers which are solid pointers to the overall direction of the project. These include a very soulful take on William Bell favourite Private Number, another fitting choice is the Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham penned Do Something. The final cover is Until You Came Into My Life co-written by Ann Peebles. 

The overall feel will not surprise those who have followed Gonzalez’s career, outside of his longtime involvement with the more rockabilly oriented Paladins. The title of the Hacienda Brothers album Western Soul is a summation of this album’s credentials. It is a treat, after the opening, somewhat groovy, instrumental, to hear a pairing like I Could Fall In Love With You, wherein the two voices show how this real life duo have found a musical partnership too. This continues throughout the album, with one or other taking the lead vocal. Let’s Hideaway finds Van Tassel’s countrified vocal becoming sultry, with the conga and saxophone elements. The title track, all funky guitar and organ, hits a very 60s mood again and throws up a lot of memories of comparison. It also highlights Gonzalez multifaceted guitar skills and adaptability.

The pair made a previous country-oriented album and I Still Believe is very much in that vein, vocals in close harmony over piano and weeping steel guitar. Gonzalez wrote this with Chris Gaffney and Jeb Schoonover and it would be good to hear more in this vein in the future. (Though if you want to check out that excellent country duet side of their collaboration then THINK WE’RE GONNA BE ALRIGHT will be something you want to check out. Go to www.luxrecordsusa.com for this and other related releases from the Hacienda Brothers).Those who have a love for the kind of soul music that abounded a few decades ago will equally love this. Fans of The Delines would also be advised to check it out.  

Another door of possibility is open on the last track, a spaghetti western-styled instrumental that features the harmonica of Ted Roddy prominently, alongside some lonesome trumpet playing, which only serves to underline that GRITS ‘n GRAVY (Vol 1) was intended to cover some different but largely compatible territory musically and it succeeds in that. It also gives these two artists a platform to display their individual and combined talents, as it also does those some additional performers who contributed to this enjoyable album.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Drayton Farley Twenty On High Hargrove/Thirty Tigers

Produced by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit guitarist, Sadler Vaden, TWENTY ON HIGH is the third release in three years from Alabama native Drayton Farley. His first full band recording, it follows on from HARGROVE & SWEET SOUTHERN SADNESS (2020) and A HARD LIFE (2021). Those previous and mainly acoustic albums earmarked an artist with obvious songwriting prowess, writing from the heart and with a voice ideally suited to the Americana genre. An overcrowded marketplace can make it virtually impossible for artists such as Farley to achieve the exposure that they deserve, but TWENTY ON HIGH, with its beefed-up and fuller sound, could very well raise Farley’s profile by quite a number of notches.

Recorded at Sound Emporium Studio in Nashville - and with Vaden possibly influencing its musical direction - the album slots into the genre occupied with flying colours by Jason Isbell at present. Whether that pigeonhole is Americana or heartland rock, the ten tracks on the album are a collection of first-person stories that draw the listener in, through both their content and delivery.

The recurring theme across the album is the passage of time and  personal goals and aims that may or may not have been fulfilled. The opening track,Stop The Clock, and album closer, All My Yesterdays Have Passed, find the writer mulling over these matters, and the inevitable self-doubt that accompanies them features on Something Wrong (Inside My Head). Above My Head focuses on the sacrifices of leaving home and following your dreams. The draw and security of the homestead also emerge on the title track and Alabama Moon. The latter features backing vocals by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield.

Farley’s reflective mindset in exploring his mental vulnerabilities and personal journey to date could have resulted in a self-indulgent project. The end result is quite the opposite, with the writer continuing to seek the meaning of life. Those thoughts and reflections are skillfully expressed on this coherent and deeply melodic album.

Review by Declan Culliton 

Lauren Morrow People Talk Big Kitty

 ‘I used to write stories, made-up things about others I’d imagined in my head, but this record is all true to me. There’s not a single lyric that hasn’t happened to me in some shape or form,’ explains Lauren Morrow in the press release for her debut solo long player PEOPLE TALK.

It’s been quite a journey both personally and professionally for the Atlanta-raised artist.  Never the conformist, Morrow’s musical journey kicked off writing songs in her bedroom, followed by forming her first band while majoring in English at Georgia State University. She relocated temporarily to Newcastle, England, where she honed her songwriting before fronting the Atlanta-based country rockers, The Whiskey Gentry, for a decade.

The latest - and possibly final leg - of Morrow’s odyssey finds her and her husband settled in Nashville since 2017 and working on her solo material. She released her self-titled debut EP in 2018. A four-track collection, it highlighted both Morrow’s crystalline vocal and her ability to pen and record songs that slotted soundly into the Country/Americana genre. PEOPLE TALK strays somewhat from that template with ten songs that, while not abandoning a roots sound, are often closer in structure to power pop.

The recording of the album commenced in 2019 at Sound Emporium in Nashville under the supervision of producer and multi-instrumentalist, Parker Carson, who also co-wrote a number of the album’s tracks. Like many recordings around that time, it was interrupted during the pandemic. With her income stream at a standstill and time on her hands, Morrow revisited a number of the songs and, as a measure of their commitment to the project, took out a second mortgage on their house to fund the album’s recording and release.

Matters close to home raise their head on the opener, I’m Sorry. Written following a tiff with her husband, it’s one of a number of selections that visit domestic issues. Family Tree finds Morrow tracing her ancestry and the factors, outside our control, that often determine our demeanour. Instantly catchy are Only Nice When I’m High and Looking For Trouble, the latter is a reconstruction of a song previously recorded by The Whiskey Gentry. Hustle, which features Lloyd Green on pedal steel and backing vocals from Joshua Hedley, reveals the real-life endeavours that Morrow carried out - from house painting to selling weed - to survive during the pandemic.

There’s no doubt that Morrow has poured her heart and soul into PEOPLE TALK. Directed towards self-examination, the songs are often infused with a dry sense of humour, but the real winners are Morrow’s standout vocals and songs that dip slightly into pop territory. It’s also an album that’s likely to raise her profile quite a number of notches and hopefully help to pay that second mortgage off sooner rather than later.

Review by Declan Culliton

The Panhandlers Tough Country Deep Roots/Make Wake

The Texan players that make up The Panhandlers formed the band back in 2019, with the intention of recording a covers album to celebrate the artists that represent the classic West Texas sound. Those artists included Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings and, in particular The Flatlanders.  Josh Abbott, John Baumann, William Clark Green and Flatland Cavalry’s Cleto Cordero’s initial intention was shelved when their 2019 Marfa songwriting session yielded enough quality material to record their own self-titled debut. Given the response and industry plaudits that album earned, it is little surprise that the collective soon started working on the follow-up project titled TOUGH COUNTRY.

With shared songwriting credits and shared vocals, the album offers fourteen tracks in total, four of which were included in the band’s four-track EP WEST TEXAS IS THE BEST TEXAS from 2022. The first single from the album is the standout Valentines, For Valentines, featuring Oklahoma country chanteuse Kaitlin Butts as guest vocalist.

Taking the reins as producer was Bruce Robison and with guitars, pedal steel, fiddles, banjos and percussion in all the right places the album captures the landscapes, characters and customs of Texas. Drinking songs (The Chilton Song), troubled love songs (Santa Fe), toe tapping-romps (Lajitas), and odes to their beloved state (Flat Land, West Texas Is The Best Texas), are the order of the day.  

In common with another ‘supergroup’ in the roots genre, Western Centuries, and notwithstanding the quantity and stature of the songwriters and players in the band, clashing egos certainly don’t appear to compete in The Panhandlers. TOUGH COUNTRY is not a radical departure from their previous recording and why should it be, if it’s not broken, why fix it? It’s simply uncomplicated and heart-warming Texas country music of the purest kind.

Review by Declan Culliton 

Lynn Miles TumbleWeedyWorld True North

This album marks a very welcome return to the media spotlight for one of the first ladies of Canadian Folk Music. Not that Lynn Miles needs any persuasion to take her rightful place, front and centre, with this, her sixteenth official release. Her last album WE’LL LOOK FOR STARS appeared in 2020 and her many admirers have been waiting with bated breath to see what would come next, post Covid and post meltdown across the globe.

Lynn recently said of the new album “These are songs that arrive at a moment when global instability illuminated the fragility of personal relationships.” Lynn reflects on these issues and the impermanence in our fractured attempts to make relationships work in any real sense. The shutting down and the letting go; the hoping for better outcomes and the wish for something that we can’t always see – these are all themes that run through the pen of Lynn Miles. As always there is a knowing forgiveness that runs parallel with all the pain and heartache we cause. Lynn holds out her arms for a comforting hug, her knowing wisdom in all the turmoil is that eventually the hope inside of us will endure.

Using real quality and experience, Lynn invited some stellar players to perform on the album and the level of musicianship is just off the scale.  Michael Ball (upright bass), Joey Wright (mandolin/acoustic guitar), Rob McLaren (banjo), Stuart Rutherford (dobro) and James Stephens (violin),  all join together in the most exquisite ensemble performance as Lynn takes the central role on rhythm guitar and vocals. Recorded at Little Bullhorn Studios in Ottawa, Canada and produced by Lynn, together with Dave Draves (Giant Sand, Kathleen Edwards), this mirrors her usual high standards and matches her previous releases in terms of excellence.

Night Owl looks at the incompatibility of two lovers ‘You like the flowers, I like the rain, You drive the highway, I take the train, I like the twilight you need the dawn, So by the time you wake up I’ll be gone.’ Memories of the past and old flames left behind are reflected on Hwy 105 in the haunting words ‘Everything’s ok, everything’s alright, It’s just sometimes I start thinking around midnight; I make us perfect and build us a little shrine, I forget that we weren’t pretty and we weren’t kind.’

Such a consummate wordsmith and the ability to capture an emotion in just a few lines is a true gift.

Cold Cold Moon reveals the harsh mistress that dwells inside, no comfort in the moonlight for our doubts and fears ‘I’m a quiet ghost tried and true, I’m a silver pearl in midnight blue, Sometimes I’m sweet but you should know, That I won’t always love you so.’

All the complexities of a woman are captured on Moody, the unpredictable nature to change with the weather, ‘Some days I want nothing, and then I want your soul.’  Another relationship song All Bitter No Sweet is pure bluegrass as it bounces along to a tale of broken love, the musicians coming together for a real hootenanny. Hide Your Heart is in a similar vein, giving advice to a woman to learn from disappointment and move on with no regrets.

Johnny Without June is such a clever song and looks at the essential glue that ties two people together into a seamless whole. Using the analogy of the famous Johnny and June Carter Cash romance as undying love, Lynn reflects that ‘I’d give anything to turn back time, I’d give anything to walk the line, To join you on that funeral pyre, To go down in that ring of fire.’

Calling out bad habits and unacceptable behaviour lies at the centre of Sorry’s Just Not Good Enough, a song that says enabling someone is not the way forward. The song Palomino talks about leaving it all behind and living free on the range with just a loyal steed for company ‘I’m a lonesome drifting girl, In my tumble-weedy-world, You’re a quiet steady soul, Painted coat and eyes of coal.’ The simple life without a care.

There is a lovely sentiment in closing song, Gold In the Middle, visiting the lure of beauty, hope, promise, love and sadness. It is an enduring prayer to the strength within us all to keep the lamp lit bright and we continue to seek our path through the darkness, looking for the eventual light. A superb album.

Review by Paul McGee

I’m Kingfisher Glue Fading Trails

Thomas Jonsson has been recording under the artist name of  I'm Kingfisher since 2010 but his pedigree as a talented musician dates back much further. Jonsson released music under his own name for a number of years before taking the decision to adopt a new persona in the image of I’m Kingfisher.

This new project is his eighth solo album – his fifth under the I’m Kingfisher moniker, and once again it proves to be a beguiling experience. Jonsson has always looked for gold in the stream of consciousness writing and the gentle melodies that populate his body of work, and this time he expands his palette to include some subtle jazz leanings into the arrangements. Never one to stand still, he is open to experimentation and a few of the arrangements apply different colours to the overall content. The jazz arrangement on Saved by a Friendly Reminder is a prime example with Jonsson providing a fine vocal performance.

His lyrics remain something of a mystery with obscure imagery and words that conjure up disparate worlds of reflection and thoughts. The songs hint at many things and there appears to be a thread running through them that links the recent Covid lockdown years with a sense of isolation and feeling outside of oneself. They contain elements of regret and self-inflicted doubt, questions concerning the transitory nature of relationships and a lingering sense of not being always comfortable around others. As Jonsson muses on the track Beginning Of A Great Song ‘Why would I love her when everybody is a traitor?’

Elsewhere he speaks of other doubts, as on Second Wave when he observes ‘There’s a dark cloud always hanging over me.’ The title track Glue references a breakdown of sorts with the realisation that ‘Every day is my comeback, I wasn’t proud of myself, Got all the pieces, haven’t got the glue.’

The use of different female vocals on some of the twelve tracks is something that works very well and adds to the gentle vocal tone of Jonsson. The contributions of Anna-Stina Jungerstam, Niamh Regan, Vilma Flood and also Sam Florian, brings much to admire in their performance. In addition, the use of saxophone on Licking My Wounds delivers a lovely resonance to the smooth arrangement. Equally, the violin and piano on Make Up A Good Time brings a sweet joy to the song and the use of pedal steel and cello feature on other songs.

Jonsson calls upon multi-instrumentalist Bebe Risenfors and her contribution is central to the album, providing beautiful playing on any combination of clarinet, bass clarinet, cornet, alto horn, omnichord, lyre, tenor and alto saxophones, accordions, piano, string quartet machine, upright bass, drums, and percussion. Renowned pianist Martin Hederos also makes telling contributions on pianos, pump organ, Moog and other synthesizers. Long time friend and producer on previous albums, Carl Edlom, makes a welcome return and in addition to overseeing everything from Trunk Studios in Karlstad, he plays guitars, synthesizers, piano, electric bass, and percussion across a number of tracks. Jonsson keeps his focus on his vocals and acoustic guitar delivery, writing all the songs and maintaining a weather eye on the big picture at all stages.

This is a folk music for the modern age, a therapeutic return to old themes that offer a healing balm together with a hint of the claustrophobia of self-analysis. Too much reflection can be a bad thing but in the hands of Thomas Jonsson it opens up the pathway to new roads and opportunities to grow from the past. Another fine album that adds to the reputation of this interesting artist.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Dave Sutherland Last Drop Of Empty Rectifier

After a break of quite a few years, Londoner Dave Sutherland has returned to writing and performing his own material in support of his recently released album, LAST DROP OF EMPTY. On top of this, he was awarded UK Male Country Singer of the Year 2022 by the UKCMA.

Those endearingly world worn vocals are front and centre of the new release, which was produced by two stalwarts of the Americana world, and recorded over some time and in four locations from the US to Sweden, as well as in London. Producer Stacy Parrish is known for his work with T-Bone Burnett and Alison Krauss, among others, and is now working in music education in London. He contributed drums and percussion, guitars, keys, strings and woodwind. The co-producer was Jack Cassady, bass player with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, who also plays bass throughout.

The ten songs are all penned by Sutherland and are mostly story songs, exploring nostalgic themes and are rooted in his native Greenwich and its surrounds. The overall sound is country, with a large helping of folk and a taste of blues. Sutherland is very close to his Irish roots too (his father emigrated to London from Co Galway) and there’s more than a touch of ‘country and Irish’ in the ballads here. Ever Changing Skyline references the changes in London Docklands and East End in the last few generations, while also recalling summers on ‘an old Irish boreen’. There’s a distinctive Irish flavour too in Down To The Last Drop Of Empty, added to by the accordion of Danne Strahed, which closes the album on an upbeat note. In between, there’s a painful cry for help from a psychologically broken person in the harrowing Damaged, with backing vocals from Moa Drugge. She also duets with Sutherland on the gently swaying love song, Most Of The Things That You Are. Yorkshire Grey, another love song, involving a boxer’s last fight, also features accordion and piano, this time from Sweden’s Gunnar Frick.

Review by Eilís Boland

Amanda Fields What, When & Without Are and Be

I have to admit to being stopped in my tracks on my first listen to this album, the debut full-length recording from Nashville-based, Amanda Fields.

There are recurring themes of insecurity, longing and failed relationships on WHAT, WHEN & WITHOUT - no surprise there, it is a country album. Whether based on fact or fiction the songs unfold like diary entries, incredibly intense yet attempting to avoid any degree of culpability or incrimination. The album’s title is represented by three tracks, the opener What A Fool, the closing track Without You and When I Met You, which is placed in the middle of the album. The sequencing of the tracks throughout is very well considered, each song could very well be a ‘moment in time’ from the same relationship.

The first four songs are classic country, with nods in the direction of Tammy Wynette on both I Love You More Today and the simply gorgeous ‘stir the heart’ break-up song, Diamonds. At this point the expectation may be for more of the same, but things go off in a completely different direction on the aforementioned When I Met You. Leaving behind the calmness and orderliness that went beforehand, it’s a strikingly evocative song complete with hauntingly distorted guitar and layered vocals. Trail Of Unforgiveness, which follows, travels a similar menacing path, indicating that Fields is every bit as adept writing and performing both alternative roots and more traditional country tunes. Calmness is restored on a duet with Cruz Contreras titled Lucky, before a sense of acceptance and moving on is expressed on the previously noted final track Without You.      

Hats off to producer Megan McCormick (Allison Russell, Jenny Lewis) and Brandon Bell (Miranda Lambert, Brandi Carlile), who engineered and mixed the tracks. The production on the mid-tempo country ballads is stand out and paced to perfection, Fields crystal clear and controlled vocals are particularly enriched by aching pedal steel guitar by Russ Pahl. Recorded at The Cabin, Nashville, other contributors included Dennis Crouch (bass), Matty Alger (percussion), Ethan Ballinger (guitar, piano), Chris Contreras (piano) and Megan McCormick, who played guitar and added backing vocals alongside her production duties. 

Fields’ 2019 single, Brandywine, found her following her Appalachian bluegrass roots but, for whatever reason, WHAT, WHEN & WITHOUT has led her down the classic country chanteuse path. It’s an inspired change in direction and one that has yielded a crescendo hitter in which you are likely to get totally immersed after a couple of spins, I most certainly did.

Review by Declan Culliton 

Andy Hedges Roll On, Cowboys Self Release

An interpreter of traditional cowboy songs for nearly two decades, Texan Andy Hedges’ latest collection of Western songs is a continuation of his passion for keeping this often-neglected genre represented.

This double album consists of twenty-two tracks in total and includes a twenty-eight-page booklet, offering notes on the individual songs and quotes from a number of the guest contributors. Those guests include a host of artists close to Hedges’ heart, with the common denominator of an appreciation, understanding and love of traditional Western songs. The contributors are Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dom Flemons, Pipp Gillette, Bren Hill, Corb Lund, Waddie Mitchell, Michael Martin Murphy, Brigid Reedy, Randy Rieman, Tom Russell, Rod Taylor and Andy Williamson. Twenty of the twenty-two tracks are duets with the guests, the other two are spoken word by Hedges.

The material covers the full gamut of Western music, from traditional ballads to gospel songs and novelty songs to fiddle led tunes. Scenes from campfires, trail drives, railroad, plantations, and saloons are all unveiled. Together with the quality of the production, musicianship and vocal deliveries on the album, Hedges deserves immense credit for logistically recording such a large number of duets with a wide range of contributors.

Amongst the many standout tracks is Railroad Bill, where a spoken introduction by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott recalls the tale of an encounter he had with Woody Guthrie and  Sunny Terry. Other highlights include Desert Sands, which features the exquisite country vocals and fiddle playing of Brigid Reedy and Pitch, You Wild Outlaw, Pitch, with Corb Lund sharing the vocals. Both of the album’s closing tracks, the appropriately titled Palo Duro Farewell and Goodbye Old Cowman, find Hedges’ regular partner in crime Andy Wilkinson playing his part. Tom Russell joins Hedges on Root Hog Or Die and Philadelphia Lawyer is another track which includes the craggy vocals of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

Hedges’ last full album, SHADOW OF A COWBOY, was the winner of the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy & Western Museum for outstanding traditional Western album in 2020. It’s likely that his latest offering will also be the recipient of similar awards and deservedly so. For students and lovers of the Western genre, Andy Hedges’ albums and Chris Guenther’s AMERICAN OUTLAW VOLUMES 1&2 are essential listening and also excellent value for money.

Review by Declan Culliton 

Chris Guenther American Outlaw Volume 2 Blackboard

‘AMERICAN OUTLAW VOL.1 opens a door to a musical feast from start to finish. Here’s hoping there are more volumes to follow,’ were our parting words when reviewing that album from Paul Guenther back in 2022. Less than twelve months later and the Washington state singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist continues his passion for all things country and western with the release of AMERICAN OUTLAW VOL.2. Written, arranged and produced by Guenther, he also performed all the vocals and played the majority of the instruments, with the exception of some of the fiddle parts which are credited to Katie (Keller) McManus.

Sub-titled as ‘Non-fiction Western Music & Spoken Word,’ the ten-track album revisits legends, events and characters from the ‘Wild West’. Guenther’s passion for America’s past is much more than simply casual curiosity, he can boast a degree in History and Agriculture, has previously recorded seven country albums and divides his time between playing with his backing band The Honky Tonk Drifters and weekly solo residencies. Raised on a family farm in southwest Washington, he entered into the world of writing and performing his music at livestock shows and county fairs, before expanding his horizons by forming a band and playing dancehalls. In his younger years, he combined these activities with a parallel role as an agriculture teacher. Two decades later and his enthusiasm for playing and promoting classic country and western music is as strong as ever.

The album opens with an Ennio Morricone-inspired instrumental titled The Brave Line and closes with a celebration of the cattle towns of yesteryear, Ode to the Cowtown. Sandwiched in between the two are eight tracks with historical connotations. We hear of the life and death of outlaw Johnny Ringo in Who Shot Johnny Ringo?, whose death was registered as suicide but legend has it he was shot by Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. The bank and train robber Elmer McCurdy, who was gunned down while robbing a train in Oklahoma, has his tale told on The Life & Death Of Elmer McCurdy and Harvey Logan, who was a member of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’s gang The Wild Bunch, is the subject of the spoken track Harvey Logan. The Battle of Little Big Town - better known as Custer’s Last Stand – is retold on Son Of The Morning Star.

There has been a noticeable resurgence in ‘western’ country music in recent years and in particular, its representation in movie soundtracks. Corb Lund has been flying the flag for the genre for over two decades and artists like Charley Crockett, Colter Wall and Riddy Arman are currently exposing a younger generation to western music. Students and newcomers to the world of this genre, alongside the converted like ourselves at Lonesome Highway, could do a lot worse than investigating this collection of songs. Not only does it offer a gateway into the characters and events of the wild west, it is also a delightful listening experience.

Review by Declan Culliton

Crosby Tyler Don’t Call The Law On Me Bohemia

This album is a look back, to some degree, into Tyler’s long career as a 30 year veteran. Those years have provided a lot of different life lessons and continue to do so. He has been a frontman as well as a collaborator and has honed the writing and vocal skills that are apparent on this new album - one he declares his “most countryish to date”, something borne out as one listens to the music here.

Tyler produced the album and found a talented crew to help with its recording and song realisation. Dale Daniel and Jeff Turmes are the capable rhythm section. Aubrey Richmond adds her fiddle and back-up vocals, as does Kimbra West. The lead and pedal steel guitar are courtesy of Mike Khalil, while Tyler fronts with acoustic guitar and vocals. It’s a team that brings their talents to making an album that feels right.

The songs move from reflections on traveling down long white-line highways, such as in Trucker On The Road and 18 Wheels of Steel, to a set of life realisations from varying points over a lifetime seen in Born A Bad Boy or Stop Being An Ol’ Redneck. Then a certain lifestyle choice is presented with Peace Love And Beer and Bilkers, Hippies And Honky-Tonkin’ Cowboys.

The ten songs are all down to earth in overall frame of reference, which doesn’t allow for any opaque poetry but rather lays down the stories straight, while employing a decent melody and chorus to give the song the necessary connection to the heart of the theme. These often look at the fringes of a segment of society that may feel forgotten or lost or certainly one that has its troubles. This is done, it has to be said, with a certain amount of humour underlying the reality of that situation. The overall production is largely upbeat, uptempo and up front.

Some of the other songs are, however, a reflection of a long career in music, especially in the camaraderie shown in The Family I Never Had which recounts the way his band mates lived, played and slept together (often in their cramped van) while playing small venues all over the States. That they never made it big was not the important factor, it was the connection they forged together that mattered. This is the story of a very large proportion of those making music for (what could pass for) a living.

That sense of belonging, but not being a part of a normal existence, is also considered in the final song Us Black Sheep Ain’t Like The Others, concerning a group of people who are singing to a different hymn-sheet but who are, never-the-less, enjoying the song. This ethos sums up the album and Tyler’s outlook on what is a spirited and ‘outlaw-ish’ take on honky-tonk heartbreak, hangovers, high points and hindsight.

Review by Stephen Rapid

The Lowest Pair & Small Town Therapy Horse Camp Delicata

The Lowest Pair is an American folk band that formed in 2013 and consists of dual banjoists, Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee. They have released six albums to date. Separately, Small Town Therapy is a collaboration between multi-instrumentalists Adam Roszkiewicz and Leif Karlstrom, who play also with the band Front Country and have released two albums to date. Together, the four musicians found themselves at a horse camp in Gifford Pinchot National Forest Washington State, in 2020. With no touring commitments, due to Covid restrictions, they decided to collaborate on this project, aptly titled Horse Camp, and the eleven songs are very appealing.

There are five instrumental pieces, all of which highlight the superb interplay and musicianship. The gentle opener This House displays a lovely melody and the understated playing of Winter (guitar), Lee (banjo), Karlstrom (violin) and Roszkiewicz (guitar). The fluid understanding between the musicians results in some superbly nuanced interchanges and the soaring violin of Karlstrom features on six of the songs, lifting the arrangements to new heights.

The blending of guitar and mandolin on songs Oak Leaf and Dandelion Tides compliments the dual banjo playing among the four players and is particularly impressive. The instrumental prowess on songs Dark Divide, Escape From Yellowstone and Tongue Mountain ranges from the quietly contemplative to the impressively dynamic in the playing and rhythm, with the use of trumpet on Tongue Mountain an inspired addition to what is akin to a traditional Irish air.   

The music also features Charlie Muench on bass (two songs), Bart Budwig on trumpet (one song), Erin Youngberg on bass (one song) and Tony Sales on drums (one song).  All in all, this is a project to celebrate the joy of creative collaboration and the four musicians have hit upon a formula that certainly points towards a return to the recording studio at a future date.

Review by Paul McGee

Turn Turn Turn New Days From An Old Sun Simon

This is a second album from musical trio Barb Brynstad (bass/vocals), Savannah Smith (guitar/ vocals), and Adam Levy (various guitars, banjo, mandolin, organ, synth, glockenspiel, piano, percussion and vocals). They are based in Minnesota, and the album was recorded and produced by Adam Levy at Yvelmada Studio, Saint Paul MN.  It steers very much in the direction of pop-infused, radio friendly songs. The three-way harmonies are very much part of their overall sound and there is also a strong influence of psychedelic rock in the fuzz tone guitar inclusions.

  The album was released in late January this year and tends toward a somewhat crowded dynamic in the production, with the instrument and vocal tracking leading to a cluttered listening experience. Also, the lyrics can be very obscure with seemingly unrelated images linked together and little insight into the original intent. The title track has beasts and priests facing off against one another in some kind of mythical tale that only confuses.

If You’re Gonna Leave Me is a song that captures something of the different styles featured across the eleven songs. It’s a soulful arrangement and features a message that drives a lot of relationships “We forget all the things we want to remember and we remember all the things we’d rather forget.”

Taking your band name from an iconic Pete Seeger song can be considered something of a risk. Added to that the fact that the Byrds covered the same song with an iconic rendition of the 1960s psychedelia sound, it leaves the impression that this current band are trying to follow in the footsteps of big shoes. However, the lasting impression is not one of real substance, rather a commercial focus in the song writing that visit a few musical genres, wrapped in a big production ribbon.

The opening songs Stranger in a Strange Land and Powder lay the foundations for what follows and are prime examples of the busy arrangements being too layered and lacking nuance. The underlying themes of a girl out of control and of being lost and lonely are somewhat lost in the mix. The words speak of “emptiness and suffocating needs” but the shrill production quality takes away from the message.

On the more dialled-down tracks the arrangements allow for greater space and the songs benefit from the uncluttered approach. Dopamine Blues, a recent single and Seven Kids are two prime examples. Also, the slow groove of My Eyelids Weigh Mountains with its grandiose lyrics and sense of unrequited love includes a great guitar dynamic, something that should feature more on their future arrangements. Equally, the Stones vibe on Towards the Light points to a more earthy sound that could be explored as this band searches for a more defined identity.

Review by Paul McGee

The Zephyrs For Sapphire Needle Acuarela

Welcome back, to a band that has always captured the imagination. Formed in the late 90s by brothers Stuart and David Nichol, a fine run of early albums straddled the twin genres of shoegaze rock and alt-country leanings in their music. Never destined to be household names, the band survived some early setbacks with record deals and label closures, to be offered a new deal by Spanish label, Acuarela.  The Nichol brothers remained as constants in an ever-revolving line-up and from the debut album in 1999, they went on to release a further four albums between 2001 and 2010. Always admired for their superb sense of melody and dynamic musicianship, the band has remained very popular as one of those celebrated ‘under the radar’ acts that deserved greater media exposure.

So, here we are in 2023 and the release of a new album is something to celebrate among the hard-core admirers of the band. It’s the first release for fifteen years and the great news is that the band sound as good as ever. Stuart Nicol (guitar, vocals), David Nicol (bass), Robert Dillam (drums), John Brennan (guitar) and Will Bates (keyboards) make up the current line-up and their interplay across the ten tracks is quite something. It’s the kind of album that bears repeated listening, offering up new delights each time and building into quite an achievement. Just short of forty-five minutes the sound is created in tandem with long-time producer Michael Brennan at the Substation studios in Rosyth, Scotland.

Whether you enjoy a country-folk influence or the more up-tempo psychedelic arrangements, this album has the lot. There is also a terrific spaghetti western instrumental to close the album and leave you wanting more. The gentle folk leanings of Snowline references Sisyphus and the mistakes that we make in behavioural repetition. God Loves A Trier is heartfelt and slow, a song that channels regret. The sweet melody of Blue In the Face hides the relationship woes in the words and the subject of difficult relationships is also looked at in Can’t Tell Us Apart.    

The bigger sound on songs like the instrumental December, Bolder, and Aliens take things up a few notches and the superb melody on How Have You Been Today delivers a slow release in a song that examines a depressive state. So much to enjoy and such a strong statement from a band that may finally start reaping the rewards that are long overdue.

Review by Paul McGee

James Deely This Train Is Running Out Of Track Self Release

Born in Washington, DC, James grew up in New Jersey where he embraced the local music scene, inspired by the sounds of Southside Johnny and Bruce Springsteen. He formed his band, The Valiants, in the mid-80s and they released several albums over the following years. Their vibrant sound was embraced in the Long Beach to Asbury Park circuit and they expanded their regular shows to include Philadelphia and New York City. The lack of a supporting record label and a recording contract was something that halted progress and James saw his momentum stall in the music business before returning with a couple of excellent albums in 2016 (A HARDER ROAD) and 2018 (WHAT IF WE’D NEVER MET?).

Two compilation albums were also released along the way, with WASTED TIME appearing in 1991 and more recently, OUTTAKES, REMAKES, AND MISTAKES in 2019. The musical quality has always been self-evident and now we are given a second shot at embracing this superb songwriter and musician with the release of a new album. The aptly titled THIS TRAIN IS RUNNING OUT OF TRACK is the perfect way to announce your return and the lyrics reflect the memory of those early days and the journey taken in between “Someday we'll be together again, out past the blue skies and wild winds, and no more tears will fill our eyes, there're be no more painful goodbyes.” The celebratory sound is infused with some dynamic guitar playing and a great rhythm section.

James comes from very proud Irish American roots and he celebrates his ancestors who left Ireland back in the 1800s with a song in memory to his grandfather. Streets Of Dublin is a fine story-song that reflects the local characters that James met on his travels in Ireland, retracing his ancestors’ footsteps and the history of famine and revolution that resulted in so many leaving for hopes of a brighter future.

Although the players are not individually identified, the spirit in the songs is very much one of celebration with the ensemble delivering some quality musicianship. James did welcome back some old pals in the shape of James Michael Devaney (drums), Chuck Manich (bass), Bruce Tunkel (guitar/keyboards), PK Lavengood (guitars), Eddie "Kingfish"  Manion (saxophones), Layonne Holmes (vocals), Lisa Lowell (vocals), Eric "Roscoe" Ambel and many more who contributed to the recording process.

American Heart is an instant classic and one that deserves a wide audience to acknowledge the song-writing prowess, with words like “And this American heart is twisting in the wind, and the things we hold dear, are on the line again.” It is a plea for community in the divisive state of division the USA faces and that James experiences today. The ten songs revolve around the themes of hope, loss and redemption with the abiding message of tracks like Prisoners Of Ourselves and Just Out Of Reach looking at the people we have become and the way that life sometimes throws up second chances.

House Full Of Memories and Another Night Alone are reflections of the past and how memories can shape the future. Death of a loved one features in His Time Is Coming with the lines ‘Oh Momma did he say where he’s bound, Be still child, he’s just going to see some old friends.’ Separately, on the song Until the End, James reflects upon growing up “Daddy tell me before I leave, Am I the man that you dreamed I would be, and Daddy tell me before I go, did you teach me the things I should know.”

There is also a great cover version of the Steve Earle song Even When I’m Blue and James has certainly delivered a very fine album that he can be proud of. Currently living in Los Angeles, the spirit of his roots in New Jersey shine through and the old musician friends that helped create this excellent album have reignited a lot of quality and old joys revisited. Well worth your time folks!

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Gwil Owen The Road To The Sky CRS

Perhaps something of an under-rated songwriter, Owen has never lacked the songs and is perhaps best known for a couple of songs that were covered by other artists such as Allison Moorer (with whom he wrote the nominated A Soft Place To Fall). Another co-write, this time with Kevin Gordon, Deuce And A Quarter, was recorded by Levon Helm and Keith Richards. He has written material that had been recorded by many other artists, however here it is Owen and his new songs that are the focus.

Owen released a number of fine album under his own name (and others with an earlier band) and has now returned with this self-produced set, where he blends his customary Americana blend of rock, country and a little loose funk. His comrades here include longtime John Prine bassist, Dave Jacques, who is joined in the rhythm section by another veteran player in Bryan Owings. The core players are completed by Joe McMahan on guitars and vocals and Tony Crow on keyboards. 

The credits also reveal that this album has the inclusion of a guitar coda from the late David Olney in She Does It All With Her Eyes - a song that he co-wrote with Olney, as he also did with So Much. Will Kimbrough also was a co-writer for Where The West Wind Blows and Change. The remaining eight songs are from Owen’s own hand.

All of these reveal a sense of craftsmanship that can be poetic, full of charisma, alongside clarity and cinematic lyricism. Not that the songs lack punch, as with the solid guitar driven grit of Ghost Town (a song which features fellow songwriter and previous band mate Jeff Finlin) or the reflection of the meaning within the words of When The Songwriter’s Gone. Both are songs that would have an appeal to fans of The Boss. The simplicity, balanced with the occasional complexity, of the arrangements mean that the album has a variety of tonality that offers much to the listener. Throughout there is a groove, from the funkified rhythm of Connected to an equally soulful You Leaning On Me, which features vocals from Shannon McNally, who also adds her voice to three other tracks.

Magic Child is graced by a subtle and elevated gentleness, both in the structure as well as the lyric. Where The West Wind Blows also communicates a delicate touch regarding the wish for burial in a place of meditation as it slowly builds to a layered finish. Heaven In Our Hands sits alongside both as a strong spiritual piano led piece. All show the depth of Owen’s voice as a key part of the process.

That Gwil Owen is not better known is perhaps down to several external factors - though they are not related to the quality of his work. Something that those who have discovered his recordings will already know. This album continues that path and should be listened to.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Daniel Meade An Essentially Non Essential Compilation Of Recordings From The Last Ten Years (2013-22) From The Top

Possibly the best introduction to the music of Glasgow’s Daniel Meade. This is a 21 track compilation with tracks taken from his varied career. Glasgowcana might be a cheeky made-up label as this talented musician has, through the years, released albums that have covered a number of bases from roots to rock. While he has played keyboards with a number of artists including, alongside his brother Raymond, in Ocean Colour Scene and with Gerry Cinnamon. His own releases he is often the sole players on a number of these recordings. It should also be noted that he is no slouch in the composing stakes either and he is also a demonstrative singer.

This is Meade selection of songs that go back to some of his earliest releases. The choices are not chronological but rather fit together in the context of the pacing and tone of this compilation. Juliette is the earliest recording. It was written in a taxi after a gig and recorded with the Basement Boogie Men in a house in Paisley and produced by Meade and George Miller of The Kaisers (amongst others).

From there there are tracks recorded with Morgan Jahning (Old Crow Medicine Show) in 2015. Keep Right Away has Joshua Hedley fiddle as a centrepiece. From that same session, recorded in Hendersonville in Tennessee comes Not My Heart Again. Otherwise Meade has produced the majority of the material himself, often at home and often solo. But he has also had a long-standing relationship with trusted guitarist Lloyd Reid with whom he has appeared as a duo and also as a member of his band The Flying Mules. Cocaine Jane is a good example of how well they work together.

Some of these songs were written as love songs such a Shooting Stars And Tiny Tears. While he is equally adept at damning self-recrimination and noting how often he came close to the bottom rung of the ladder, either through alcohol or life’s unflinching kickings. In this category there’s Life At The Bottom, When Was The Last Time, Mother Of Mercy. Other songs were written in recovery or in realisation of the need to change like On The Line or As Good As It Gets.

As well as cover the ground in a honest look inwards the music looks outward and, in that light, offers a number of different (often very) musical settings that still manage to have a cohesiveness that makes the albums journey an interesting and effective one that is held together because it’s all Meade in his many moods and element of humour is often present alongside the healthy does of reality.

This is something of a holding pattern until the next new music comes along to take us on the next part of his passage through life’s rich tapestry. However one you consider that these 21 tracks are just a small selection of the music Meade has recorded to date you are again reminded of his underrated talent. And of the many albums that these songs are taken from all are well worth a listen and a visit to his Bandcamp for further details.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Karen Jonas The Restless Self Release

This marks a step up for Jonas, even if it is, in many ways, a step away from her previous albums which leaned more towards country influenced Americana. This album has a deep sense of longing and a darker tone than the earlier albums, but runs deeper into the heart of vulnerability and vitality. The title sums up a certain overall mood that allows a series of songs to tell a story, or an aspect of a story, and allows the listener to assimilate the overall mood of heartbreak, tempered with desire and longing but not allowing oneself to be seen as a victim. They are not judgemental, but rather lay out a series of observations that have the ring of truth, if not any definite answers.

The album was recorded in a studio in Virginia with Jonas’s long-time guitarist and musical partner, Tim Bray. They were joined by bassist Seth Morrissey, who also co-produced, and Jay Starling, playing a range of instruments. This resulted in a more layered and, by its process, a more organic sound. It also allowed time to consider the way that the songs and sound would be brought to life. It was a process of Jonas working with her friend and co-writer Andie Burke on the lyrical content, and then with Morrissey to find the best way to  bring the music that point.

There are 10 songs here (with an acoustic version of one song added as a bonus closing track) that start with Paris Breeze, that celebrates a relationship and that city and all it has to offer. It sets a tone that is both intimate and introspective. Many of the songs have a literate and somewhat chimeric quality that allows the listener to discover something new in the songs, with repeated listening.

But there are also songs that have a more immediate impact, and they will vary with each listener. I was drawn to Elegantly Wasted, That’s Not My Dream Couch (which has a gauze-like affinity with early country music, in its guitar motif that is very appealing). And Rock The Boat which opens slowly with a treated vocal before the electric guitar adds a more sinister tonality that is most effective. It also highlights the added strength of Jonas’ vital vocal adeptness that is apparent throughout.

Deep in the glow of midnight moonlight is We Could Be Lovers, which has an overall soothing sensuality that offers a wealth of possibility in that moment - the use of the dobro adds to that feel. Another song that has a similar ambience, with the dobro and electric guitar working together as the key instruments, is the final track before that bonus cut and that is Throw Me To The Wolves. It has a sense of rejection but also a determination to survive and thrive. The acoustic version of Lay Me Down is then a perfect follow on from those two previous tracks and is as strong, if not more so, than the full band version found in the first part of the album’s running order.

This is an album that accentuates the talent that Jonas and her collaborators have brought to THE RESTLESS, and places her front and centre of a wave of female singer/songwriters who are not following trends but are leading them in a very individual and galvanising way.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Jesse Jennings The Last Dance Legend

Hardwood floor Texas country that would surely have them up dancing, as they indeed do in those parts. There’s no information accompanying this download in terms of production or player credits (though based on his previous release, it’s likely that he wrote and produced this album himself). Given that, all involved seem to have had a good time making it. Formerly a member of the Casey Donahew Band, Jennings lists the likes of Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks and Bob Seger as major influences and that shows through in a number of the tracks on this 8 track album. There are elements of the rocker guitar on the opening Beer Joint, where Jennings lets us know that his mother has found the right kind of lady for him, but he prefers to find his women in the establishment of the title.

I’m sure Jennings had a hand in the writing of these songs but, again, that’s not detailed. So what we are left with is the music as it is offered, and it is a satisfying example of the many artists who play around in the State. In this case he is currently based in Fort Worth (and, coincidently for a website from Dublin, Ireland was originally from Dublin, Texas). The title track has some fine fiddle that fits this failing relationship song well. A little more rocky is This Is My Goodbye, another song that is based on a parting of the ways. 

Pat Green is something of a Texas country legend and this song named after him details his presence in a time that brings around some mixed memories, with the named musician appearing on the radio during a pleasant summertime. Moonshine is again about time, place and backroads associations and illicit alcohol delivery. That omnipresent liquid is also the subject of Whiskey and its ramifications on a couple, one of whom “can’t do this anymore” despite her “loving you till my dying day.” It paints a fairly common country music scenario of hardship and break-up. The song has a sense of pain that is palatable. It shows Jennings’ vocal ability well and is an album stand-out.

Perhaps the best track here is the final one, Driving In, which features Dave Perez on accordion, giving it a nice border feel that immediately draws attention to it. It has a strong chorus and a beat that is kind of infectious and should be a live favourite.

While Jennings is not doing something that is a whole lot different from many of his contemporaries, this shows that he is an emerging talent. His debut came out in 2014, so we can expect his next outing will show a progression from that release and his development as a singer and writer as this likely won’t be his last dance.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Jaimee Harris Boomerang Town Thirty Tigers

If RED RESCUE, released by Jaimee Harris in 2020, provided a snapshot of the potential of the Texan singer songwriter, her sophomore recording BOOMERANG TOWN reveals an artist that has blossomed and matured enormously over those few short years. The loss of close ones, followed by the pandemic, has resulted in Harris looking over her shoulder at life’s fragility, the clutches of addiction both personal and further afield, and family complexities.

Her partnership with Mary Gauthier has, no doubt, instilled a noticeable self-confidence and inner strength in Harris. Their weekly live streams during lockdown found Harris growing in confidence as the weeks went by and, fuelled by Gauthier’s support, delivering self-written songs that often matched the excellence of Gauthier’s material. That shyness and hesitancy have well and truly been left behind on the ten tracks on BOOMERANG TOWN which, although not entirely autobiographical, focuses on issues and characters that have no doubt been at the forefront of the writer’s mind for some time.

The opener and title track tells of a young couple, whose dreams to create lives for themselves outside the confines of their small town and not follow their families’ traditions, fall by the wayside when the woman gets pregnant. (‘Julie and I come from similar kin, heavy drinkers, quick to anger, fists to skin. They all live and die here’). A former young school friend of Harris, who was tragically accidentally shot and killed, is remembered in the co-write with Mary Gauthier, Fall (Devin’s Song). Another co-write with Gauthier also features, the beautiful How Could You Be Gone. A stand-out track, it was included in Gauthier’s last record DARK ENOUGH TO SEE THE STARS and Harris’ rendition, enriched by delightful viola and violin by David Mansfield, matches the excellence of the previous version.

The Fair and Dark Haired Lad celebrates the writer’s ongoing sobriety and recovery from alcohol abuse (‘I say goodbye, tip my hat, to the fair and dark haired lad’). It’s an upbeat and uplifting admission and features Dirk Powell on accordion and Michele Gazich on violin. The concerns and uncertainty that raise their heads in the early stage of a relationship are addressed in the acoustic ballad Good Morning My Love before the album is bookended with the assured Missing Someone. It’s a rhythmic final statement, with Harris rejoicing in her new-found relationship and serenity.

An album that is often directed towards self-examination, BOOMERANG TOWN’S textured stories reveal a singer songwriter with the ability to express both anguish and fulfilment in her writing. A hugely impressive album from start to finish.

Review by Declan Culliton 

The Nude Party Rides On New West

Released in late 2020, MIDNIGHT MANOR was the second album released by the New York via North Carolina sextet, The Nude Party. Having previously supported high-profile names like Jack White, The Arctic Monkeys and Dr. Dog, the album hit the number one spot on the Alternative New Artists Album Chart and was destined to further elevate their exposure and fan base. However, the opportunity to tour the album was scuppered by the pandemic, which also denied them the stage time to road-test material they were in the process of writing for their third full-length album.

Rather than lick their wounds and feel sorry for themselves, the band pooled their resources and took the bold decision to create their own studio to rehearse and record in. Converting a barn in upstate New York into a working studio was a project that they undertook over a twelve-month period. To fit out the studio they teamed up with engineer Matthew Horner, who transported his recording equipment to the newly built space and subsequently engineered the band’s first self-produced album, RIDES ON. Not working against a deadline and with the luxury of their own rehearsal and recording facility has resulted in their most robust record to date.

The Nude Party’s heart and soul have always been rooted in a retro 60s and early 70s vibe and they don’t stray too far from that benchmark with RIDES ON. Echoes of  The Stones’ albums STICKY FINGERS and EXILE ON MAIN STREET are close to the surface on Word Gets Around, Polly Anne and the Dr. John cover, Somebody Tryin To Voodoo Me. The zippy Ride On could have been plucked from The Velvet Underground songbook and they dip their toes into the country sound of their home state of North Carolina on Tree Of Love. They fashion a fusion of roots and folk on Midnight On Lafayette Park, inviting comparisons with their Catskills neighbours,The Felice Brothers. Others that impress are Hey Monet, which has a 60s dance anthem sound, and the soulful Sold Out Of Love.

Five years since the release of their debut self-titled album, The Nude Party’s self-assured and loose garage band sound remains very much to the fore on RIDES ON. You’re left with the impression that is exactly where they want to be musically and they more than achieve that with this fitting heir to its predecessor MIDNIGHT MANOR. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Logan Springer & The Wonderfully Wild Crow Self Release

A few lines into All Lies, the opening track on CROW, and you’re left in little doubt about where the writer is coming from. ‘There’s poison in our drinking water says the man on TV… It’s hard to trust someone who’s never felt hunger, hard to believe he can feel the abuse,’ Springer spits out, mirroring the sentiment of mistrust, anxiety and abandonment felt by much of his blue-collar community in the Midwestern States of America. It’s the first track on the ten-track record by Logan Springer & The Wonderfully Wild.  Springer released his debut solo album in 2021 titled COYOTE and with an extended band recorded CROW at Flat Back, a one-hundred-year-old converted barn in rural Iowa.

Plans to escape the dead-end life of working in a strip mine for little pay, by robbing the mine’s bank, surface on the driving rocker Greenbacks and Gold. There’s little to rejoice about in the piano-driven Headed Through Hell either, the story of a long-distance truck driver. Constantly on the road, in remission from pill addiction, divorced from his wife and without any contact with his children, he wishes he could turn back the clock and start all over again. ‘Crow on the telephone line, watching every move I make, crow on the telephone line, this paranoia I can’t shake,’ bellows Springer on the full-blown, grungy and dark-as-hell title track. It points at mental illness and/or the impossibility to circumvent an existence that offers little by way of optimism. There’s little by way of good cheer either on Thundercloud. A raging guitar led song with a nod in the direction of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, it’s one of many highlights on the ten tracks that feature.

Coming from a large extended farming family in a small town in central Illinois, Springer’s ambitions extended beyond following the back-breaking prospect of long working days on the farm. That lifestyle and the expectation to ‘just get on with it’, is squarely articulated in Can’t Complain.

‘Your typical country song is like the social media of music; it only shows the good parts. I want to show what life out in the middle is really like, without all of the polish,’ explains Springer on the motivational force that brought CROWS into being. He makes his point with flying colours on an album that hardly allows the listener to draw breath and, for maximum impact, should be checked out at very high volume and from start to finish. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Paul McCann Alter Ego Self Release

Co-produced by Paul McCann and Martin Quinn, ALTER EGO is the second full- length album from the Cavan, Ireland native. It follows on from McCann’s debut album HERE COMES THE RAPTURE from 2018 and two previously released EPs, THE MAGICIAN and BEGINNING TO END. 

The initial recording sessions for ALTER EGO took place in 2019 at Jam Studios in Kells, Co. Meath, but the arrival of Covid both delayed the completion of the album and also led to a number of the recordings being carried out remotely.  The result was a delay of two years in the release of the album and that interruption allowed McCann to engage a number of guest musicians who otherwise would most likely have been out on the road with their various bands. Rather than playing the majority of the instruments himself as he had done on previous albums, McCann called on the services of Gary Lucas (Jeff Buckley, Captain Beefheart), Charlotte Hatherley (Ash, Bash For Lashes), Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Beck, Jellyfish, Air) and Jason Falkner (St. Vincent, Beck, Paul McCartney). Others featured are McCann’s regular ‘go to’ artists Majella O’Reilly, Brendan Scott and Tony Smith.  McCann’s two young daughters Lily and Cassie are also credited as backing vocalists.

The songs were created during a challenging time for McCann as he grieved the sudden passing of his father in 2019, following an accident, and his frame of mind at that time is reflected on a number of the tracks. Graceful arrangements and gorgeous harmonies enhance Love Is All That Matters, with the writer laying bare his emotions. Equally close to home in its sentiment is All Is Fair In Love And War and World Keeps Turning Around recalls The Byrds at their most experimental.  The heat is turned up a few notches and enters Teenage Fanclub territory on the power poppy Lost In This Moment. Call Off The Dogs and Divide And Conquer are in a similar toe- tapping fashion before the album is bookended with the trippy Weight Of The Bow.

McCann’s influences range from Johnny Cash - he was a member of the Johnny Cash tribute band Get Rhythm that in 2013 spent four months touring Irish prisons  - to Jeff Buckley and The Beatles to Nick Drake. The resulting twelve tracks on this album mirror those role models of McCann and offer a compelling blend of classic power pop, harmony-drenched roots and considered ballads.

ALTER EGO is a reminder that we don’t always have to look beyond our own shores to uncover quality music. It’s a record packed with instantly catchy tunes,  providing an insight into an unquestionable local talent. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Channing Wilson Dead Man Ol’Dog/Soundly

Readers may be more familiar with songs written by Channing Wilson than ones actually recorded by the Lafayette, GA artist. With a few recordings under his belt including a self-titled release from 2012 and a live album titled LIVE AT EDDIE’S ATTIC in 2017, his primary occupation for the past two decades has been songwriting. Luke Combs scored a No.1 hit with Wilson’s She Got The Best Of Me and others who recorded his material include Travis Tritt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Sunny Sweeney and The Oak Ridge Boys. Given his expertise in penning songs for others, it would not be unreasonable to expect his latest studio album, DEAD MAN, to contain formula-written material. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The ten tracks that make up the album contain hard-edged tales of excess, destitution and depression, and given the potency of the writing, give the impression, factual or not, that many of the scenes and characters are somewhat autobiographical.

Whether real or imagined, Wilson’s gritty baritone vocals are well suited to his topics. His songs are a reflection of real-life issues faced by many ordinary folks, and like famed country singers of yesteryear, Jimmy Rogers and Hank Williams, the material offers portraits of ordinary folk often on the margins.

Drink That Strong, which opens the album, paves the way for what is to follow. A ‘love lost’ lament, it has echoes of Jamey Johnson both in its message and vocal delivery. That theme of booze and rejection continues on the more mellow but equally sorrowful Beer For Breakfast. Similarly paced and maintaining the ‘sad country song’ thrust, Sunday Morning Blues is a classic ballad, all the better for some well-placed aching pedal steel guitar. ‘Well, Lord there is nothing as lonesome as hearing your heart beat all alone,’ Wilson sings on the mournful ballad Blues Comin’ On before he touches on the grinding reality of finally falling off the edge on Dead Man Walking.

Far from a party album, DEAD MAN is hard-hitting, plain-spoken and forthright, from an artist that more than qualifies as a modern outlaw. Produced by Grammy winner Dave Cobb and with a host of celebrated players contributing, it’s a record loaded with memorable and well-crafted songs. The characters that populate the songs may be fictional or closer to home, either way, their burdens and tribulations are communicated flawlessly on this hugely impressive record.  

Review by Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Here at the Lonesome Highway review desk we have received a wealth of newgrass and bluegrass albums released in recent months. So we are posting this selection of some of the best of these.

All these reviews are by Eilís Boland.

Tray Wellington Black Banjo Mountain Home

Rhiannon Giddens’ bravery and the recent Black Lives Matters movement have given permission (not that it should have been needed) to young black artists like Tray Wellington to come into the spotlight in American music. Although still in his early 20s, Tray (christened Trajan) has a mastery of the banjo that is way beyond his years, as he demonstrates on his debut solo album, produced by the ubiquitous Jon Weisberger. No show-offy playing here on this mainly instrumental record, just a joyful celebration of his chosen instrument, accompanied by a host of equally talented players including Avery Merritt on fiddle (Tony Trishka, Missy Raines), Jon Stickley on guitar, Kevin Kehrberg on bass and Wayne Benson (a relative veteran!) on mandolin. Across the eight original compositions and three covers, Tray shows he is equally comfortable in the traditional bluegrass style, with breakdowns like Georgia Turnaround or in New Grass style with Port of Manzanita and Wasted Time, on which he shares vocals with Tim O’Brien. There’s a demonstration of his love of jazz in a lovely cover of the gently meandering Strasbourg/St. Denis (written by the late Texan jazz musician, Roy Hargrove), where guest fiddle player Lyndsay Pruitt also shines.

Andy Leftwich The American Fiddler Mountain Home

Andy Leftwich is a force of nature and I predict this album of instrumentals will leave you breathless, as it does me!

A phenomenal fiddler player at a young age, Leftwich won many competitions as a junior and went on to play in Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder for fifteen years, until 2016. Since then he has concentrated on work with his mandolin playing wife Rachel, studio production and Christian ministry. The American Fiddler demonstrates his talent at composition, as well as arranging and producing.

The opening title track is an Irish influenced tune, and he is joined here by his mentor Ricky Skaggs, whose mandolin keeps up with the breakneck speed. Next, his great friend and also Kentucky Thunder alumnus, Cody Kilby, joins him on Over Cincinnati and indeed lends his flatpicking on many of the tunes. Pikes Peak Breakdown is a bluegrass original, where the guitar duties are taken by Bryan Sutton, and Scott Vestal contributes banjo. Elsewhere, Matt Menefee plays banjo on several tracks, including a cover of the well known Biréli Lagrène gypsy jazz classic, Made In France. Leftwich learned this tune from his Three Ring Circle band mates, Rob Ickes and Dave Pomeroy. Ickes also features on this album on the aforementioned Over Cincinnati.

I have to admit that I hadn’t realised just how proficient a mandolin player Leftwich is, until this album, where he plays most of the mandolin parts as well as the fiddle. However, he bows to the current mandolin queen, and invites Sierra Hull to duel with him on his reworking of Bill Monroe’s Big Mon. Mark Schatz is better known as a bass player (Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck) but on Through The East Gate he gets to indulge his first love, contributing claw hammer banjo and ‘feet’ to this lovely tune, written to show the evolution from traditional style fiddle playing to the modern style.

Upright bass on most of the album is provided by another stalwart veteran, Byron House. And there’s lots more to discover on this essential album.

Unspoken Traditions Imaginary Lines Mountain Home

The latest album from this well established and popular touring band will more than satisfy those who like their bluegrass hard driving and traditional. Mind you, the N Carolina quintet push out the boundaries a little here - hence the album name.

They have chosen songs by many well known contemporary writers and interpreted them with superb musicianship, lead vocals and harmonies. The band is made up of Sav Sankaran (bass and vocals), brothers Audie McGinnis (guitar and vocals) and Zane McGinnis (banjo), Ty Gilpin (mandolin) and Tim Gardner (fiddle). There are songs of pining for the old days (Charles Humphrey III’s Lookout Mountain), and story songs like Bounty Hunter and Crooked Jack, sung to the tune of ‘Star of the Co Down’, with Ireland’s John Doyle (a former Asheville resident) guesting on bouzouki and sharing lead vocals. Standout song for this reviewer is Justin Carbone’s At The Bottom Again.

Jeremy Garrett River Wild Organic

‘Powerful’ and ‘soulful’ are the two words that spring to mind when listening to this latest solo album from Jeremy Garrett, better known as the fiddle player with the progressive bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters. When he’s not playing with the Stringdusters, a band that he helped to form in 2006, Garrett devotes his time to his solo stage work, where he performs using technological wizardry to loop his fiddle and vocals. Somewhat unusually, for a bluegrass musician, Garrett stands out as a songwriter and a vocalist as well as a musician, none more so than on the opening song, I Am The River Wild. Straight away one realises that his approach to songwriting is no more conventional than his fiddle playing, with the song written from the viewpoint of the river, which is omnipotent and threatening. The river’s ominous warning of  ‘danger lurking all around me, too close you’ll get swept away’ is accompanied by atmospheric playing from Garrett and his impressive choice of musicians, including Seth Taylor (guitar), Alan Bibey (mandolin), Barry Bales (bass) and Russell Carson (banjo). Garrett’s vocal range goes from a falsetto to a very deep baritone on this stand-out song, which he also wrote (with Rick Lang).

In fact, all but one of the eight songs are written by Garrett, except for his slightly unusual take on Bill Monroe’s Kentucky Waltz, which may not suit the purists but then again, that has never bothered Mr Garrett! His co-writer on In A Song (about a songwriter!) is Mountain Hearts’ Josh Shilling, who also takes harmony vocals beautifully throughout the album.

The closest he gets to  Stringdusters territory is in the big bluesy slow burner, In The Blink Of An Eye, with gorgeous dobro courtesy of his band mate, Andy Hall, grooving backing vocals and Garett’s phenomenal fiddle parts are simply chilling, adding to the song’s darkness.

There are four excellent instrumentals, the standout being Bird Of Prey, where the harmonising between Bibey’s mandolin and Garrett’s fiddle playing is memorable, as is the banjo playing of Ryan Cavanaugh. Go get this hugely enjoyable example of progressive acoustic bluegrass - you’ll be glad you did.

Lonesome River Band Heyday Mountain Home

Hard to believe but the LRB have been one of the leading bands in bluegrass since their inception forty years ago. Led since 1990 by the much awarded and coolest banjo player around, Sammy Shelor, they were going through another transition while this record was being recorded, but there is no let up in their signature driving contemporary sound. You get thirteen masterful songs, covering the gamut of the usual bluegrass themes - heartache, gospel, trains and travellin’- performed by some of the best in the business.

Stand-outs include the single Mary Ann Is A Pistol, from the pen of the late Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde, in praise of an independent ‘tomboy’ girl. Anchored as always by Sammy Shelor’s signature driving banjo, it introduces the impressive lead vocals of the new boys: Adam Miller on mandolin and Jesse Smathers on guitar. Departing guitarist, Brandon Rickman, sings lead on a couple, including his own That’s Life, and departing bassist Barry Reed plays on many of the tracks. There’s a deliciously gothic feel to the doom laden Gabriel’s Already Standing, where longtime member Mike Hartgrove’s fiddle playing really stands out. And did I mention the strength of the harmony vocals?

There isn’t a songwriter among the line-up but the band’s interpretations of mostly newly written compositions, and their excellent self-production make for a must-have album.

Fireside Collective Across The Divide Mountain Home

Asheville, N Carolina five piece show that they are not confined by the constraints of traditional bluegrass on their fourth album, where they stray into funk and blues and folk stylings. The album art cover also hints at this, with its trippy psychedelic theme, so you wouldn’t be surprised to realise that they veer towards territory established by bands such as Greensky Bluegrass and the Infamous Stringdusters. Each band member contributes original songs and indeed vocals across this collection of ten high energy songs and one instrumental. Not Today is a sad and gentle country song written by guitarist Joe Cicero, dominated by the dobro playing of Tommy Maher, and here Jesse Iaquinto adds piano, as well as his usual mandolin. Iaquinto’s House Into a Home explores a traditional bluegrass theme in a more New Grass musical style, as does another of his contributions, And The Rain Came Down, a driving number that describes the misery of a big flood. Dobro lovers will appreciate the dominance of that instrument in the excellent production by Jon Weisberger, and the harmonies are also particularly impressive. Funky folk rock is the dominant sound on Your Song Goes On, and banjo player Alex Genova wrote the catchy and hopeful closer, Rainbow In The Dark. It would be a treat to catch these songs performed live - the opportunities for improvisation in these songs by such good instrumentalists has whet my appetite for just that.

New Album Reviews

The Shootouts Stampede Self Release

It is good to have the Shootouts back with a new album and relatively quickly after the release of the Chuck Mead produced Bullseye, in 2021. The band look and act the part with a certain sense of style but not at the expense of a certain humour. This makes them visually, as well as audibly, fans of the tenets of traditional country music. It is somewhat surprising that they haven’t been signed up by a more adventurous major label, as they certainly could fulfil the role that both BR549 and The Derailers had when they were signed to major labels. Now that there are signs that there is a wish for more authentic exponents of the form, it would seem an interesting opportunity for the band and record company.

That said, the reason for that thought is the strength of the performances, material and production offered on this new album. It is helmed by Asleep At The Wheel’s Ray Benson and Sam Seifert. While there are numerous high profile guests joining in it is true to say that they never overshadow the band’s own talents. Often, these musicians add some instrumental zest to the recordings and when they are bringing their individual strengths as vocalists, it is not at the expense of the band’s vocals. Benson sings on the most obviously Western Swing moment here which is One Step Forward. Marty Stuart, Buddy Miller, Raul Malo and Jim Lauderdale all add some harmony vocals or instrumental licks.

But the band: Ryan Humbert on guitar and vocals, vocalist Emily Bates, lead guitarist Brian Posten (who gets a chance to show his skills on the instrumental Run For Cover) and bassist Kevin McManus are reaching new heights on many fronts. They are also joined by regular contributors Dylan Gomez on drums, Ryan McDermott on bass and, a man who has acted as mentor for some time, Al Moss (a former mainstay of a great band Hillbilly Idol) on pedal steel and guitar. There is also some brass and fiddle set loose to add appropriate texture as required - most likely from members of Asleep At The Wheel.

The Shootout are proven exponents of the various types of country music that matter, from honky-tonk, Bakersfield California country, bar-room ballads and  border music, through to Western Swing with some of the Rust Belt music that they have grown up with thrown in. It is the music they love to listen to and music they want to play - and that shows. 

The album mixes original songs with some covers such as I’ll Never Need Anyone More written by the late Ohio rocker Michael Stanley who originally recorded it in an uptempo version. He also did it acoustically and that is what they built this version from, with Raul Malo adding his distinctive voice to it. They have, in the past, turned a number of well-known non-country songs into viable honky-tonkers, something that says a lot about their devotion to their chosen genre.

Make no mistake, at this early part of the year, this is one of the best real country albums you will hear this year and one that might hopefully start some kind of stampede from others who will equally want to hear more of this quality of music.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Helene Cronin Landmarks Self Release

The title of the album tells what these songs might pertain to and be. Songs that draw from personal and wider experience, written to distill Cronin’s thoughts on where she is in her life today and that of the world around her. A self described “story-singer” she is an accomplished songwriter who, from the credits, mainly co-writes with other similar-minded collaborators. The other factor at play here is the relationship she has with producer Matt King (who also produced her last album OLD GHOSTS & LOST CAUSES which itself was a well-received album) and the assembled players. Together they surrounded themselves with some notable players, whose names are always a big attention getter for this writer, such as Kenny Vaughan, Bobby Terry, Byron House, Jerry Roe and King himself.  

The songs are well arranged with plenty of light and shade but are also capable of packing a punch when required. There is an across the board sense of open honesty to share what can be learned from life. This is sometimes done by taking in the perspective of others, as well as those she has encountered herself, on her own path.

The convincing, alluring ballad Halfway Back To Knoxville has some steel guitar that skilfuly underpins a journey that has Cronin joined by a harmony vocalist, who helps to give the song’s subtlety an added poignance. Make The Devil asks “why do good things happen to bad people?” and surmises that maybe the devil holds sway while posing the question whether he was a needed entity at all. A single voice is used to envision the different aspects of being a woman through the ages - mostly in difficult and men dictated situations. Just A Woman builds toward the end with a chorus from fellow artists Wendy Moten, Heidi Newfield, Shelly Fairchild and Vicki Hampton to bring a sense of group empowerment.

What Do You Lean On? asks that question of others as well as of herself. It takes a heavier tone with Vaughan’s guitar giving it the edge from the start. It is in fact something that throughout the album these players excel in, giving the songs a convincing and creative sense of purpose that makes the album one deserving of repeat listening. Your Cross calls for a need for some salvation, a theme that also is a part of What They Didn’t Build, reasoning that tearing down is easier that building up. Taking a more countrified approach is the road song Between Me And The Road, which stands out for its insistent beat and twangified elements. Cross That River is more acoustic, with banjo prominent, and has a uplifting gospel feel. Gentler is the love song You Do, in which one’s own faults and strengths are measured against another’s, often allowing that another’s ability is better. The use of cello here is effective.

This is a mature album with a balance between the central voice, the playing, and the responsive production. This shows a solid growth since the debut album and that Cronin deserves to be viewed alongside some of her better know contemporaries as a contender.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Cowboy Dave Venture South Self Release

Nebraska native Dave Wilson (Cowboy Dave to you and me) is a lover of all things related to the Old West and has been inspired by the late author and painter Will James, turning a phase of his into a song. That song Guts And A Horse quotes from James’ credo that a working cowboy is “a man with guts and a horse”. After a couple of previous eps this is Dave’s first full length album. It’s a homage to the American West, of various eras. It was recorded both in Colorado and in Texas. In the former he brought together some adherents of the Bakersfield Sound (a major influence) for two tracks featuring Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel, Eugene Moles who worked with Merle Haggard on guitar and former Dwight Yoakam sideman, Jim Christie on drums. While in the Dripping Springs Studio he had another set of top notch pickers in Tommy Detamore, Hank Singer on fiddle, drummer Andy Sweetser, bassist Scott Johnson and guitarist Zach Boddicker. The latter two also added vocals alongside Kristina Murray and Loren Dorland. The production duties came from John Macy.

Cowboy Dave wrote the songs (two of which were co-writes), played acoustic guitar and provided the pleasing vocals. He once fronted a cow-punk band, FortyTwenty, which makes sense given the energy and commitment that he brings to this latest work. The relationship with punk comes across in that both genres (of the hardcore variety) are direct, honest and heartfelt.  

287 is a drivin’ home song with steel and fiddle and Telecaster well in evidence - as it should be. Honky Tonk Hot Sauce is what he serves up straight at whatever venue he might be gracing. Sandhill Girl takes things slower to tell us about a girl who may have moved away, but in her heart has never lost her love of her home place.This Kind Of Living tells of the way many try to keep family and home together by traveling and playing music. 

Next up features Kristina Murray, you may get a feel for the song from its title Cruel, Cruel Queen. Again we are given some substance from the steel and twangin’ guitars. The two voices give their side of the story and work well together. As you might also expect alcohol plays its part too, with the thoughtful Whiskey Tonight which has one of Cowboy Dave’s most assured vocals that gives the ballad a deeper resonance. We’re back up to speed then with the dumped by his gal lyric of Skunk Yodel No 7, which indeed has a touch of that vocal style. It has an extend yodel outro that works a treat. 

Back on the highway in truckin’ mode again is the tale of a mother trucker that is Mama Drove A Big Rig ,putting the Telcaster, fiddle and steel to good use again. Very much in the Marty Robbins mode is the aforementioned Guts And A Horse, another memorable song from Wilson that is enhanced by the border mood of Gabriel Mervin’s trumpet. Definitely an album highlight. The final track uses one the of repeat dictates that you will “never be a prophet in your own home town”. That expression gives the song its title. But whether that’s true for Cowboy Dave, he has delivered an album that is worthy of attention whatever town its music reaches.

Review by Stephen Rapid

The Whiskey Charmers On The Run Sweet Apple Pie

The Detroit based Whiskey Charmers continue their run of successful Americana albums with their fourth offering, ON THE RUN. Carrie Shepard (vocals and acoustic guitar) wrote all ten original songs, and is joined throughout by her partner Lawrence Daversa, who plays electric and steel guitars, as well as contributing backing vocals behind Carrie’s rich and mellow voice.

Opening with the countrified sad song, Nobody Cares, we then stray into blues rock territory with the murder ballad, Billy, where, unusually, the female protagonist shoots dead her controlling partner in self defence when she tries to leave. There’s more than a touch of Rory Gallagher in the lead guitar playing of Daversa on this and many other of the songs, which can be no bad thing, in this reviewer’s book. The futility of longing for a lost love is paralleled with the hopelessness of panning for gold in an old mining town in the wistful Gold, and Lawrence also turns to his pedal steel for The Devil’s Rodeo, another tale of surviving lost love through gritted teeth.

The duo are joined by Brian Ferriby (drums), David Roof (keyboards), and Daniel Ozzie Andrews on bass.

It has to be said that this record strays more into rock territory than the last album, 2020’s LOST ON THE RANGE, which we reviewed here. Definitely worth checking out

Review by Eilís Boland

Brit Taylor Kentucky Blue Cut A Shine

The State of Kentucky can boast more than its fair share of blue-chip country royalty. Departed household names of yesteryear like Loretta Lynn, Tom T. Hall and Keith Whitley, and living artists Chris Stapleton, Dwight Yoakam and Ricky Skaggs immediately spring to mind.  The more recent crop of contenders includes Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers, both fiercely devoted to classic country music and not behind the door in calling out the cannibalism of the genre, in recent years, on good old Music Row in Nashville.

The most recent ‘likely to succeed’ of that talented bunch is Brit Taylor, whose breakthrough album THE REAL ME (2020) turned a lot of industry heads and featured in many ‘Best of the Year’ listings. All the more impressive was that Taylor ignored the Music Row rulebook, withdrawing from her songwriting deal (‘I’d rather clean shitty toilets than write shitty songs any longer’) and independently financing that album at a time when she was also overcoming a failed marriage. That collection of songs included Bobby Gentry-type 60s classic pop, alongside some more traditional country tunes. For KENTUCKY BLUE she hooked up with Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson for the production duties and co-wrote with a number of writers including Jason White, Adam Wright, and Pat McLaughlin. The result is a more upbeat and certainly more ‘country’ record, laced with fiddles, accordion, pedal steel, piano breaks and banjo in all the right places, bringing to mind Tyler Childers’ excellent album, COUNTRY SQUIRE. A listen to jaunty tracks such as Anything But You, Ain’t A Hard Livin and Cabin In The Woods immediately draws that comparison.

Toe-tapping and joyous in musical content, it also reinforces Taylor’s skillset as a songwriter. Rich Little Girls is a clever dig at the young privileged classes swanning around Nashville, no doubt noted by the writer as she worked endless hours and numerous menial jobs to kickstart her career. It’s not all foot full down on the gas, Taylor also includes a number of sweet-sounding ballads. Love’s Never Been That Good To Me is a countrypolitan gem in that regard and the title track is equally tuneful.

Taylor has bravely distanced herself from the lucrative pop/country mainstream genre and has channelled traditional country down a modern path with KENTUCKY BLUE. An excellent project on all fronts, with top-class vocals, stellar playing, slick production and no-nonsense songs, it ticks all the boxes. She may not be as close to the mainstream as Miranda Lambert or Kacey Musgraves, but if there’s any justice, she’ll be gracing the same stages as them in the not-too-distant future.

Review by Declan Culliton

Iris DeMent Workin’ On A World Flariella

With a career that has stretched over three decades, revered singer songwriter Iris DeMent has released seven albums, the latest being WORKIN’ ON A WORLD.  That may not necessarily suggest a prolific output but in the case of the fourteenth-born child of Pat DeMent and his wife Flora Mae, quality has consistently won over quantity.

Thirty-one years after the release of her debut album INFAMOUS ANGEL, DeMent remains a most passionate author of songs that pioneer her steadfast commitment to human rights and environmental matters. Musically this latest addition to her impressive catalogue is not a radical departure from SING THE DELTA (2012), combining piano lead ballads and fuller-sounding compositions, all presented with her characteristic vocal style.

The impetus for the album can be traced back to the presidential elections of 2016. Considering the state of the modern world at that juncture, DeMent returned to songwriting as a personal distraction from the progressing social injustice and random violence at the time. The album’s title track outlines DeMent’s state of mind at that precise time (‘The world I took for granted was crashing to the ground and I realized I might not live long enough to ever see it turn around’). The upbeat free and fiery treatment on the track may be in contrast to its subject matter, but DeMent’s writing has consistently attempted to seek positivity over negativity in her output.

Written over a six-year period, other pertinent issues such as climate change and the pandemic generated additional ammunition for the thirteen-track album. The project was actually stalled during the pandemic and may not have seen the light of day without the prompting and support of Pieta Brown, who together with being a musician, producer and multi-instrumentalist, is also DeMent’s stepdaughter from her marriage to Greg Brown. During lockdown Pieta sought out the songs already written and essentially shelved and on hearing them responded enthusiastically to DeMent ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’ The final songs were duly written and the album was recorded in Nashville in April 2022.

The issue of gun control and those courageous enough to call out the thorny subject is tackled head-on in Goin’ Down To Sing In Texas (‘I’m going down to sing in Texas where anybody can carry a gun. But we will all be so much safer there, the biggest lie under the sun’). The Sacred Now is a co-write with Pieta Brown, both having individually written verses for the song during lockdown. Overflowing with devotion and conviction, the hymn-like Let Me Be Your Jesus is conveyed with a whispered vocal delivery and mournful trumpet in the background.

DeMent fondly recalls peace activist Rachel Corry and civil rights leader John Lewis on Warriors of Love, commending them for their unflinching stances in the face of adversity and how they were ‘willing to risk an early ride in a hearse.’ Fuelled by a mellow horn section and tingling piano, the song simply brims with energy, recalling Van Morrison’s chirpy sound on his INTO THE MUSIC album. A similar sentiment and musical direction follows on How Long, with Marin Luther King name checked on the appropriately titled song. Taking a break from the more ethical subject matter on the album, twangy vocals and a vibrant rhythm section take shape on the six and a half minutes full-on blues track Walkin’ Daddy. The album closes in fine style with Waycross, Georgia.

A delightfully accessible listen by a unique talent whose writing consistently embraces a ‘moment in time’ of American modern life. Thought-provoking yet unassuming and refined, WORKIN’ ON A WORLD explores its perilous subject matter with coherence and positivity to perfection. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Mackenzie Roark Rollin’ High, Feelin’ Low Vocal Rest

We’re slightly late to the party with a review of this debut full-length album from Richmond, Virginia artist Mackenzie Roark, released late last year. Thankfully it did not pass us by as it’s yet another prime example of a slightly off the radar artist, producing raw country/roots music of the highest standard.

It follows on from Roark’s 2016 EP MOTHER TONGUE and although it only runs for thirty minutes and eight tracks, quality wins over quantity. Titles such as Drunk Again, Wasting Away, Little Pills and the title track are pointers to the theme running through the album. They also suggest a writer pouring out her heart and soul rather than one sitting in a songwriters round from nine to five and clocking out with a formulaic book of lyrics.

Roark puts her cards on the table from the get-go, kicking off the album in rocking style with the confessional and unapologetic Highways I’ve Been On (‘trying to be a good woman makes a bad girl go insane’). In keeping with the truthfulness contained across the album, she also lays bare psychological vulnerabilities, closing the record with Little Pills (‘tell me that I’m crazy when I need little pills’).

A tangled love affair is the driver on Sweet Thing, a gorgeous track with Roark’s raw country vocal backed by some sweet banjo picking and nimble fiddle. It tells a tale of a probably doomed relationship and leaves the listener reflecting whether the reconciliation sought by the writer ever comes to fruition. In fact, because the various tracks on the album work so well collectively, it is easy to assume that the character in Drunk Again and Wasted is the distanced lover in Sweet Thing.

Whether Roark is writing from personal experience or otherwise, the songs unfold with a savage intensity. Her earthy and twangy vocals are well matched by deft musicianship by her band members, with the rugged guitar playing particularly standout.

ROLLIN’ HIGH, FEELIN’ LOW is another potent reminder of the immense talent out there, making music that is unlikely to get the coverage and recognition it richly deserves. Few things are more pleasing for us at Lonesome Highway than discovering talent previously unknown to us, Makenzie Roark qualifies in that regard with flying colours.

Review by Declan Culliton

Mary Elizabeth Remington In Embudo Loose

Singer-songwriter, part-time stonemason and painter, Mary Elizabeth Remington’s introduction to live performance came about ten years ago when she took to the stages at the Kerrville Folk Festival. A decade later and the Hardwick, Massachusetts native has recorded her debut album.  

Remington was raised in a log cabin with her parents and brother in Massachusetts and, not surprisingly, avoided the confines of a recording studio for this project. The songs were recorded live to tape in a cabin along the Rio Grande in Embudo, Mexico, in the company of her long-time friend Adrianne Lenker of the Brooklyn folk-rock band Big Thief, who contributes backing vocals. Lenker’s colleague in Big Thief, Mat Davidson and James Krivchenia from the band Twain, who also acted as engineer, added the sparse instrumentation on a number of tracks. Other selections are performed a capella, Green Grass and the soothing paean Mother, being particularly imposing in this format. The marriage of Remington and Lenker’s vocals is heavenly on the unrequited love song and standout song Dresser Hill.

The finished project, with its low-key arrangements, criss-crosses from folk to country and world music, akin to a modern-day field recording, with overlays or overdubs not considered. Giggles from both vocalists are left unedited and the sound of falling rain adds ambience to the wistful Water Song.

The album’s title is taken from the recording location, with Remington noting that ‘The dry desert air and vast clay coloured landscape brought inspiration and calmness to the process of creating music together.’  Attentive listens are the order of the day on an album that casts its spell far and wide and reveals increasingly more with each ensuing visit.

Review by Declan Culliton

Stuffy Shmitt Cherry Realistic

‘The music biz is nearly impossible to negotiate these days. Forget it.  I'm done worrying about it. I just want to have fun making music with my friends,’ explains Stuffy Shmitt, recalling the motivation to record CHERRY, his latest record that follows on from his eclectic and hugely enjoyable album STUFF HAPPENS released three years ago.

Very much part of the thriving underground music scene in East Nashville, Shmitt brought his New York street-punk attitude to Music City when he relocated there nearly a decade ago. He didn’t have to search too far for like-minded spirits in Music City, particularly on the Eastside. Within a stone’s throw of his front yard, there were numerous well-matched individuals scratching out a living playing or producing more contemporary music in Nashville but who, like Shmitt, were in their element working on more eccentric projects. Among those acquaintances is Dave Coleman (Amelia White, Tim Carroll, Dean Owens, Minton Sparks), who produced and recorded CHERRY at his Howard’s Apartment Studio in Inglewood, East Nashville. Coleman also played guitar on the album; the others players included Chris Tench on guitar and a rhythm section of Parker Hawkins on bass and Dave Colella on drums.

Shmitt’s 2020 release, STUFF HAPPENS, revisited old haunts and old flames in the writers’ previous lives, more often than not without anything approaching fond memories. Tracks like She’s Come Unglued, Jim’s Dad, Mommy and Daddy and The Last Song may, on initial listen, read like fictitious episodes laced with black comedy. However, given the passionate vocal deliveries, on subsequent listens a darker picture of home truths emerged.

Although, like its predecessor, CHERRY finds Shmitt flirting between soulful mid-tempo ballads and manic rockers, the author is in a less introspective and more playful mindset than on that last record. Laced with witticisms and no end of double meanings - the opening track The Man In The Boat is a chant derived from the female orgasm - there’s no end of groove alongside the wicked humour on the eight tracks featured. With a liveliness that captures the sounds of both The Ramones and X, Billy Kilowatt is a two-and-a-half-minute manic journey and the high-spirited and playful The Hard On Polka is probably as near as a love song Shmitt is ever going to pen. (’if you see her drink a bottle of Budweiser, you’ll dream about it ‘till your dying day’). Having said that, there are more sombre moments, Shmitt fondly recalls his deceased younger brother Danny - he played drums with John Hiatt - on the funky Little Brother and 100 Shotguns is a nostalgic recollection of madcap days in a former life.

An album loaded with positive energy; readers acquainted with Shmitt’s back catalogue will lap this up. Others, unfamiliar with his work, should crank those headphones up to full volume and get on board for the ride. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Review by Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Diane Hubka & The Sun Canyon Band You Never Can Tell Self Release

A noted and respected jazz singer and performer, Hubka has released several albums in that genre but here has taken a somewhat different path towards roots/country/folk elements. She was raised in Maryland before moving to Washington DC, then New York, and on to LA. But the direction that politics were taking meant that in 2017 she decided to look at singing protest and songs relating to union activity and began to perform these songs acoustically in a local coffee shop. Later with Joe Caccavo and Rick Mayock she formed the Sun Canyon Band and recorded this mix of covers and originals, which is their debut album. What attracted me to give it a close listen was the name of the special guest listed on the cover; one Albert Lee. The guitarist associated with Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band as well as the Everly Brothers, Lee also plays mandolin on the album and is joined by the aforementioned players as well as producer/multi-instrumentalist Chad Watson and Lynn Coulter on percussion.

 Not being aware of Hubka’s previous releases it is nonetheless clear that she is comfortable in this format. Comfortable is the operative word here as nothing disturbs the good time feeling of such experienced musicians playing together in a street free environment. The opening two tracks will be familiar to many (as will some of the other choices) in that both Bob Dylan and Guy Clark are renowned writers as Baton Rouge and You Ain’t Going Nowhere respectively show. These covers then set the pace and the general direction the album will take.

Of the other choices, Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927 takes that historic flood to emphasise how such catastrophic events have a way of repeating themselves if lessons are not learned. It is given a further location emphasis with the use of Watson’s trombone. You Never Can Tell, written by Chuck Berry, which closes out the album is another nod to their primary influences with some musical touches that make it enjoyable and not just a run through. Albuquerque nods to the player’s previous jazz roots. The Blues Is My Business has a feel for that particular format but again hints at a broader palate with brass and some whistling to add additional textures. To The Light has an acoustic feel and a nuanced vocal that suits the song and Hubka’s voice.

The are some original songs included with Hubka’s Home and Maycock’s Dancing With My Shadow and Belly Of The Whale both offering an opportunity to look beyond the cover choices. The former is in a folk-styled setting with shared vocals, while the other again has Mayock taking the lead with Hubka adding harmony. It has some sweetened guitar to help it flow on its somewhat downbeat but positive lyrical message. Hubka’s song is about the need to get back to a place that one call home and all which that means. Again, it has a folk-affiliated manner that fits with the context.

Without a doubt the standout track here, for me, is the traditional Shady Grove (a love song that has a closer relationship with the English version of the ballad Matty Grove - as recorded by Fairport Convention) The band give it a lively outing with Lee’s mandolin taking a lead alongside Mayock’s baritone guitar (though as several of the players cross-over in terms instruments that’s an assumption).

 An ‘easy to listen to’ album that had me drawn in by Albert Lee’s name on the cover - as it may for many - but the interaction between all is not forced and offers you an album that you can tell that all involved were happy to be recording.       

Review by Stephen Rapid

Jill Rogers & Crying Time Many Worlds Theory Self Release

Described as a straight-up country/honky-tonk band, a definition that suits them and Rogers’ original songs, but one that might seem at times a little less hardcore than some recent acts trading under that banner. In reality, they are related more to a time when real country was acceptable in the mainstream. The band which features some veteran players from the Oakland area are versatile and variable. Myles Boisen is the guitarist with Tony Marcus on fiddle and a rhythm section of Russel Kiel and Tim Rowe. They are joined by pedal steel, percussion and brass on some tracks.

Other members add to the overall textures with Tony Marcus delivering a jazz influenced swing number Devil In The Details that show the collective skills of the band. Boisen penned an album standout track with the border brass of I Only Cry When I’m Drinkin’ - a sound that nearly always hits the spot for these ears. Rogers’ lively vocal is well suited to the upbeat but down-sided message of the lyrics. 

There are also a couple of covers such as Del McCoury’s More Often Than Once In Awhile and Willie Nelson’s You Left Me A Long Time Ago. Both underscore that Rogers has a voice that is capable of taking on the different aspects of all the material that they have recorded. The latter closes out the album with a fine reading of a less known Nelson song, but one that sits beside her own take on country music, both classic and contemporary.

Of the songs written by Rogers, particularly strong are Evangeline, the up-tempo River Songs with fiddle to the fore, as it is with the guitar on the sad and slow Tears, Time And Ink. The Mess (That Used To Be Me) is a pretty self-descriptive but ultimately redeeming song about getting one’s self together to face the future. It is done to a beat that belies that thought process. 

Their previous releases offer a view of what they have been doing for some time now. A set of covers of George Jones songs with a number of guests (KING GEORGE), a live album that mixed covers and self-penned songs as well as a studio recorded record (LAST SATURDAY NIGHT/TEN GOLDEN HITS). They also recorded an album of some 70s country (LINDA). These, though unheard by this writer, would indicate a band in it for the long haul. They wear their cowboy hats and shirts as a visual indication of that.

MANY WORLDS THEORY continues in that vein with as much care put into the covers songs as with the original songs. It is an album that grew on me the more I listened and it is, in its own way, something that will enhance their local reputation and could, just as easily, be appreciated on a wider scale.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Alex Mabey The Waiting Room Self Release

A powerful fifteen-track album from an artist that writes freely and honestly about personal trauma, mental illness and addiction, Alex Mabey has been recording music for nearly a decade. Currently residing in Nashville, where she previously studied as a teenager at Belmont University, Mabey has successfully confronted and overcome a number of painful issues since those early career days. Ill health and a broken marriage led to prolonged physical and mental pain and if Mabey’s 2017 EP ENOUGH was a statement of an individual determined to conquer her demons, THE WAITING ROOM plays out as a further pointer to Mabey’s rehabilitation and recovery.

Contributors on THE WAITING ROOM include Grammy-winning producer Casey Wasner (Taj Mahal, Keb’Mo, Amanda Shires, Walter Trout), pianist Peter Wasner (Vince Gill, Amy Grant), bassist Brian Allen (Jason Isbell, The Secret Sisters) and Nate Dugger (Drew Holcomb) on guitar.

These Wings, the first single from the album, is powerful both lyrically and musically and a statement of liberty and letting go. The mid-tempo ballad The Well, also released as a single, broods over the painful yet finally rewarding decision to move ahead and distance oneself from a destructive manner of life. Fittingly, and in keeping with the album’s subject matter of resurrection, a cover of Patty Griffin’s Up To The Mountain is included. Entrapment and fragility emerge on Canary and Wait, the final track and statement on the album, which advises patience and resoluteness in adversity, acts as a reminder that fortune often favours the brave.

Written with candour, THE WAITING ROOM gives the listener a tour from where Mabey was at her lowest point towards her present state of body and mind. No doubt written by way of putting a closer to harrowing and distressing times, it’s not only a rewarding listen but also well-worth investigating for others going through similar dilemmas of the mind or body. Fans of the aforementioned Patty Griffin and Eliza Gilkyson will most definitely warm to this record.

Review by Declan Culliton

Pony Bradshaw North Georgia Rounder Soundly

Very much a writer of stories brought to music, Pony Bradshaw follows on from his 2021 album CALICO JIM, with another ten impressive songs drawn from his love of North Georgia, his home for the past decade and a half. If anything, this collection of songs, though somewhat matching in lyrical content, is musically more up-tempo, with particularly gorgeous splashes of pedal steel and slick guitar breaks, all complementing Bradshaw’s well-defined vocal deliveries.

An album that draws your attention to the lyrical content, it plays out like a short story movie, introducing the listener to the writer’s keen observations and also real-life characters leading ordinary existences. Recorded in only five days at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, the material explores a variety of Appalachian locations and scenarios. Bradshaw also speaks of other places encountered during his relentless touring lifestyle. A point in case is the melancholy A Free Roving Mind where the writer confesses ‘And I ain't got no kinda home…. And I don't need no reason to pen a sad and lonesome tune.’ A sense of barely surviving and yearning for simple home comforts emerges on the title track and that sentiment also surfaces on Kindly Turn The Bed Down, Drusilla, where the weary road traveller looks forward to a return to domesticity (‘I make my wage on the road, good lord, 42 and living out of my van.’) Safe In The Arms Of Vernacular opens with a memory of the writer’s father returning from Desert Storm before moving to the present and to a small-town local diner where he observes a waitress’ mundane way of life. The gothic and shadier side of Appalachia emerge on Notes On A River Town, it bookends the album in fine style with a sound that is both hauntingly lonesome and as dark as coal.

A self-confessed aficionado of fiction and poetry, Pony Bradshaw confesses that his writing is more inspired by his bookworm mentality than his admiration of the classic singer songwriters. A dynamic storyteller in his own right, Bradshaw’s latest offering is both lyrically arresting and quite spectacular in places. You’re left wondering if he’s likely to pen a novel of short stories at some point in the future.

Review by Declan Culliton

Angela Perley Turn Me Loose Self Release

A free spirit with one leg in the late 60s and the other in the modern world, the debut solo album from the Columbus, Ohio artist Angela Perley was one of our favourites of 2019 at Lonesome Highway. Titled 4.30, it was a tour de force of psychedelic-infused rock and alt-country.

The former band leader of Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons follows a similar musical template with TURN ME LOOSE, delivering an equally impressive ten-track record. If anything, Perley has increased the alt-country content this time around, inspired by listening to a lot of Gram Parsons during lockdown. A point in case is the hook-filled and pedal steel drenched Star Dreamer, which features well placed vocal ‘sha-la-las’ and synchronised hand claps. Equally splendid is the country-esque and slower paced Holding On and she goes full-on country with the two-stepper, Praying for Delight. Here For You, the first single from the album, was written following the loss of a number of family members. With a catchy backbeat and slick slide guitar, it finds the writer in a reflective mood, reminding herself of the importance of enjoying the moment while also being mindful of the struggles that those close to her may be enduring. Opener Plug Me In and Ripple are playful high-octane rockers, yet behind all these upbeat moments you get a sense of sorrowfulness and loss on tracks like Holding On and the closing track Wreck Me. The latter is a semi-spoken and skeletal offering of anguish and longing for forbidden fruit. 

Recorded at Earthwork Recording Studio in Newark, Ohio and Studio 4:30 in Columbus, Ohio, the album was produced by Brandon Bankes, who also contributed pedal steel. Perley and her long-time bandmate and guitarist Chris Connor are credited as co-producers.

An album that traverses from mellow to frenetic, TURN ME LOOSE defines Perley’s signature sound. A combination of honeyed vocals, clever lyrics and a group of players that ebb and flow around her, resulting in a suite of songs that offer a memorable listening experience. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Juni Habel Carvings Basin Rock

This is a really beautiful record. Created from a deep place, at once both fragile and strong; vulnerable, yet powerful in the quiet delivery. The music is both arresting and haunting; it is bare bones with nothing spared in the honesty and beauty of both the melodies and the words.  Defined as ‘pastoral folk’ in certain media, this is a timeless slice of intimate and whispered emotion.

There is loss here, and there is both beauty and a sadness borne of experience. Habel lost her sister in a car accident and a number of the songs make reference to the grief and the sense of intimacy in the memory of loss. This is clearly a work of great release for the artist and the sense of balancing the past against the emotions of the present are never far from the surface. The playing is sublime and the inclusion of family members heightens the sense of a prayer sent out to the universe in terms of healing and starting anew.

The sense of being part of the listening experience is akin to holding your breath while somebody close to you opens up about their inner doubts and dreams. Opening song Rhythm Of the Tides looks at the pull of nature and the depths contained in our own fears and hopes; water being used as a metaphor for the mind. Valiant is a song that brings the memory of her deceased sister to mind for Habel, as she captures the essence of the unbreakable sibling bond; ‘When we leaned into each other.’

Again, on the final song, I Carry You, My Love we find Habel framing the moment in beautiful imagery, ‘I wait by your door, for a sign to find me.’ The presence of someone no longer there in physical form so eloquently described. The music throughout has a dreamlike quality and the use of subtle percussion, twinkling piano, haunting violin and abstract sounds is enthralling. On the song Chicory I am sure that I hear a cuckoo sound and the closing of a door as percussive elements.

This is meditative music. Never rushed, and played with a gentle touch that hints at layered vocals, minimal keyboard and superb fingerstyle acoustic guitar atmospherics. Drifting Pounds Of the Train has violin sounds to accompany the love song as it builds in emotion and swells. Habel lives outside Oslo in Norway and this is her second album release. It is a very special album and one that will bring rich reward to all who immerse themselves in this sublime music.

Review by Paul McGee

Trevor Beales Fireside Stories Basin Rock

There is a deep poignancy that surrounds this posthumous release which highlights the expressive guitar playing of Trevor Beales. He grew up in Hebden Bridge, in Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. Learning guitar in the 1960s, Beales was clearly influenced by the Folk troubadours of the time and his playing evokes the developing genre and stirs memories of Bert Jansch, Davey Graham and John Renbourn. His fingerstyle playing was very fluid and free, with a lovely tone and expression.

The songs included here were recovered from his bedroom and retrieved from old cassettes recorded circa 1971 to 1974. The quality of the playing is quite superb and there are moments where it sounds like there is more than one guitar in the mix, so fulsome is his technique with the rhythm and solo runs merging into such a comprehensive and satisfactory whole. The twelve songs include instrumentals Braziliana and  the wonderful Dance Of the Mermaids. Other songs that stand out are Marion Belle, a tale that relays a sailors story and a ship that sailed the waves with a sickly crew looking for refuge in any port; Metropolis tells of life as a busker in the city anonymity of London, ‘Wearing dirty jeans and jacket, I play tunes on my guitar, Though no one has time to listen as they dodge the passing cars.’

Another song, Sunlight On the Table tells of capturing a moment and the distant glow of memory and choices made. Then I’ll Take You Home looks at the movement around guru enlightenment that was a craze back in the 60s. Righteous preaching leaves him cold and his response is to play his music, drink some beers and then head for home. The title track conjures a young John Martyn in the effortless playing style and confirms the talent that was evident to all who heard him develop his craft.

Beales died suddenly in 1984, leaving behind a young widow and a daughter, and we can only surmise on the career that awaited him and the heights that he would have achieved. We come and we go, the whys and wherefores lost in the mist of time. The one lasting influence that music brings is the legacy that endures over time, and the realisation that what was created back then, continues to stand as testament to the artist that created it.

Review by Paul McGee

Anna Mieke Theatre Nettwerk

This artist is a true world traveller, having experienced life in her travels across different continents. All the time absorbing the native sounds and the music of the indigenous people, from Maori songs in New Zealand, to the traditional airs of Bulgaria, working in India and aligned to the musical wealth of Granada in Spain. Mieke plays an array on instruments, including cello and guitar, bouzoki and piano.

The music is very much in the space of what is termed, Alt-Folk. There are nine tracks that span almost fifty minutes of listening and much of the playing draws from improvisational interplay between the musicians. Mieke is joined on the project by the talents of Matthew Jacobson (percussion),Ryan Hargadon (tenor saxophone, synthesizers, clarinet, piano), Brían Mac Gloinn (guitar, fiddle), Rozi Leyden (bass), Lina Andonovska (flutes), Cora Venus Lunny (viola, violin), Alannah Thornburgh (harp) and Nick Rayner (bass and synths).

It is an impressive ensemble and the ebb and flow of the songs contain a trance-like quality, especially when listened to on headphones. The lyrics are quite cryptic and somewhat impenetrable, with brief glimpses into the inner world of Mieke and her  delivery conjures memories of a lost lyric in the back of your mind that you can never quite recall. For A Time revisits days of her youth spent in London and the imagery that remains in reconstructing those memories. Coralline seems to channel an old relationship and the accumulation of reflective musings built from the past. Seraphim asks of another ‘Take me far away from the crowds, oh the maddening crowds.’ Go Away From My Window is a traditional song that pleads ‘Go ‘way from my window, Go ‘way from my door, Go ‘way way way from my bedside, And bother me no more.’ Perhaps the urge to escape into a more solitary state is what both binds and fuels these songs?

The beautiful harp intro to Red Sun is replaced by gentle acoustic guitar and has Mieke musing ‘Distance is a sound I know, Momentary ground.’ There is a free-form, jazz-like quality to some of the arrangements and the improvisation allows the mind to wander off to distant places and allow reflective thoughts of fragmented hindsight to arise.

The track Twin has memories of a time spent in Lausanne, Switzerland and the lines ‘ Sometimes things are better left unsaid instead, Linger if you will we are strangers still.’ This sense of being solitary and apart from the observations being made is what weaves through these songs. I am left thinking of a collaboration between Joni Mitchell and Jane Siberry, where the creative muse visits shaded corners of the mind in search of some solace. An interesting album where the challenges reap great reward.

Review by Paul McGee

Michael Veitch Wachtraum Self Release

The album title translates as “Wake Dream,” and the twelve songs included are all from the creative muse of Michael Veitch, an experienced artist from Vermont. He has released many albums and here we see his talents blossom on songs that visit personal and political issues.

There are four co-writes and two were written with engineer Julie Last. Veitch self-produced the album and invited quite a list of musicians to join him in the process. There is a credits list that runs to some fifteen contributors and with Veitch leading proceedings on guitars, piano and lead vocals. He sings with an easy, sweet tone and the song melodies are very engaging.  This is finely delivered americana with emphasis on the craft of the singer-songwriter.

Love songs such as August Nights, Last Days of Summer and Always Vermont celebrate that special feeling with a loved one. Memory is something that holds nostalgia, whether real or imagined, and Veitch visits the past in the songs, Sunday Afternoon and Birthday Oh Birthday.

Happy Fourth Of July questions the type of country that has created so much hatred and murder within the American dream and the aspiration of equality for all. April Fools hits out at politicians who have nobody’s interests at heart, except their own; the hypocrisy clearly evident to all.

Mother nature is celebrated in First Snow Of the Year, and First Day is a celebration of the New Year and the opportunity to begin again with a fresh page. Final song One Wish is a plea for peace and harmony on Christmas Day and throughout the year, the song featuring a duet with Kirsti Gholson, and a fitting way to end a very enjoyable album.       

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

The Foreign Landers Travelers Rest Tinfoil

The seeds were sown for this duo when Tabitha Agnew from Co Armagh in Northern Ireland met David Benedict from S Carolina at the IBMA 2017 Conference in Raleigh. Both were already establishing themselves as bluegrass musicians to be watched, Benedict as mandolinist with the progressive Mile Twelve and Agnew as banjoist with her family band, Cup O’ Joe, and soon to be a member of the all female British bluegrass ensemble, Midnight Skyracer. Love and marriage soon followed, but then so did the pandemic, and the couple were thrown into two years of strife while Tabitha waited for her Green Card and they tried to conduct a transatlantic relationship. TRAVELERS REST is the chronicle of that difficult time, a concept album if you like. Their first full length album is a delight, produced by them both in their new home in the quaintly named South Carolina town which gave the album its name. Traveler introduces Tabitha’s sweet vocals against delicately picked acoustic guitar, but soon we hear her inventive banjo playing, interplaying with her husband’s backing vocals and glorious mandolin runs. The song quotes her parents, who reassure her in her trepidation about the move to the US that ‘whether near or far/you’ll always have a place to stay’, and isn’t that what we all wish for our family? In Waves, the ferociousness of the sea reflects the fear of the unknown for Tabitha, but she again finds reassurance, this time from her Christian faith. In fact there are many references throughout the lyrics to a faith that is clearly paramount to the two artists.

While Tabitha’s vocals are inherently soft, the production here is superbly suited to her vocal style and brings out her sweetest best. Unfortunately, we only hear backing vocals from David, and one hopes that he will right this wrong on future projects! His brother-in-law, Reuben Agnew, guests on vocals on David’s song Flying Back to You. Should I Go is a melodramatic cry for help from Tabitha’s viewpoint, and is suitably soundtracked by her progressive banjo contributions here, discordant and tumbling fast, all the while supported by David’s octave mandolin and acoustic guitar playing. It’s refreshing to hear new acoustic music that is fresh and original, while still rooted in the bluegrass tradition.

There’s an instrumental interlude, two new tunes with a distinctly Irish flavour, Johnny’s Peacock/The Red Tailed Hawk, where they are joined by the Irish guitar maestro John Doyle and Armagh’s finest tin whistle player, Brian Finnegan.

Boxes finds Tabitha unpacking after moving house, and she again follows her father’s advice, this time to ‘keep your door open wide/Warm the welcome, young and old’. Things start to look up, and another guest, Karl Smakula, plays pedal steel on the country love song We’ll Be Fine, while well known fiddler Brittany Haas enhances the reassuring Garden - ‘though the world may be broken/I’ll be in the ground planting seeds’. The Last Song closes this first chapter of their story, the gentle instrumentation reflecting contentment at last, ‘a land I can call my home’. The album design is also aesthetically pleasing with a woodcut by Dealey Dansby and artful graphics and photography. Roll on the next instalment.

Review by Eilís Boland

Sunny War Anarchist Gospel New West

‘Everyone I loved died before they reached twenty-five. They OD’ed or killed themselves. We were just kids who didn’t have anyone looking out for us,’ confesses Nashville-based singer songwriter Sunny War, reflecting on a troubled and brutal early life that she has thankfully left behind. War’s early music career found her playing in punk bands, including Los Angeles based the Anal Kings, drinking heavily, dropping out of school and out of control. Moving to California did little to improve her predicament, on the contrary, the relocation lead to heroin and meth addiction and near death.

Clean and sober for over a decade, heartache and tragedy revisited War. A relationship breakup and contracting Covid led to a further period of depression and contemplations of suicide. Fortunately, she overcame these emotions and instead wrote the soul searching I Got No Fight, the first song to be written for what became ANARCHIST GOSPEL. War continued to address her personal journey of adversity and distress across a number of demos and presented them to the Nashville resident and producer Andrija Tokic (The Deslondes, Hurrah For The Riff Raff, Alabama Shakes, Caitlin Rose, Jeremy Ivey). Studio time was booked at Tokic’s Bomb Shelter, where the fourteen tracks were recorded. The resulting album is one that doesn’t slot easily into one particular genre, instead it sees saws from folk to gospel and soulful blues to raw rock and roll.

War’s ageless vocal style and distinctive fingerpicking guitar work unconditionally capture the mood of the songs and their content. The inclusion of backing vocalists on a number of the tracks further intensifies the message within the tracks. In fact, the vocal input of the three times Grammy nominated Allison Russell on the Dionne Farris cover Hopeless and Loves Death appears to intensify War’s performance, resulting in two standout efforts. Jim James of My Morning Jacket fame also features on Earth. War’s partner in the band War and Pierce, Chris Pierce, is also credited as adding vocals. Banjo and guitar contributions by Dave Rawlings on tracks Shelter and Storm, Swear To Gawd and Higher further intensify those songs. The second cover included is Ween’s Baby Bitch, which sticks true to the original version and is directed towards War’s ex-partner with the parting dispatch, ‘I’m better now, please fuck off.’

Despite its origins and the matters of the heart that dominate the album, a sense of rebirth and pushing ahead does emerge. Tracks such as the aforementioned Hopeless and New Day, although not entirely suggesting healing, do suggest a degree of stoicism and resoluteness from their author. If War’s previous recordings, SIMPLE SYRUP (2021) and WITH THE SUN (2018), marked the emergence of an artist with unlimited potential, ANARCHIST GOSPEL with the support of New West, is most likely to raise her profile immeasurably. Let’s hope that is the case, as it’s fully merited on the strength of this marvellous project.

Review by Declan Culliton

Mark Erelli Lay Your Darkness Down Soundly

“My impending blindness opened my eyes, and I was able to write from that new viewpoint,” explains Mark Erelli on the motivation behind the ten songs on his latest recording LAY YOUR DARKNESS DOWN.

Erelli was diagnosed with the degenerative eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. Notwithstanding the possibility that the condition could lead to a total loss of sight, he tackled his condition head-on, using his predicament as ammunition for his eighteenth studio album.

Ironically, Erelli’s last recording was titled BLINDSIDED and was released prior to his diagnosis in the spring of 2020. An exceptionally talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist - he was part of Josh Ritter’s touring band in 2009 - Erelli can also boast production duties on Lori McKenna’s 2013 album MASSACHUSETTS.    

Somewhat surprisingly, given the author’s frame of mind at the time of writing, the album’s subject matter is one of hope, appreciation and love. In particular, the opening track Break In The Clouds and the closer Love Wins In The Long Run, are both buoyant, free-flowing and strong opening and closing statements.

Self-produced and recorded at his home, Erelli played the majority of the instruments that feature.  Lending a hand was Dave Brophy on drums and Zachariah Hickman on bass, Mellotron and Omnichord. Anthony Da Costa plays electric guitar on Fuel For The Fire and Lori McKenna adds vocals on the thoughtful ballad and co-write with Erelli, Lay Your Darkness Down. The slow-paced soulful ballad The Man I Am pays homage to Erelli’s wife Polly and Is It Enough follows a similar inspiration by advancing that when everything else is falling apart, human love is the redeeming factor. That power of human attraction is also reinforced on You. A raw and powerful ballad, beautifully articulated and enhanced by hazy and almost primitive guitar work, it’s up there with the finest that Erelli has penned and is the album’s standout track. Having said that, there isn’t a weak track on the album and the Dylan-esque Sense Of Wonder, and the aforementioned opening and closing tracks, are outstanding.

There has been an indisputable consistency in Mark Erelli’s albums over the years and he certainly maintains that quality on LAY YOUR DARKNESS DOWN. Equal parts rootsy Americana and old-school rock, it’s a record loaded with raw emotion and steadfast truthfulness. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Diane Patterson Satchel Of Songs Self Release

Based in Oregon, this talented artist has released seven albums in a career that started with her debut back in 1991. She is described as a folk goddess and her music falls into the realm of mystic acoustic americana. It is quietly pointed towards roots music for the soul and is filled with tunes that celebrate nature, the healing powers of the earth, the ancient ways, lives devoted to simple crafts and a sense of belonging within a community.

The ten tracks are all very enjoyable and are delivered by an impressive cast of supporting musicians who recorded their parts either remotely or who joined producer Mike Napolitano ((Ani DiFranco, Squirrel Nut Zippers) to record in New Orleans.  Two songs were produced separately by Pedro Vadhar and Roman Morykit, and the overall feel and groove to the album is very organic and rhythmic. From the reggae infused beat of Roots Heart Rhythm to the anti-war sentiment of Steady the Hand, these are songs that both move and reflect upon the ways in which we poison the earth as a race.   

The title track addresses the abuse of native indigenous people and their traditions. This theme is also what lies within songs like One Part Corn (the healing hands of the medicine woman), Cookfire (the beauty found in simple acts and deeds), Where Are We (a poem by Coleman Barks, inspired by the ancient poet, Rumi).

Elsewhere, the plight of Indian tribes and the buffalo are highlighted on Turn Toward the Sun charting the history behind the Lakota treaty in North Dakota that impacted local water supply in the greed and rush for oil. However, the land always endures and the old ways are sustained by those who pass down the knowledge through the generations. Somewhere There’s A Song Still Singing speaks to these matters and the perpetual return to nature. The album is from the heart and delivered in impressive style.

Review by Paul McGee

Paul Gurney Blue Horizon Tailgator

This is the second solo album from New Zealand based musician and music tutor, Paul Gurney. He is a member of The DeSotos and is joined by two of his band members on this new project. Producer Bob Shepheard contributes on bass, electric guitar, piano and keyboards. He brings a light touch to the proceedings and the song arrangements are very well structured. Gurney plays acoustic guitar, electric guitars, mandolin and sings in a confident style across all eleven songs gathered here.

Stuart McIntyre plays bass on six songs while Michael Burrows (drums), Ron Stevens (Hammond organ), Richard Adams (violin), Craig Denham (piano accordion) and Neil Watson (pedal and lap steel) all contribute to the easy melodies and the atmosphere of the album. Fragile and Blue Horizon have superb pedal steel atmospherics to colour the tunes and the laid back feel continues on Meaning which has a nice flow and timbre. The slow blues of Misunderstood also has some nice touches on pedal steel while the brooding menace of Ricochet looks to the damage we have done as a race to our mother earth.

Perfect Space has an up-tempo groove and some fine interplay and the attraction of the album is perfectly mirrored in the superb Trouble, a highlight, with dynamic guitar riffs.  Belong is a straight up tribute to the enduring Roy Orbison, both in vocal delivery and song dynamics, a country waltz through time. The final track Windows could have been on any number of albums produced in the 1970s out of California, with that sunny laid back sound of the era. The album closes with the sound of the Windows choir adding a soulful dynamic to the song.  A very enjoyable album and one that bears repeated listening.

Review by Paul McGee

Suzie Vinnick Fall Back Home Self Release

Saskatoon native Suzie Vinnick has pulled out all the stops on this new album. It’s lucky seventh for her and employing the production talent of Danny Greenspoon was a very wise move. He had worked with Vinnick before on a few of her earlier releases and this time around he captured the essence of her sound, a perfect blend of blues and roots music. The songs are very strong and there is a hint of Bonnie Raitt in the air when she lifts her vocal performance on tracks like Raino and Secret.

The jazz infused blues of The Pie That My Baby Makes channels Rickie Lee Jones and the upright bass of Ross Boswell gives the vocals a nice bedrock from which to soar. Steve Dawson pops up on pedal steel on a couple of tracks and the various guitar sounds are brilliantly delivered by a combination of top players across the eleven songs, with Colin Linden( two tracks) and Kevin Breit (five tracks) taking the spotlight.

Other songs are tinged with a country blues, and It Doesn’t Feel Like Spring Anymore and Big Train (From Memphis) stand out with some excellent guitar courtesy of Paul Pigat on the latter. The album is full of interesting twists and turns and is certainly a welcome addition to the growing reputation of this very talented musician.

Review by Paul McGee

Courtney Hale Revia Growing Pains Self Release

This is the third release from a Texan artist who has described her lifestyle as consisting of being a mother, teacher, wife, daughter and a music promoter. The title track refers to the journey that Revia has been on since she lost her father to Covid in 2021. The songs reflect the different moods that have pulled and tugged at the process of grieving and the final track is a tribute to her father, James T Hale, with a live version of his song Bloom Where You Are.

Revia has been hosting live concerts since 2018 at her listening room known as, 7 Oaks Event Garden in Beaumont, Texas. The core players on the album are Walter Cross (drums on nine songs), Zachary Edd (bass), Cody Eldridge (lead guitar), Southpaw Smitty (mandolin on eight songs), and Ellen Melissa Story (violin on nine songs). Revia provides rhythm guitar across all twelve tracks and sings with real confidence and style. Her vocal range is impressive and she handles all the different demands of production and writing with ease.

Blood and Water has a sassy  style that delivers with a fine chorus and the contrast with simpler ballads like Who Are You shows the different aspects of Revia and her ability to deliver with real conviction. Other songs such as Lavender Cowgirl, They’ve Poisoned the Well and One Way Out are quite superb in the interplay between the musicians, with the violin of Story a real highlight throughout.

There is a great bluegrass feel to Coffee Beans (The Logon Café Song) with violin, mandolin and guitar swapping phrases across the melody lines. The title track is a standout with words like ‘rain drops fall upon these walls that I built around my soul,’ suggesting the need for healing and new beginnings. This is a really fine album and it certainly would not have been out of place in my best releases listing for the year just passed.

Review by Paul McGee

Tim Hill Giant Innovative Leisure

Kicking off with the bluegrass sound of The Clock’s Never Wrong, more than lays down a marker for an album that is brimming with personality. Tim Hill is also a touring member of Allah-Las, the Los Angeles band. However, there are many different influences at play on this album including French Sweet No. 3 in B Minor - J.S. Bach. There are also two bonus tracks on the digital release that are not on the physical version of the album, including a cover of the Townes Van Zandt classic, No Place To Fall.

The harmonica and pedal steel lines on Calico channel that classic Neil Young sound and indeed Hill namechecks the Canadian legend as one of his main influences. The album takes its name from the James Dean movie (a cult classic) and Hill also cites Paris Texas and Harry Dean Stanton as another jumping off point.

In 2019 Tim Hill released a debut album that was recorded on his four-track recorder at home. This follow up has a much more professional approach with Hill using a Long Beach studio where he played quite a range of instruments including piano, guitar, vibraphone, drums, bass and synthesizer. He is joined on the recording by a small group of players Corey Adams (banjo, harmonica, lead guitar), Philip Glenn (violin), Brady Henrie (pedal steel), George Madrid (pedal steel) and Ray Welch (lyrics).

Candlestick is another really excellent song and is followed by the equally impressive Good As Gone. Both tracks have a nice laid back groove with strummed guitars and reflective vocals. The beautiful piano and pedal steel on The Irish Sea is another highlight and the fact that Hill has been living the life of a rancher for the past two years in Silverado has clearly influenced his sense of space and time – both of which are woven through the melodies of these songs like a fine silk thread.

Review by Paul McGee

Tip Jar Songs About Love and Life On the Hippie Side Of Country Shine A Light

This album appeared last year as a follow up to the previous 20201 release, One Lifetime, which was a fine example of the high quality output of this Dutch duo. Bart de Win and his wife Arianne Knegt formed Tip Jar back in 2013 and the music they create spans different musical genres. At the centre of the writing is the close harmony of Bart and Arianne and their focus on a solid sense of musicality, build over years of hard earned experience and inspiration.

The bright up-tempo sounds of early tracks, Never Saw It Coming and White Sands are balanced by the poignant folk sound of Creaking Of the Stairs and a look back at memories formed in younger years. The jazz tinged arrangement of Plough has a honky tonk element that is infectious and  highlights a great dual vocal from Bart and Arianne, plus some fine boogie woogie piano from Bart.

The same core band of musicians appear across these two recent releases with Harry Hendricks (guitars, banjo, ukelele), Bill Small (bass), Eric van de Lest (drums), Joost van Es (violin), Tonnie Ector (double bass), and Walt Watkins (guitar, vocals) all turning in quality performances.

The blues swing of Wondering Why is balanced against the simple melodic ruminations of Colours. Equally, on Strong Enough, Arianne delivers a subtly wistful performance in looking back at past relationships. The creative flow of the arrangements certainly draws upon a wide palette of different hues and tints. Big Family sums everything up with the message that we are all in this together and we need to rely upon each other in the sense of being inspired by music and the creative arts. Another worthy release and worth your time investing in the creative vision of Tip Jar.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Wylie & The Wild West Bunchgrass Hi-Line

I have to thank Wylie Gustafson for not only bringing some great sounding country music to the world since his debut release in 1992, but also for being the first spectacle wearing artist in the genre that I had encountered on, the then European version, of CMT. Having the same visual enhancement, it induced a kinship that, alongside his authenticity and steadfast adherence to traditional country music, made him a continuing touchstone.

His latest release, his 25th by my count, shows that he has lost none of his passion nor pride in his music and lifestyle. He is a rancher working in Montana, as well as playing and producing his original and well chosen cover material that is at home on the open plains as much as it would be in a dark honky tonk. As is his normal process Gustafson recorded the album in Nashville with a crack team of musicians who would, by nature, be totally sympathetic to the direction his production took them. These players are note and placement perfect in terms of not grandstanding or over playing their individual parts. They instinctively know what best suits the arrangements.

With names like Denis Crouch, Billy Contreras, Mark Thornton, Mark Meyer, Matty Meyer and Chris Scruggs along side Wylie himself, you would expect no less. Gustafson delivers some self-penned originals that mix his sense of purpose with an element of fun. The songs are headed by Straight Up Country Music, one which emphasises his own preference, as does his affiliation with his lifestyle in the wry smile of Girlfriend Is A Barrel Racer.  Then there’s Don’t Say Whoa, Water Of Jordan, Flying, Birch Creek, his arrangement of the traditional Cowboy Soliloquy and his usual foray into the territory of the yodel with Hiline Waltz.

The covers offer an equally diverse set of songs,  like Gordon Lightfoot’s Ribbon Of Darkness which opens the album and shows off his distinctive and appealing vocal ability, as well as the strength of the song itself. The same could be applied to his choices of Heather Myles’ Rum And Rodeo, the John Hartford penned In Tall Buildings, Butch Hancock’s Dry Farm Land,  the song Young And Beautiful (a song perhaps best known to some by its version from Elvis) and a heartfelt rendition of At My Window from Townes Van Zandt.

All of these selections show not only a wide ranging taste in music, but also a lyrical content that is in harmony with his own thoughts and actions. Wylie, you get the impression, records this material for his own satisfaction as much as that of his many fans. It would appear there is a steady appreciation of music that is rooted in Western themes, as evidenced by the success of artists like Colter Wall and Charlie Crockett and others. The recent loss of such iconic trail blazers as Don Edwards and Ian Tyson makes the continuation of the music of Wylie Gustafson even more important. 

In the final round-up though, this is an exceptional album that has the ability to appeal on many levels and should not be overlooked or under-rated. As Wylie has written, this is straight up country music with the added touch of Western that deserves a wider audience and this writer, for one, looks forward to his next outing with as much anticipation as he does looking back on his previous work, that is a pure example of what country music is, was and should be.

Review by Stephen Rapid

The Miners Megunticook Match-up Zone

This album was one of those that got overlooked during a hectic year of reviews. It was actually released in 2021 but arrived for review last year. They are a band fronted by Keith Marlowe, who is the band’s songwriter and lead vocalist, while also playing guitars (acoustic, electric and pedal steel). He also handled the album’s production duties. He is accompanied in The Miners by Brian Herden on pedal steel, dobro, b-bender, upright bass and slide, as well as Gregg Hiestand on bass and Vaughn Shnkus on drums. Other guests include Bon Lowery on harmonica and backing vocals, Bobby Baxmeyer on mandolin, banjo and fiddle and Joe Kille, who also adds fiddle.

The assembled band play an alt-country blend that is both easy on the ear and accomplished. They cite Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown as key inspirations, alongside icons like Gram Parsons and Merle Haggard.  There are ten tracks featured, which start with the loved and lost sound of Without You and finishes with the more politicized observation of life today, for some, with Cardboard Sign. Between those points, they cover some different topics such as departing in this case.

Leaving For Ohio. Call Me Up reflects on the difficult questions that relationships can offer up, often without resolving them. The fact that it is always an option is where Apologize delivers its message. The Day The Drummer Died is a sad tale of that event and its aftermath. All of this material is based in some real life observation, which was given depth by the musical structures that use the instrumentation well. The overall feel is that of a band who knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with this record , which has solid arrangements, vocal harmonies and integrated playing that sit comfortably with the lead and harmony vocals.

The band released a previous EP some years back and it has taken time for this second release to see the light of day. They are based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they recorded this album. They, doubtless, hold a torch for alt-country in that area, but are worthy of a wider consideration and enjoyment.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Ted Silar Last Rose Self Release

This seven track EP is a new release from a musician with a long history of playing different genres of music including rock ’n’ roll, blues, jazz, and he even mentions singing Bach in Saxony - so, a man of eclectic tastes. Here he turns back to a love of traditional country, especially that emanating from California and the likes of Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam. This album was recorded in a number of studios around the States at different times, as witnessed by the names of the various sidemen he features including Byron Berline (fiddle), Dan Dugmore (pedal steel), Jason Carter (fiddle) and Kristin Scott-Benson (banjo). Silar wrote the songs, played bass and drums and added the guitars as well as lead vocals.

However although there are 7 tracks featured, three are remixes - the songs are Why Do We Have To Dream, That One Last Rose, I’m Gonna Haul Off And Love You, Elana and She’s The One. The first three are the ones repeated in what seems a different emphasis on the instruments rather than a radical remix. While Silar, here, doesn’t have a particularly distinctive vocal style you can tell he is enjoying the process and the contributions of the noted players he had join him; even though they were added remotely to the initial tracks. 

There is a solid melodic structure to the songs themselves that delivers a pleasant listen and  deserves repeated listens, even if the above mentioned trio are doing just that. The contributions of the fiddle and steel are both thoroughly enjoyable and lift the songs to a new level that makes you wonder if a full album of such originals would have been worth pursuing. Given that the likes of Berline is, unfortunately, no longer with us, newer contributors like Carter can fill that gap.

So hopefully Silar might choose country as his chosen musical path on another occasion and get the opportunity to record with a band in the studio to create something new. For now we can settle for this latest release from a musician who follows his own muse rather than any particular trends.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Kassi Valazza Highway Sounds Fluff & Gravy

A recent signing to Loose Music in the UK., Arizona-born artist Kassi Valazza’s four- track EP HIGHWAY SOUNDS from 2022 is as good a place as any for an introduction to her music world. Inspired by the wide-open spaces of the southwestern state of Arizona where she spent her childhood, Valazza’s beautifully delivered dark lyrics, and the instrumentation that accompanies them, justly reflect that spacious environment.

HIGHWAY SOUNDS comes after her 2019 album, DEAR DEAD DAYS, and continues on her versatile musical alt-country template. The gentle opening track Little Flowers has its origins in early 70s country folk, and the EP’s highlight, Little Dove, lands between the psychedelic country of Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter and the desert noir of Calexico. Loaded with dreamy reverb and all manner of desert- inspired sounds, it is border flavoured country of the highest order. The dark country ballad Crying could have been plucked from the Jimmy Webb songbook, and Pastures continues that menacing theme of sunken and unfulfilled dreams.

HIGHWAY SOUNDS offers a gateway to the brooding Americana universe of Kassi Valazza. Equally, it reveals her versatility across the four tracks. Initially drawn in by her crystal clear and disciplined vocals, the haunting musical sketches behind those lyrics are soon revealed. A stylistic and impressive venture on all fronts, it’s more than likely going to direct the listener back to Valazza’s debut album, it certainly did that to me.

Kassi Valazza will be performing shows at Kilkenny Roots Festival during the May Bank Holiday weekend this year. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Vanessa Bourne Give Me A Break Black Ribbon Records

An album that nearly passed me by in 2022, GIVE ME A BREAK is the second recording from Vanessa Bourne, following on from her debut album YOUNG AT HEART in 2020.

Born in India but living in Australia for four decades, country music played a major part in Bourne’s youth. Traditional country music was very much the order of the day in her household from an early age and despite being the possessor of a vintage country voice, her recording career only kicked off with that debut album in 2020.  Having sent Nashville-based singer songwriter and producer Curt Ryle (George Jones, Billy Ray Cyrus, Gene Watson) a number of her songs, she headed to Nashville, on his recommendation, to record YOUNG AT HEART, with him at the controls, in February 2020. Buoyed by that recording experience, Bourne’s world soon came crashing to the ground due to the Covid restrictions applied in Australia, which resulted in her having to spend eighteen months with her parents in India before being allowed back to Australia. Despite the setback, that album struck a chord with lovers of twin fiddles and pedal steel-driven traditional country music and won her The Will Rogers Award for ‘Pure Country Female Artist of the Year’ (Academy of Western Artists). It also got her signed to Black Ribbon Records LLC, in Nashville.

Packed with ‘leavin’, lovin’ and drinkin’ songs, Bourne wore her heart on her sleeve on that record, recalling the classic Music Row sound of the 60s. A similar template is repeated on GIVE ME A BREAK, although it moves from Nashville to Texas across many of the ten tracks that feature, a number of which are co-written with Curt Ryle.  She opens with My Three Queens, namechecking Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline, before professing her love of Texas on In My Next Life, the latter entering western swing territory. All Tied Up In You continues with that Lone Star State ambience and the title track mourns the lack of genuine country music on the radio in Australia - a sentiment that equally applies to both America and Europe. Lord I Hope, complete with impressively layered vocals, is an unhurried ballad and The Simple Things In Life, the album’s standout track for me, has Loretta Lynn’s stamp all over it. Also included is a duet with Ryle, the smouldering love tune, We’re Back In Love Again.

Bourne’s beautifully punctuated vocals - I’m reminded of Laura Cantrell’s singing on a number of the tracks - coupled with arrangements and production that more than complement those vocals, point to an artist steeped in old-school country and doing exactly what she pleases.  

Review by Declan Culliton

Macie Stewart Mouth Full of Glass Full Time Hobby

Multi-instrumentalist, singer songwriter and composer Macie Stewart’s album, MOUTH FULL OF GLASS, is her debut solo record, having previously recorded three albums with the band OHMME. Stewart has also accompanied The Weather Station on tour, playing violin, guitar, piano and adding backing vocals.

The album combines Stewart’s background of performing folk, indie, jazz and classical music and was, in the main, written and recorded during the pandemic. Alongside the enforced isolation of that time, Stewart was also coming to terms with a family bereavement and a relationship breakdown, and, not surprisingly, the album confronts the loneliness and soul-searching of that period.

The Chicago-based artist recorded the majority of the instrumentation at her home, with additional parts added later by a host of Chicago eminent players including VV Lightbody (flute), Lia Kohl (strings) and Sen Morimoto (saxophone).

Confronting their plight, Stewart asks ‘I didn’t know myself, when will I know myself?’ on What Will I Do and that dilemma of isolation and solitariness also raises its head on the dreamlike title track, ‘I've got a mouthful of glass and no one to ask, I've got a mouthful of glass and no one to tell about it.’ In addition to the striking and often complex instrumentation, the vocal prowess of Stewart is to the fore on Tone Pome and the stand-out track,Garter Snake.

An album that traverses from the mellow to frenetic, no doubt reflecting the composer’s state of mind at the time of recording, MOUTH FULL OF GLASS  bemoans a world of ongoing personal challenges. Gently seductive, it’s also an album that takes shape at a slow pace and requires multiple listens to appreciate it fully. File alongside the chamber folk of The Weather Station and Aoife Nessa Frances. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Mallory Johnson Surprise Party Self-Release

Like many of her peers, Mallory Johnson left the comforts of small-town living to follow her musical dream in Nashville. Relocating from Newfoundland, Canada, to Music City five years ago, she follows on from her self-titled EP in 2019 with SURPRISE PARTY, the debut full-length recording from the East Coast Music award winner. Johnson was also recently nominated for the Country Music Program/Special of the Year at the 2022 Canadian Country Music Awards for WISE WOMAN – THE SHOW, a radio special for SiriusXM Country, which featured Canadian female artists residing in Nashville.

Initially intended as a six-track mini album, SURPRISE PARTY features eleven songs, landing in the more mainstream and contemporary end of country. Produced by Kent Wells (Dolly Parton, Carly Pearce), Johnson collaborated with fellow Canadians and like-minded artists Tenille Arts, Kelly Prescott and Jason Blaine to name a few. Lost love and alcohol feature on quite a number of the songs, some of which contain light-hearted and humorous lyrics and others have deeper and more meaningful messages. The break-up song Hungover, with a nod in the direction of Brandy Clark, is particularly easy on the ear and her Billboard charting single Married is as cleverly written as it is expressed. Party Dress, with a driving rhythm section, is a full-on rocker laced with cut throat energy. 

She takes her foot off the gas and places her splendid vocals out in front on a number of tracks. Both the title track and the semi-acoustic ballad Drunk Mind, Sober Heart work particularly well in this regard. Wise Woman (The Worktape) is stripped back with only vocals and acoustic guitar, and the mid-tempo Where The Good Times Are is further evidence of an artist that’s equally comfortable delivering folk ballads as she is belting out more raucous numbers.

Currently an independent artist, Johnson’s steady rise since moving to Nashville is most likely to increase in pace with this album of well-constructed and radio-friendly songs.  Don’t be surprised if she appears on the C2C roster touring Ireland and the U.K. in the coming years.

Review by Declan Culliton

JD Clayton Long Way From Home Self-Release

Citing The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Creedence Clearwater Revival as his main influences isn’t a bad starting point if your ambition is to succeed as a singer songwriter. Those three acts, in particular, were the benchmark for Arkansas-born artist JD Clayton’s first full-length album, LONG WAY FROM HOME, which follows on from his debut recording and five-track EP, SMOKE OUT THE FIRE, from 2018.

Despite the album’s title, Clayton currently resides in Nashville, where he moved to further his artistic career. Like many of his peers, the restrictions due to Covid in March 2020 hit him hard, resulting in the coffee shop where he worked closing down and leading to alternative employment with a landscape contractor and hours on the road travelling from job to job. Clayton used this time to crank up the headphones, listen to a lot of vintage roots music and formulate his own songs for this album.

Teaming up with producer Thomas Dulin, who also worked on Clayton’s debut EP, they recorded the ten tracks for this album at Dulin’s home studio in the Nashville suburb, Berry Hill. There’s a great deal of warmth in the lyrics, suggesting a contented and clear-thinking mind. The gentle rolling Beauty Queen and the jauntier Goldmine, which immediately follows, read like odes to his loved one and Clayton recalls the simple times growing up in small town America with Different Time Of Simple Life. Expressed like a letter written to his parents back home, that feeling of dislocation is also repeated on the title track. The opener Hello, Good Mornin’ is a stripped back acoustic intro featuring little more than Clayton’s vocal, acoustic guitar, and the sound of birds singing in the background.

‘I'm workin' my way to be one of the greats,’ announces Clayton on American Millionaire. Given the crowded playing field of singer songwriters, this assertion could either be tongue-in-cheek or profound. However, LONG WAY HOME is a pointer toward an artist with the prowess to write lyrics that fit like a glove on songs that appear to be written from the heart. The end result is a collection of songs that are both soothing on the senses and extremely listenable.

Review by Declan Culliton

Myron Elkins Factories, Farms & Amphetamines Low Country Sound / Electra

An old head on young shoulders, FACTORIES, FARMS & AMPHETAMINES, from the 22-year-old Otsego, Michigan (pop. 3980), singer songwriter Myron Elkins sounds like the output of a veteran rather than the debut album from an emerging artist. Having spent three years working as a welder after high school, this ten-track album is likely to find Elkins setting aside his welding equipment and plasma cutters permanently and replacing them with a touring van and all the accessories. He has already cut his teeth on the road supporting acts such as ZZ Top, Lucero and Blackberry Smoke and showcased the material from this album at 3Rd & Lindsley in Nashville a few months ago.

The recording took place at RCA Studio A in Nashville, with Grammy Award-winning Dave Cobb at the controls. With a weather-beaten voice that defies his young age and a sound that very much mirrors the country/rock style of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elkins’ move from small town West Michigan to Nashville resulted in – to quote Elkin – ‘stumbling into the right places and shaking the right hands.’ Whether fortuitous or not, the quality shines brightly on a record packed with songs that instantly connect with the listener. There’s a predominantly ‘live’ feel to the material, no doubt precisely what Cobb was attempting to achieve with the recording.

From the bluesy opener Sugartooth, with its bouncy bassline, to the break-up closer Good Time Girl, Elkins and his posse maintain a consistent ambience throughout, seldom taking their foot off the gas. Pick of the bunch is the hook-laden title track and the defiant Nashville Money, the latter’s driving rhythm recalling ZZ Top. The soulful Hands to Myself and Ball and Chain also impress, giving the impression of high-spirited young men inviting you into their musical world.

All in all, an impressive introduction to an artist and band that display the capacity to put a modern slant on their grasp of country and southern rock. Well worth your investigation.

Review by Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Charlie Treat  into the Wild Mystic Mountain Self Release

New Englander Charlie Treat has moved in a rootsy bluegrass direction for his second album, and he credits much of that to the inspiration that came from spending a year in the company of Americana’s darling, the talented and eclectic Sierra Ferrell. Ferrell and Treat met around the time Ferrell had just broken though career-wise and the two spent much of the following year together  in Nashville and touring with her band across the US.

Treat decided to go into the studio and record his album in only four days, inspired by the recording style of his musical heroes like Woody Guthrie, Hank and Bill Monroe. In fact, he admits that most of the tracks were recorded on the first or second take, without even any prior rehearsals with the musicians. It’s a testament to those players that the result is a tour de force of exuberance and faultless musicianship. Producer Geoff Saunders (bass with Sierra Hull) gathered together a bunch of first class young players who are becoming prominent in the bluegrass and old time scenes, including Frank Evans on banjo (Slocan Ramblers), Oliver Bates Craven on mandolin (Stray Birds), and fiddle players Nate Leath (Sierra Ferrell) and Julian Pinelli (Ben Sollee).

Kicking off with the stand out barnstormer Motor Motor, Treat sings lead on all twelve self penned story-telling songs, and plays rhythm guitar, with backing vocals contributed by all of the band.

Swimming in November is autobiographical, recounting a memorable wild night spent with Sierra Ferrell, when he took her on a motor bike ride to a watering hole, ‘she’s singin’ The Magical Mystery Tour/through her helmet into my ear’. Treat says that it epitomises much about their relationship and the early heady days of a love affair. Mama Hen, contrary to what one might assume, was not actually inspired by Ferrell, but by a wild woman that Treat knew in a previous life, who was ‘a dirt biker, amateur lawyer, funk drummer’ and clearly was not to be messed with. The beautiful slow burner Bluer Than Bluegrass was also inspired by his muse, Ferrell, the line ‘you got me singin’ with the canary in the coal mine’ a reference to her West Virginia origins. She also was the catalyst for the jaunty swing-heavy Creekwater Blues and the closer Sing Child, Sing, which tells the story of how her mother encouraged her to leave home and follow her musical heart.

There’s lots more to enjoy on this sparkling recording, which consistently reminds me of Old Crow Medicine Show with its joyous looseness.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the creative Treat comes up with next - it could well be something completely different. In the meantime, seek out and enjoy this enchanting album.

Review by Eilís Boland

Whitehorse I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying Six Shooter

The notion to release a classic country album came about by chance for husband-and-wife team, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. With time on his hands during lockdown and with his wife and son tucked up in bed, Doucet turned to country music by way of passing the late-night hours. Having written and recorded two albums the previous year, MODERN LOVE and STRIKE ME DOWN, he started to pen numerous country tunes and send them to his wife’s phone for her approval. Impressed by what she was hearing and the creative spirit that was driving the songs, McClelland rose to the challenge and started to write similarly themed songs. McClelland’s crystal-clear vocals could not be better suited to singing country and Doucet’s trademark twangy guitar style, drawn from his love of the country licks played by Albert Lee, James Burton and Pete Anderson, are the perfect companion to his wife’s silky voice.

Entering the studio during an easing in lockdown, they recorded the twelve tracks for this album off the floor, reinvigorated by the opportunity to actually perform with other players once more. Country ballads Leave Me As You Found Me and If The Loneliness Don’t Kill Me sit comfortably alongside the western swing of Sanity Tennessee. Lock It Down and On The Road, both have more than a tad of Tammy Wynette about them. It’s not all 60s and 70s influenced either, Bet The Farm mirrors the country blues sound of Margo Price’s debut album and I Might Get Over This But I Won’t Stop Loving You – with Doucet taking the lead vocal – and 6 Feet Away, are both very much ‘lockdown’ songs reflecting couple’s mindset during the period when they were written.

It should not really come as a surprise that Whitehorse has gone ‘full on’ country with this album. Their debut self-titled album in 2011 had country flavours about it and their two cover singles, Summer Wine and We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes in the Morning from 2022, signalled the direction of I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying. It’s a genre ideally suited Whitehorse’s core talents, and they have spoken about a possible full album of classic covers in the near future. Alongside the quality of the vocals and the instrumentation on offer, what is also significantly impressive about this album is the quality of the song writing. Conceived at a most uncertain and worrisome time, and very much a team effort, these are genuine country songs. Of course, many are awash with heartbreak, but the main focus is one of true love and devotion. 

It may only be the first month of 2023, but this Whitehorse honky tonker, their finest recording to date for me, is unlikely to be far from my CD player during the rest of the year.

Review by Declan Culliton

Adeem The Artist White Trash Revelry Four Quarter

Times are changing at an accelerated pace in country music in recent years for artists that would have found it practically impossible to establish themselves in previous decades. Whereas in previous times the formula for a gateway into country was predominantly threefold – male, white and straight – that model is slowly but surely evolving. Increasingly more black artists – men and women – are entering country music territory, though often with a sound closer to Memphis than Music City. Cheryl Wright’s sales may have fallen by fifty percent when she came out in 2010, but fellow LBGT performers such as Mary Gauthier, Brandy Clark, Brandi Carlisle and Amy Ray, have gone from strength to strength in more recent times, an acknowledgement that the tide has turned.

Less acclaimed, for the time being anyway, Bobby Dove, Orville Peck, Mariel Buckley, Willi Carlisle, Melissa Carper and Adeem The Artist, to name but a few, are among the latest generation of ‘queer’ artists emerging into the mainstream of country music. WHITE TRASH REVELRY was produced by Adeem The Artist’s manager Kyle Crownover - he’s also Tyler Childers’ tour manager - and the album’s eloquent lyrical style, containing both anger and warm humour, visits the writer’s fears and frustrations, both personal, social and political. In musical content, it’s a patchwork of front porch, folk ballads, southern rock, and rock ‘n’ roll, which in today’s terms plants it firmly in the Americana pigeon hole. 

Similar to the solo recordings of Amy Ray, tales of Adeem The Artist’s upbringing in the rural small town of Locust, North Carolina dominate, some of which are memorable and others less celebrated. Painkillers and Magic, Baptized in Well Spirits and Going to Hell, are cases in point, powerful songs that depict childhood flashbacks (‘When I ached in the closet alone on my knees. Hallelujah, I would plead for God's mercy to wash over me’) and entrenched racism (‘Well, I met the devil at the crossroads and I asked if we could make a deal….and he said, it's true I met Robert Johnson, he showed me how the blues could work, but white men would rather give the devil praise than acknowledge a black man’s worth’). Also addressed are the duality and contradictions close to home (‘Between my whiskey jar and the heart of God, there's a simple understanding, I’ll be drinking when I'm happy and praying when I'm sad’).

Straying away from North Carolina, For Judas is a heartfelt same-sex love song based in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, before returning closer to home with the hilarious Redneck, Unread Hicks (‘There's a trans femme trans am mandolin riff, a firebird, registered socialist. But she'll still out drink you on a Tennessee Saturday night from an old fruit jar. Yeah, these rednecks and unread hicks organizing in the trailer park’). Having given the listener a tour of their homestead and its social landscape, the final track, My America, is a wistful acoustic offering, closing the album in style.   

CAST-IRON PANSEXUAL, from 2021, found Adeem touching on a difficult childhood and upbringing. WHITE TRASH REVELRY is much more than an extension of that album and goes multiple steps forward with a graceful, disciplined, and brutally frank stockpile of modern country songs. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Aoife Nessa Frances Protector Partisan

In a bizarre manner, the enforced lockdown and isolation brought about by Covid may prove to be a defining catalyst in the career of Aoife McCarthy, better known professionally as Aoife Nessa Frances. Relocating to County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, and abandoning her suburban lifestyle in Dublin, was to become a reawakening for McCarthy and the springboard for her second full album PROTECTOR. Her migration came about by way of an invitation from her father to join him at his home in Clare, to where he had moved following his divorce, and to help to look after her eleven-year-old sister. Coming at a low and anxious time for McCarthy, it amounted to a life changing set of circumstances and the stimulus for her latest eight-track record.

January 2020 saw the release of LAND OF NO JUNCTION, the debut album from the Dublin singer songwriter. It attracted stellar reviews in the popular music press, resulting in festival invitations and tours to support its release. The onset of Covid put those plans on hold, which in hindsight was a blessing in disguise, McCarthy subsequently acknowledged that she was ill prepared mentally for that journey. In Clare, with the support of family around her, walking around the fields, swimming in both the Atlantic and a local lake, and driving around the countryside listening on repeat to Jim Sullivan’s lost country-folk LP UFO, calmness returned. With her mojo rebooted, each morning was subsequently spent in a cedar shed on her father’s property, writing the material for this album.

Studio time was booked in a cottage studio near Inch in Kerry during September 2020, where Aoife was joined by producer and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Jenkinson and drummer Brendan Doherty. The final pieces of the jigsaw were subsequently added with the addition of harp by Meabh McKenna, strings by Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh and, finally, horn sections by Conor O’Brien of Villagers. Layer by layer the songs developed, with McCarthy’s striking vocals floating above the orchestration and with eloquent lyrics that embodied inner thoughts being forensically examined. Yes, there is grief aplenty but the lasting impressions the listener is left with are of regeneration and redemption.

Best listened to in one sitting, the eight tracks roll into one another in a dreamlike fashion. The album’s underlying theme of prevailing and moving forward figure in both the opener Way To Say Goodbye and closing track Day Out of Time.  The final track to be recorded, and arguably the album’s finest, was Chariot. The title reflected McCarthy’s interest and education in tarot reading while in Clare, the chariot tarot card is a representation of determination and willpower, mirroring the writer’s renewed state of mind. If the hauntingly lonesome Emptiness Follows captures the writer’s blurred mood to perfection, This Still Life suggests a turning point or defining moment, the shoots of a new personality emerging.

Inhabiting the music orbit occupied by artists such as Tamara Lindeman (The Weather Station), Aldous Harding, and Weyes Blood, PROTECTOR is simply a masterclass in psychedelic chamber folk by a maturing artist with endless talent.

Review by Declan Culliton

H.C. McEntire Every Acre Merge

In a similar vein to LIONHEART (2018) and ENO AXIS (2020), the sights and sounds of H.C. McEntire’s beloved North Carolina feature repeatedly in her latest project, EVERY ACRE. Having recently moved from her home along the Eno River in Durham, the third solo recording from former Bellafea and Mount Moriah singer songwriter appears to be a narration on the decade she spent there. An unflinchingly forthright writer, McEntire continues to seek positives in her scripts, always soul-searching and seeking silver linings in an often burden-filled world of challenge and rejection.

Very much a team effort, McEntire engaged the production team of Missy Thang and Luke Norton, both of whom also co-produced ENO AXIS with her. Multi-instrumentalist Norton also played guitar – brilliantly it has to be said – piano, pump organ and Wurlitzer, while Thang’s contribution included keys, Farfisa, Hammond organ and synthesizer. Casey Toll (bass) and Daniel Faust (drums), both regular players with McEntire in the past, also feature.  Others than joined her in the studio included like-minded artists S.G. Goodman and Amy Ray on backing vocals.

‘Walk your way into the river, is it fever or surrender?’ she sings on Shadows, a possible reference to her Bible Belt upbringing and the contradictions she faced as a gay woman attempting to exist in that environment. The album’s title was taken from the lyrics of Turpentine, a song that includes backing vocals from Indigo Girl Amy Ray, a continuation of their relationship which found McEntire covering Ray’s When You Come For Me on her debut album, LIONHEART. At six minutes in length, it’s a standout track, bursting into life mid-track with a stunning guitar break from Luke Norton. The hymn-like piano-led Dovetail, which follows, slows the pace down somewhat. A love ballad, in a similar vein to One Eye Open from ENO AXIS, it could be drawn from the author’s childhood Sunday School days. ‘It ain’t the easy kind of healing,’ McEntire sings on the imagery-invoking Rows Of Clover and she pronounces her love of the written word as well as her natural surroundings by name checking the poets Day, Ada, Laux, Berry and Olds on the opening track New View.

The jagged rocker Soft Crook finds the author struggling with her own demons, while the less muscular and dreamlike Wild for The King and album closer Gospel of a Certain Kind include simple arrangements that more than complement McEntire’s perfectly paced vocals.

It's little surprise that McEntire continues to work with similar masterly artists S.G. Goodman, Amy Ray and Angel Olsen. All four are writing and recording some of the stand-out modern alt-folk in recent times. McEntire most certainly maintains that lofty standard with EVERY ACRE, which combines poetry like lyrics, beautifully delivered vocals, and exquisite musicianship throughout.

Review by Declan Culliton

Dan Navarro Horizon Line Self Release

It’s been four years since the last release from Dan Navarro, an artist perhaps best known for his time spent as part of the duo, Lowen and Navarro. Back in the 1990s the duo had a fine run of albums and success until Lowen had to quit playing music, due to illness. He sadly passed on in 2012.

Ever since, Navarro has been active in various roles and is known as a voice actor in both film and tv work. His song writing is also recognised with many inclusions in various media channels and on this new album he writes all ten songs, with six co-writes highlighting his ability to work seamlessly with others.

Navarro called on the award winning producer Jim Scott to engineer, mix and produce the project. They worked together on a number of the Lowen-Navarro releases and it seems very appropriate that they join together again, post-Covid, to acknowledge their past history and to tip a hat in memory of Eric Lowen. The results are very engaging and impressive, with a clean sound and a quality to the production that never seems cluttered. Navarro has a rich vocal tone and he leads the project on various guitars, keyboards and percussion. He is joined by many fine players in the recording process at Plyrz studios, Santa Clarita, California.  Steve Postell, who produced the last album, plays a range of guitars, including a superb Spanish guitar solo on the final track, Sleep Tonight. Elsewhere we have the talents of Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams),who contributes on five songs, including some atmospheric pedal steel on the stand-out Oklahoma Skies.

There is also room for Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam) who plays guitar and keyboards on four songs and adds harmony vocals also. Jimmy Paxson (Lindsay Buckingham) plays drums on five tracks and Mai Leisz (David Crosby, Jackson Browne) plays bass on four songs. The list goes on with Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, on upright bass, Taras Prodaniuk & Michael Jerome (The Richard Thompson Trio) together as the tight rhythm on four of the tracks, and Phil Parlapiano (John Prine), on pianos and organ.

Peter Adams (piano, synth), Aubrey Richmond (violin, fiddle), Carlos Murguia (organ, harmony vocals), also feature, along with other contributors to the project – a veritable who’s-who of talent. Despite the various contributions across such a wide range of players, the overall sound is seamless, with producer Scott pulling out all his best skills to meld everything into a united whole. Songs like Come and Find Me and Tar Pit are very atmospheric and Circling the Drain highlights the plight that many fine themselves facing in these changing times. The title track perhaps sums it all up with the lines ‘The past is gone, but I’m still learning; gonna set my sights on the next horizon line.’ This album is a very fine addition to Navarro’s best work and comes highly recommended.

Review by Paul McGee

David Massey Darkness At Dawn Poetic Debris

A regular on the Washington DC music circuit, Massey has been playing music for many years. He released a debut album back in 2004 and in the following seventeen years has followed up with a further four releases. In 2017 he retired from his regular career as a lawyer and now devotes his time to creating music. He has a clean vocal style and also plays rhythm guitar here.

On this sixth release Massey has kept things short and turns in an impressive seven songs, just shy of twenty-five minutes. His regular band members, Jay Byrd (guitars, mandolin, vocals) and Jim Robeson (bass, vocals) are augmented by the talents of Casey O’Neill (pedal steel), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Bill Starks (organ, piano), Kristen Jones (cello) and Eric Selby (drums on four songs). Paul Goldstein guests on drums for one track also and these musicians really do justice to their inclusion on what is an impressive release.   

The title track channels the loss of hope at the current state of the planet where the dreams of living free are sadly eroded by our leaders and the reality of global warming. Nothing asks the big question about what lies beyond and expresses doubt in finding any real meaning. Some superb pedal steel sets the atmosphere on this song.

Players follows this theme and looks at the parts we all play in our lives as actors upon the stage of life. Massey even includes a segment from Shakespeare’s Macbeth on the album sleeve! We do indeed come and go, in our acquaintances and our relationships.

There are two angry tracks that point the finger at the Republican party and the tenure of Donald Trump in office. The band really come alive on these songs and the fiddle playing on Watch Your Back In Hell is matched by some excellent organ dynamics. Jay Byrd shows his class on guitar on Party Of Lies and captures the mood of the arrangement with some strident licks.

The final songs are more mellow with From God We Come expressing the view that we find it in the love for each other and that community is what matters, not division. Daddy’s Wedding Dance is a love song to a daughter as she moves on through life and the words of advice counsel towards love and kindness as the key elements. Some lovely cello playing here, added to by complimentary mandolin. A very fine album and one that will bring plenty of enjoyment to the listener.

Review by Paul McGee

The Burnt Pines Don’t Look Down Self Release

This band released their self-titled debut album in 2021, and buoyed on by the warm response, they now return with a second helping of their bright melodies and vocal harmonies. Using the same line-up of studio musicians is a fine idea and brings a cohesiveness to the overall project, even down to using the same two studios – one located in Brookline, Massachusetts, and the other in Lisbon, Portugal. These days the challenge of recording remotely has been long overcome and the different continents pose no barrier to this project. Perhaps we should call it ‘Globalcana’?

The main band is comprised of the trio Kris Skovmand (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica), Miguel Sá Pessoa (piano, keyboards) and Aaron Flanders (acoustic, electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, tambourine). They are joined by Fernando Huergo (electric bass), Luis Barros (drums, percussion), and guesting on specific tracks are Dan Fox (double bass), Joe Cunningham (tenor sax), and Erica Leigh (backing vocals). The eleven original songs all have an easy flow with pleasant melody lines and the sweetly sensitive vocals of Skovmand adding an extra lightness to the sound. Their cover of the Jethro Tull song, Skating Away (On the Thin Ice Of A New Day) is a strange inclusion on first impression but it actually fits into the feel of the album quite successfully  - perhaps pointing at the direction we are all facing into the future with so much uncertainty after the gradual relaxation of Covid restrictions across most of the world.

Ghost Living In My Beer is a reflective song that is laced with self-examination and perhaps refers to the fall-out from the divorce that Skovmand experienced recently. The sense of being under the spell of another is something that informs the song Your Magic Is To Blame and the same sentiment could be at the core of What Did You Come Back For? – that sense of not being in control of the things that allow you to move forward in living through challenging times.

Welcome Home! skips along with a gentle melody like a cool breeze that stays with the listener, while the darker mood and tempo of Daytime TV hints at long boring hours spent in hibernation, maybe hiding out from the world or just needing to shut out the daily routine. This is a nice introduction to new beginnings in 2023. An album with much to offer, not least the excellent musicianship and the honeyed vocal tone of Kris Skovmand.

Review by Paul McGee

My Politic Missouri Folklore: Songs and Stories From Home Self Release

This album slipped out in December last, just as the year was winding down and we were all looking back on our favourite music that landed during the year. It represents the tenth release from Missouri born friends Kaston Guffey and Nick Pankey. As with all their previous albums it proves to be an engaging and interesting experience, heightened by the superb harmonies and wonderful interplay among the musicians.

It stands as a love letter of sorts to their original birthplace of Missouri as seen through the perspective of mature recollection and reflection. However, sometimes a look back through the rear-view mirror can be less than welcome and serve to dig up too many old ghosts. The theme running through songs like Eminence, Buzzards On A Powerline, Message On the Radio and Vanishing Vapors is that of growing up in a small town with little to do and no prospects ahead for a life of any real substance. Getting up to childhood mischief morphs into teenage angst and further into addiction as local youths struggle to find meaning and a way to escape the tedium of daily existence. Questioning the status quo is not something that is encouraged and if you are not inclined to stay in line with the old ways then the only alternative is escape and face the unknown that lies beyond.

Interestingly Springsteen wrote about dead-end jobs and the lack of choice facing blue collar workers in the big cities where factory work was all there was to aspire to. Kaston Guffey sings about these same issues but from the perspective of small rural towns and the reality of wanting to break out and run towards something bigger in the cities. The juxtaposition is interesting and both perspectives share the hopes for a better life, whichever way you come at the compromises faced.

Despite having left, you can never really escape the memories forged in childhood. They linger into adolescence and manifest through adulthood whenever something triggers a frame of reference on the journey from there to here. My Politic is never overly concerned what other people think however, driven by the conviction that it is always better to be true to oneself, and Kaston Guffy has trodden a very personal path in his honest and heartfelt song-writing.  Short-Sighted People In Power: A Home Recording, released in 2020, nailed Kaston’s frustrations to the mast and gained him as many friends as it did enemies in his political protests on the divided political state of the United States at the time. There is nothing more personal than your politics, of course, and Kaston came out swinging against the hypocrisy and the prejudice that he found everywhere.

This time out, he has penned fourteen songs that are beautifully performed and very poignant. His writing has always displayed an acute insight on the human condition and his astute observations are as finely honed as ever. The sound of acoustic guitars, easy fingerstyle delivery and gentle melodies supported by fiddle, pedal steel, mandolin and dobro make for a heady mix when absorbing his insightful words.

The songs range from personal memories, to looking at various scenarios through the lives of others. Whether the people are real or imaginary, it doesn’t much matter, once the sentiment and the message of the song comes through.  Kaston has always been able to deliver on a vision that  exposes what lies in the past and also shapes what awaits into the future. Childhood demons meet with trying to find your place in a small town. Characters come and go, leaving impressions of lives well lived or indeed, wasted.

Songs like Cursing At the Night and At the Morning (memories that bite), Maybe It’s Love (random liaisons between strangers), Gina and Leroy (dead-end lives, trying to change), Albuquerque (a junkie trying to reform in prison), Driving Home To You (death of a brother in the war), are all tales of quiet dignity with people trying to make life work out better.

The sweet vocal tones are the perfect accompaniment for the fluid musicianship and style on this album. At a very generous fifty-four minutes in length there is something here for all tastes. Some key lines that have stayed with me include the following gems;

What A Life finds Kaston in reflective mood, pondering our daily routines and our repetition in mundane activities - ‘Surprises don't come easy, And other times they do, Routine can mean stability, Or it can be the death of you.’

Dog and a Bone, while a love song, also admits to that sense of ‘otherness’ that we all feel from time to time ‘I can feel homesick, When I’m sitting at home, Must be another dimension where I sometimes go, It's a strange affliction, Feeling empty and whole.’

Sleepin’ Off the Blues speaks about being stuck in a rut and trying to find the courage to leave.  ‘I'm just dying while I wait for someone to say they found me.’

Final song, Vanishing Vapors, really looks into the eye of all this circling that we do as a species with the lines ‘You can't shake the look you share with another, Somebody desperate like you, Looking hard for the line, That's running through time, Tryin’ to find out what's honest & true.’ Really just sums up the whole thing in a nutshell, looking for connection so we don’t feel quite so alone.

Another masterclass in subtle artistry. A quite superb album.

My Politic is Kaston Guffey (Vocals, Guitar) and Nick Pankey (Harmony Vocals, Guitar + Mandolin on "The Dog & The Bone" & "Chasing Tomorrow"). All songs written by Kaston Guffey and produced/ arranged by My Politic.

Other musicians on the album are John Mailander (fiddle, mandolin, mandocello), and Steve Peavey (pedal steel, dobro, coodercaster, 10 string lap steel). Josh Washam added bass and also engineered & mixed at his Ground Sound Studios in Nashville.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

David Hope … and the sea Tourbo

Written in the aftermath of the death of his father, to whom he was very close, David Hope’s fifth studio album is inevitably a deeply personal affair. At times a difficult listen, it expresses with words and music the depth of feeling that follows the passing of a loved one. This is, after all, a universal experience, and one which Hope articulates with no holds barred.

In World Stopped Turning, the rawness of grief is palpable, Hope’s deep vocals almost drowned at times by deep fuzzy distorted electric guitars, along with high pitched spiky guitar shrieks. Visceral stuff. Raised on the Atlantic seaboard of Co. Clare in the West of Ireland, nautical references abound throughout the album and, of course, the album title is a nod to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. In the title track, Hope identifies at times with Hemingway’s tragic hero, and at times with the fish. ‘Empty days of endless sails/No current for to pull me back’. He’s floundering too in the more uptempo and powerful Burning Question, with thumping bass drum and catchy guitar riffs expressing the living nightmare, and deep depression is the backdrop for No One to Listen, ‘a bleak and bloody tide … are you losing your mind?’

Hope returned to producer and percussionist Christian Best in Monique Studios in Cork to realise his vision for the project and the choice has paid off. Best (whose regular gig is with Mick Flannery) used a team of seasoned musicians, including Swiss upright bass player and vocalist Steffi Hess, a very impressive Kealan Kenny on guitars, Darragh Keary on keys, as well as Hope himself on acoustic guitar. Moon and Back is a touching acoustic guitar and piano ballad, again referencing loss and saying goodbye but this time with acceptance. Tom Waits is channelled in the edgy Death and Taxes, Hope’s deep growling vocals, Kenny’s persistent jaggy guitar, Best’s thumping bass drums, and Keary’s piano magically transport you back to Heart Attack and Vine territory.

There’s a respite from mourning briefly in Whiskey Mornings, a lament about hangovers, but the sombre mood is lifted finally by the beautiful Lover’s Leap (Coast of Clare). Sounding like a tourist board advertisement, it is Hope’s love song to one of his favourite places.

Jenny Mongan’s striking cover artwork depicts David in a small boat, possibly about to be overwhelmed by a tsunami, with nothing but an umbrella for protection. Let’s hope the music carries him through safely.

Review by Eilís  Boland

Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra The Party’s Over Tea Pad

This latest album from Rob Heron and his crew is a veritable confluence of swing, country, blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll influences which are, in the main, corralled into Heron’s original songs. The production, which has an authentic retro glide into the future sound, was handled by Heron, the orchestra and John Martindale, who also recorded, mixed and mastered the set.

The band, Tom Cronin, Colin Nicholson, Ted Harbot and Paul Archibold were joined by a further six, mainly brass players, to round out the sound. One that while undoubtedly retro in style, has a lot to recommend it to a current discerning audience that is in tune with its direction and style. Overall, this approach means that listeners may well find favour with certain sounds that immediately appeal. That is the case with this listener, for the faux-western soundtrack configured approach of The Horse That You Rode In On. My Salad Days, complete with yodelling, is one of a number of songs that cautiously recognise the passing of time. Snip Snap Snout is an accordion-driven romp that has the energy to burn over an insistent snare drum rhythm. Trouble Is, written by Paul Weber, is a heartfelt ballad that harks back to the 50s with a nice touch of country-style guitar and piano, and is delivered with a confident vocal from Heron. The up-tempo A Call To Mother’s Arm has a chorus and Celtic-tinged melody that is appealing while balanced against a sense of foreboding about being in battle.

The title track includes harmonica, which serves to accentuate a certain jaunty realisation that time has moved on and the late-night antics of yore may not cut the ice as one gets that much older and perhaps wiser. There is a 60s feel to Dilly Dally Sally that would have fitted easily into the set of a beat group of that era, while Remind Me Tomorrow with its prominent sax, turns the dial back a few years. Right To Roam is a song which is about seeking independence whilst at the same time wanting to be at the place called home.

The final track The Doctor Told Me has a mix of Newcastle/New Orleans nights, offers its warning about over indulgence, though it’s a warning you feel is going to be ignored. Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra hail from all around the British Isles but are based in Newcastle and have made inroads as a live and recording act that has been continually increasing their fan base. This, their fifth album, finds them maturing as a collective unit and coming to terms with growing older and growing their diverse efficaciousness as they continue to realise that the party may be over, in some respects, but the need to keep the home fires burning is not diminished. Doing all this in style and with humour (as witnessed in the cover art) is their way.

Review by Stephen Rapid 

Sam Platts & The Plainsmen West Side Self Release

San Platts and The Plainsmen are based in Montana. Platts grew up in Wyoming and both locations were formative in shaping the music that he and the band now play. Their motto is “western music that swings” and they live up to that with the release of this album. The Plainsmen are Lilly Platts on violin, J Kane on bass and Bill Dwyer on electric guitar. Bill also produced the album which is delivered with a real affection for the music from the past while well aware of their place in the current alliance of bands fuelling the growth of their roots.

Platts can also pen a pretty authentic song that sits easily alongside the traditional arrangements and the lone cover they have included. Let’s take that album closing track first; a cover of Pinto Bennett’s You Cared Enough To Lie is a fitting tribute to the Idaho musician’s staunchly time-honoured output. It is also a good song and well worth the inclusion. After that listeners, especially those who have a penchant for western songs, both in the cowboy and swing versions, will enjoy Whoopee Ti Yi Yo and the more blues associated Saint James Infirmary Blues. Both are given effective arrangements that fit the quartet’s talents, with Dwyer’s confident guitar and Lilly Platts violin obvious important elements of the sound. They sit over Kane’s foundation of double bass and Sam Platt’s arch-top rhythm guitar. The absence of percussion is largely unnoticed throughout the recording.

Platts has a rich voice that is ably backed by harmony vocals from the band to give that part of the sound a variety of overall tones. There are eight original compositions from Platts that often relate to a lifestyle that is likely to be appreciated by those facing similar issues and ambitions. If You Haven’t Met The Wolf tells of a shared living standard that faces a hard truth and that “you ain’t a friend of mine if you haven’t done your time on the poverty line.” This theme is also central to The High Cost Of Low Living. The title track has the oft-considered notion that the grass may be greener on the other side, in a tale of trying to please a partner who is not convinced. Just In Time is also about a relationship that is uncertain. It delivers this with a strong melody, making the message of “it’s the right time to leave” more appealing. Canadian Line is the story of a rocker who has found peace of mind working and living off the land. While I Can’t Stay Out Of The Bars laments the magnetic pull of those alcohol-serving establishments but reasons that they are the only place where he can forget what he needs to forget.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable album that will appeal to their followers as well as to fans of such similarly-mined, but suitably different combos, such as The Hot Club Of Cowtown. An album that, indeed, lives up to its motto and one that deserves to be heard outside of the plains of Montana.  

Review by Stephen Rapid 

The Prescriptions Time Apart Single Lock

Nashville-based three-piece band The Prescriptions turned quite a few heads in 2019 with the arrival of their debut album HOLLYWOOD GOLD, which led to invitations to appear at SXSW and Jason Isbell’s Shoals Fest.  Singer and guitarist Hays Ragsdale is the band’s songwriter and the other players are Parker McAnnally on bass and drummer John Wood. Infused with a combination of raw power pop and late 60s country rock, the album was a pointer towards a young band with a confident swagger about themselves and inspired by music from bygone eras.

Using the extended time available to them during the pandemic has resulted in a more probing record this time around. HOLLYWOOD GOLD was somewhat of a multi-genre affair, skipping between power pop and late-60s country rock. Their latest offering continues with the former but crosses over into more experimental rock. Employing two producers on TIME APART has yielded noteworthy results in this regard. They recorded in both Nashville with Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs) at the controls and in Alabama with Ben Tanner, the former Alabama Shakes keyboard player. Rather than effecting an inconsistent outcome, the shifting modes across the eleven tracks on the album work spectacularly well.  

They’re out of the blocks at a rapid pace with the guitar driven April Blossoms, followed swiftly by Long Past Tonight and Love is Red. In classic power pop form, the latter two both sign off around the two-and-a-half-minute mark.  In contrast Fire Moon, the album’s stand out track for me, rambles on gloriously for twice that length. With echoes of Radiohead, it is one of three tracks on the record that suggests a maturing and evolving band finding its sweet spot. The other two songs of a similar persuasion are the spacey On Satellite and the contemplative Baby Be Nice. Other songs that leave a lasting impression are the jangly I Might Try and hook-filled Not The Issue.

Mixing creativity with grungy energy, The Prescriptions have more than made good on the promise on their debut album with TIME APART. In fact, they have taken a massive step forward and hit the jackpot with a body of work that will particularly appeal to fans of Big Star and Nada Surf.

Review by Declan Culliton

The Stubborn Lovers Come A Reckoning Self Release

 Portland, Oregon-based three- piece band The Stubborn Lovers consist of singer and guitarist Mandy Allan, New Jersey-born songwriter and bass player Jenny Taylor and drummer Michael ‘Pearl’ Nelson. Formed over ten years ago, the band has honed its act by touring extensively and released their debut album MOTHER ROAD in 2018.

 With a combination of roots and rock with a little country on the side, their core sound is what might have been christened alt-country in former decades. Their strongest point is their three-part vocal harmonies, which work spectacularly well on the Jayhawks sounding Counting Feathers on a Sparrow’s Wing (great title!), which, ironically, was written for their previous album but didn’t make the final cut.  Two break-up songs follow in quick succession, the hook filled You Take Tacoma, I’ll Take My Chances and Gramercy, apparently both relating to the same relationship.  

 They dip into country territory with the road song Jamestown Highway/Get On Board and Midnight Motion is no-nonsense classic rock with background chanting borrowed from The Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil. Coincidentally, or possibly not, ‘rolling stones’ are included in the lyrics. Saving the best for last, Cottonwood Run bookends the album in fine style. Running for six and a half minutes it was inspired by Taylor’s grandmother’s ancestral home in a former tobacco plantation in North Carolina. Revisiting the thorny truths and realities of slavery in the South and backed by a driving rhythm section, the song bombards the senses with vocals that combine both pain and anger.

 Well-crafted songs with predominantly dark nuances are most definitely to the fore on COME A RECKONING. It’s a body of work well word digesting song by song, by a writer never seeking an easy option. Check it out and see for yourself.

Review by Declan Culliton

Ian M Bailey You Paint The Pictures Kool Kat

Following on from his excellent 2021 album, SONGS TO DREAM ALONG TO, Manchester resident Ian M Bailey’s latest release, YOU PAINT THE PICTURES, remains true to the formula that worked so well on that record. Striking melodies, sweet harmonies, lots of jangle and twang, and hook-laden songs, are the order of the day once more.

As was the case with its predecessor, Bailey hooked up with ex-Cosmic Rough Riders member Daniel Wylie to co-write the eleven songs that feature.  Produced by Bailey and recorded at his Small Space Studios, he contributed twelve-string Rickenbacker, bass, drums and keys, with strings and pedal steel played by Alan Gregson (Badly Drawn Boy, Angie Palmer, Cornershop).

Comparisons to the sun-kissed West Coast sounds of the 60s may be obvious but the quality on offer here stands shoulder to shoulder with many of the acts that galvanised Bailey’s devotion to both that genre and Brit-pop of the same decade. The country/ folky grooves of I Don’t Want To Start Again, Sitting In Silence and Change Is Easy have Gene Clark’s stamp all over them. I Wanted The Sun To Sun and Hey Little Girl recall the sound that Bailey’s fellow Mancunians The Hollies were playing on Top Of The Pops in the mid-60s and he also includes a ‘Doors like’ instrumental with the organ- driven The Year Of The Tiger. 

YOU PAINT THE PICTURE is Byrds-type classic pop country, rather than what seeps out of Nashville these days under the same banner. There is little wildly original or innovative here, simply an artist that knows exactly what he is good at and has perfected and packaged that sound on a hugely enjoyable suite of songs. An album to brighten up any dark winter’s day. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Jim Keller Spark & Flame Continental Record Services

The co-founder of San Francisco rock band Tommy Tutone back in 1978, Jim Keller follows on from the release of his 2021 album, BY NO MEANS, with another combination of blues, roots and rock with SPARK & FLAME.

Since relocating to New York from San Francisco, Keller’s parallel occupation has included the management of composer and pianist Phillip Glass’s career as director of Dunvagan Music Publishers. He returned to recording in 2005 with the release of IN MY POCKET and his latest recording is his fifth solo project.

Produced by Adam Minkoff and recorded at GB’s Juke Joint in Long Island, the album’s twelve songs were co-written by Keller and Byron Isaacs (The Lumineers, Lost Leaders). The selection of composer and multi-instrumentalist Minkoff as producer has resulted in a richer and fuller sound than on Keller’s recent work. Joining Keller in the studio were a host of New York’s top players, many of who regularly join him on stage for his live shows.

The title track is a gloriously upbeat Tom Petty meets The Byrds inclusion and Keller heads south for the New Orleans-influenced Tower Of Love and When You’re Rock. The opening track Falling Down contains an infectious melody that remained with me for quite a while after a few spins and ‘Till the Water Drinks my Bones, complete with a background chorus, also impresses. In contrast to many of the multi-layer tracks, Keller bookends the album with the acoustic Even Angels Have to Fall. With a spoken delivery, it’s a moving elegy on fatherhood and a fitting closer to an album that does not slot easily into any one genre. It’s also Keller’s most ambitious and impressive solo recording to date. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Pug Johnson & The Hounds Throwed Off and Glad Self Release

Beaumont, Texas country music rabble-rousers Pug Johnson and The Hounds get my vote for album title of the year with their debut full record, THROWED OFF and GLAD. The quality of the twelve songs on the album is equally impressive, with Johnson’s gritty honky tonk vocals backed by gilt-edged playing.

However, don’t expect any ‘somebody done somebody wrong’ country songs. The songwriting explores an altogether darker side, though at times in a light-hearted way. What you get is humour (Poncho, Buffalo Coin), numerous intoxicant references (Ode To The Weed Man, One Hand on My Whiskey, Cocaine Street Blues, Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll) and classic Texas country tunes (the Jimmie Rodgers standard, T for Texas, and Country Song). The latter includes backing vocals from fellow Texan, Sage Elmore.

The title track that opens the album sets the scene perfectly for what’s to follow. Johnson’s Texas drawl kicks in after an extended intro, as if he’s finishing his whiskey before joining the band on stage. The author’s personal journey is addressed in the slow-burning ballad Angel, and the rockier Miss You All, which grapples with mental illness, is a powerful inclusion. The album includes three songs that appeared on the EP, EXTENDED PLAY, from earlier in the year, and much of the material was written by Johnson while he was residing in Nashville prior to returning to his home State.

Another case of having to scratch beneath the surface to unearth some country gems that have been released this year, THROWED OFF and GLAD is packed with wicked humour, full of pace, swing and twang, and also offers the listeners some memorable songs, often dealing with thorny matters. No doubt suitably honed from performing at honky tonks and dancehalls in their home state, make no mistake Pug Johnson & The Hounds ‘talk the talk and walk the walk’ in fine style on this highly enjoyable record. If Texas outlaw country rocks your boat, you’re going to love this.

Review by Declan Culliton

Kenny Foster Somewhere In Middle America Self Release

‘Worry not for tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own,’ were the parting words from Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kenny Foster when we spoke with him after the release of his album DEEP CUTS in 2017.

Sage words indeed from the artist from Joplin in southwest Missouri, given what we’ve gone through in recent years. Foster transferred from Missouri State University to Belmont University in Nashville, to complete his studies in philosophy and American culture, and further his music career. That move took place fourteen years ago and Foster’s early years in Nashville found him working in the marketing divisions of both CMT and MTV before releasing his debut full-length album, FOR NOW, in 2008.

Foster’s latest recording, SOMEWHERE IN MIDDLE AMERICA, finds him working once more with Grammy award winner Mitch Dane, who also produced his 2017 album DEEP CUTS. Over a dozen musicians, including Sierra Hull (mandolin), Josh Matheny (dobro, lap steel), Charlie Lowell (piano, accordion), and Liz Longley (backing vocals), contributed to the recordings at Sputnik Sound studios in Nashville.

The material finds Foster in a nostalgic mood, recalling the simplicity and contentment of growing up in small-town America alongside the struggle for survival for those who, unlike Foster, chose to remain in towns whose core industries have not survived in recent decades. The songs unfold like chapters in a book, and the title track opens the album, introducing what is to follow. Poor Kids, which follows, is a ‘down memory lane’ remembrance of uncomplicated childhood times. Good For Growin’ Up follows a similar subject matter, with the writer’s reflections on the ‘For Sale’ sign appearing on the family home. Dreams Change is a heartfelt love song of contentment and fulfilment, most likely directed towards Foster’s wife. Other standout tracks are the autobiographical and introspective For What It’s Worth and  The Same. The latter is the album’s closing chapter and details insightful advice given by a father to his son to take chances and spread his wings, leaving the listener pondering if it mirrors a conversation the writer had with his own father.

Foster’s core sound lands between roots and rock, without crossing over to formula- driven pop country. Well-written songs are supported by topflight playing and production on an album that may very well considerably raise Foster’s profile.

A mention is also warranted of the album’s most impressive cover design, liner notes and photography. Whereas quite a number of releases in recent times, driven by the dominance of downloads over physical product, offer little by way of discerning artwork, it’s refreshing to receive a physical CD so strikingly packaged.

Review by Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Velcro Dog  Misanthropology Westergaard

Velcro Dog is the nom de plume of Trodheim based Norwegian artist Tony Gonzales, known in his native land as a member of several bands including Barren Womb and Twin Serpent. This, his first recorded solo project, developed during lockdown (no surprise there) and is a sparse, stripped down affair, which he aptly describes as ‘fjord noir’. Comprising ten well crafted personal songs, sung in his haunting vocal style, accompanied mainly by his fingerpicked acoustic guitar, it is an introspective look into Gonzales’ thoughts on human fragility and his own particular struggle with depression. Enhanced by occasional droning backing vocals, harmonica, bass, clarinet and banjo, the overall sound veers towards folk blues.

Kicking off with Belated Birthday Blues, the listener is introduced to Gonzales’ cynical reflections on mankind - ‘can’t find meaning where there is none/so feed me to the pigs when I am done’. The pig reference continues in the inexplicably titled Shave A Pig, Call It A Ham, which explores the ending of a friendship, ‘it must get lonely up on that cross you’ve made’.

By way of explanation, a ‘Velcro dog’ is a perfect description of the sort of dog that is ultraclingy with its owner (as a cat person, I find this a perplexing relationship!). Continuing the companion animal analogy, Cone Of Shame describes the blackness of depression. ‘The water feels nice/but I can’t swim’ but he is lucky and ‘soft hands grab hold/pull me out of this gloom’. Post Post Haste is a timely lament for the environmental damage we have all committed.

Thankfully there is some light at the end of the tunnel. In Reader’s Block, the protagonist is ‘far away from home/too drunk to use the phone’ but he’s coming home to redeem himself, with the repeated reassuring refrain ‘just a stumble/not a fall, just a stumble/still standing tall’. The nearest Gonzales gets to an out and out love song is his tribute to his girlfriend and their shared love of a particular footwear brand in Head Over High-Tops.

Strong enough to show his vulnerability with this debut collection, in a recent interview Tony Gonzales describes this collection as ‘stark, monochromatic, Nordic and raw’. I second that.

Review by Eilís Boland

Louis Brennan Love Island Self Release

Where are the poets and the folk singers when we need them? The Woody Guthries and the Billy Braggs seem thin on the ground right now and they’ve never been needed more.

London-based Irishman Louis Joseph Brennan felt compelled to attempt to fill that void with the writing and eventual release of his second album, LOVE ISLAND. We live in challenging times which Brennan is not prepared to ignore, calling out the multiple elephants in the room, all the while suffusing the difficult subjects in a soundtrack of beautifully realised Americana. Recorded in the renowned Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed and mastered in Abbey Road Studios, Brennan wrote and produced the whole project.

In God Is Dead, he starts as he means to go on, a diatribe on the seemingly recent disillusionment with religion, with the ‘God shaped hole’ in all humans now being filled with the technologically driven obsession with social media. ‘So let us rejoice/Under the all seeing eye/ Just click on the link … It seems we can’t bear the thought/ That we’re all here alone’. The Post-Truth Blues uses a soothing bossa nova 70s backdrop to emphasise the surrealism of the lyrical content, a white male Caucasian boldly declares his indifference to the inequalities in the world, ‘Oh I know just how my coffee’s grown/That Chinese children made my phone’, all just conspiracies designed to make him feel guilty, but he’ll ‘just get a second opinion that supports (his) views’. No regrets. The Nobel Prize covers similar ground, this time perhaps there’s an orange hue to the narcissist Caucasian male protagonist, who can’t understand why he hasn’t yet won the accolade. Perhaps most cutting of all is Cruel Britannia, sung to that well known tune, but here used as the backdrop to a searing critique of Brennan’s adopted home. Post-Brexit Britain’s racism (‘And I can’t put a roof over my childrens’ heads/Unless my skin is brown’), colonialism (’built the railways/Freed the slaves’) and extreme right nationalism (’They shouldn’t come over here/Looking for somebody to blame’) are expressed by a subject who no doubt is a regular reader of the Daily Fail.

Ably backed by the superb musicianship of Joe Harvey-White (pedal steel, lap steel, electric guitar), Ned Cartwright (keyboards), Laurence Saywood (bass), and Chris Jones (percussion), Brennan’s resonant baritone dominates the sound. He is heard at his best on the title track, a piano ballad describing the pain of the break-up of two reality tv stars, in the full glare of the public. Fake love makes fake news, but the dark themes are made bearable by Brennan’s dark humour. We’re back to more bossa nova for the sarcastic Leftover Meat, and My Favourite Disguise uses the brass trio of Rhys Taylor, Joanna Bartlett and Helen Whitemore in a tale of, essentially, turning a blind eye in order to survive life. The closing track, Naked And Afraid, explores a post-apocalyptic nightmare, the strings of The Mavron Quartet contributing to the dissonance but ultimately building to a possibility of hope, ‘Hold On To Something’ limps out the repeated refrain.

An essential album for our times.

Review by Eilís Boland

Matt Hillyer Glorieta State Fair

Back in 2014, when still fronting Eleven Hundred Springs, Hillyer released a solo album IF THESE OLD BONES COULD TALK. This served as an outlet for material that didn’t fit the band ethos of the time. He is releasing the second outing under his own name which continues that theme, but also includes songs that would be familiar to fans of his former band of over twenty years. He has John Pedigo producing the album (from the band The O’s and who has also worked with the Old 97’s). Work on the album began before the band played their last dates and a new team was assembled to record. These included the core team of James Driscoll, Arjuna Contreras, Chad Stockslager, Able Casillas, Heather Stalling and Lloyd Maines.

The album opens with the title track’s tale of escaping and travelling to find a way to come to terms with life and a love. Next up an immediate highlight that has a great 90s feel, a mix of revitalising the pure pop tones of Buddy Holly 50’s invention and melodic clarity. I could listen to a whole album of this but Hillyer has other things he wants to tell us. These are also well worth giving time to; such as the weeping, sweeping, pedal steel drenched sadness of Just Passing Through. 

That contrasts with the kick up the dust roots rock of Dirty Little Secrets, Holding Fast and the wisdom of having learned that in life, in many ways, It’s All About The Ride. All detail the trails and travails that are part and parcel of keeping one’s head above water and having to “straighten up and fly right.” A touch of heading for the border (though it could be several different borders) is given its sense of place with the accordion in Diablo Motel.

But in may ways Hillyer has an understanding of the lot of the Ordinary Man: A song that has at its heart an understanding of how dreams can change and ambitions become something different when a man places the love of his family, and the need to provide for them, at the centre of the unrelenting things he needs to achieve. It is not a viewpoint often expressed, as it doesn’t condemn but understands.

These songs show that Hillyer should be considered a songwriter worth listening to, and aside from that he has created an album that makes the best of this material in a way that any country roots follower as well as Eleven Hundred Springs fans will readily appreciate. The material, with a couple of co-writes, shows that he is continuing to hone his craft, and in the company of these assembled players, they all do justice to it. 

Review by Stephen Rapid 

Various Artists Live Forever - A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver New West

Compilation albums are dependent on a number of factors including the artists chosen, the quality of the songs and the commitment of the performers involved. This is equally true of a tribute album with the added factor of doing justice to the person receiving the tribute. In this case the material is exceptional, the artist choice is interesting and the integrity of the production is solid. Its producers are Charile Sexton and Freddy Fletcher and both were committed to the project.

So from the top you get Willie Nelson with Lucinda Williams covering the song that delivers the title, as well as Shaver’s understanding that his song will live beyond him. I’m Gonna Live Forever is delivered in a way that Shaver would have approved of and reminds of his essential intrinsic understanding of his role in life. Next up another pairing, this time Ryan Bingham with Nikki Lane, who add an element of rock to the proceedings that fits Ride Me Down Easy, with both voices having an edge that adds grit to the message.

The voice of Rodney Crowell brings much to the table, with its hard-fought wisdom delivery of Old Five And Dimers Like Me. After the strident tones of the previous tracks, its acoustic low-key approach is perfectly realised. I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Some Day) has a sassy and vibrant feel with acoustic instruments well to the fore and Miranda Lambert’s voice clear and confident. Edie Brickell takes a similar acoustic led route with I Couldn’t Be Me Without You, a love song that Shaver was equally adept at writing with some genuine feeling. Without his soul band, Nathaniel Rateliff returns to earlier with a countrified take on You Asked Me To that sits behind his robust tone.

Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me is a standout with George Strait giving a understated traditional country reading, one with a powerful vocal that delivers the song’s story with depth, reminding you why he is rated so highly by many and the material is just right for him. Given a rendering that reflects Amanda Shires’ own work, Honky Tonk Heroes has an opening that is held in check until the band and Jason Isbell kick in, taking it to a higher level with harmonica well to the fore in the mix. These days it would appear Steve Earle is happy doing tribute covers, but Ain’t No God In Mexico suits his voice and his perceived outlaw persona. The next pairing is full of a promise that is delivered, given that Margo Price’s recent releases have veered awards a broader rock sound. Joined on vocals by Joshua Hedley, it is soulful with a sweet guitar break, as well as pleasing steel and keyboard playing. 

Willie Nelson is back with the customary harmonica and trusty Trigger interludes that allude to the title’s mode of transport in Georgia On A Fast Train. It has a nice jazzy swing that feels just right for the theme. The album closes with Allison Russell taking Tramp On Your Street, with her voice front and centre, to a nighttime soulful place with guitar and keyboards adding some poignancy to the song’s message that calls for understanding.

As with such an album there are undoubted favourites that each listener will find, but it has a largely balanced placing that works as an overall album, that pays tribute to the truth and wisdom that was Billy Joe Shaver and that‘s what any such work should do. These songs, with any justice, will live forever.

Review by Stephen Rapid 

Smoke Fairies Singles Year Seven

There is a brooding quality to these eighteen tracks. The atmospheric thrust of the material conjures images of gothic dalliances with the darker side of our natures in the enticing melodies and arrangements. A Folk sound that echoes the past in the clear vocal harmonies of Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies, opening with their original single Living With Ghosts. Since that debut in 2008 the women have gone on to blaze a trail and build a formidable reputation across a number of stellar releases.

All their singles are included on this project, including both Gastown and River Song, fan favourites and unavailable since their original release back in 2009 on the Third Man record label, as a double A-side with Jack White guesting on drums and guitar. The haunting Eclipse Them All is balanced with the lighter stroke of We’ve Seen Birds and the thrust of Shadow Inversions is in contrast with the nervous energy on Disconnect. The guitar-driven beat on Elevator shows how their sound has evolved and taken on a harder edge before the final song No Matter How This Goes, Just Make Sure That You’re Kind harks back to earlier days with a pastoral feel in the message that we are our own best ambassadors when we reach out to others in kindness.

This compilation is very timely and not only captures the career arc of two very talented artists, but also points the way for the next chapter in their evolving career as Smoke Fairies – hard to catch and pin down but all the better for the experience. One to savour.    

Review by Paul McGee

The White Buffalo Year Of The Dark Horse Snakefarm

‘My forthcoming album is a sonic and lyrical journey of one lunar year in one man’s life. Four seasons in twelve songs loosely based on my twisted truths and adventures’ announced Jake Smith (The White Buffalo) in advance of the release of his eight studio album YEAR OF THE DARK HORSE. The concept album is also the subject of an art film of the same title, featuring four directors each representing three of the album’s twelve tracks.

Smith also describes YEAR OF THE DARK HORSE as his ‘headphones album’, which is a departure from his previously released and more acoustic-based Americana albums. The twelve individual storylines represent the writer’s frame of mind throughout the four seasons, in unison with a painfully failed relationship that raises its head frantically across the album.

White employed Jay Joyce to produce the album and collectively the final product is very much a genre-hopping experience. Recorded at the converted Baptist Church that now houses Neon Cross Studio in East Nashville, Smith was joined in the studio by his touring partners Christopher Hoffee (keyboards, guitar, bass) and Matt Lynott (drums)

Fusing the Jacques Brel-sounding vaudeville She Don’t Know That I Lie, Jeff Lynne style futuristic pop Donna and Love Will Never Come/Spring Song, with echoes of Nick Cave, could amount to musical chaos. On the contrary, the diversity works spectacularly well and soothing ballads such as Am I Still A Child and C’mon Come Up Come Out sit comfortably alongside those tracks of a rockier persuasion. The album’s reflective closer Life Goes On is a fitting finale, willing its author to leave behind more turbulent times and move on the life’s next chapter.

YEAR OF THE DARK HORSE is an album that doesn’t slot easily into any single genre, from an artist that ignores conformity and consistently does very much as he pleases. The end result is a fiercely intense and wonderfully brooding listening experience.

Review by Declan Culliton

Caitlin Rose Cazimi Missing Piece

Catapulted onto centre stage at a young age, Nashville artist Caitlin Rose appeared to have the world at her feet following the release of her debut album, DEAD FLOWERS in 2008 and OWN SIDE NOW, which followed two years later.  Regular comparisons with Linda Ronstadt and Patsy Cline emerged and Time magazine reviewer Claire Suddath ranked that second album in the top ten releases of that year. Things may have appeared to have been rosy in the garden but the adoration and the manipulation of the music industry were not sitting easily with Rose.

Her third studio album THE STAND IN - which included a number of co-writes - appeared in 2013 and charted well in both the US Country and US Heat charts. It contained themes of lost romances and heartache; in hindsight, it was most likely a pointer to Rose’s fragile state of mind at that time. No studio output has surfaced since then until now, and even if the writing for material on CAZIMI commenced in 2014, Rose chose not to record in the intervening years for various undocumented reasons. She credits co-producer and long-time friend Jordan Lehning (Andrew Combs, Caroline Spence, Rodney Crowell, Alison Krauss, Silver Seas) for the re-gained confidence and direction that lead her to commence the recording of CAZIMI in February 2020. Surrounding her with familiar faces at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios, they spent a week working on material from Rose’s early career demos, as well as recordings that she previously made with Daniel Romano and Justin Young of The Vaccines, as a starting point for what was to become CAZIMI. The onset of the pandemic, which followed, delayed the release of the album but also afforded Rose and Lehning additional time to perfect the recordings.

The sentiments contained in THE STAND IN aren’t far from the surface on CAZIMI, not surprising given that much of the material was conceived not long after the release of that album. However, textured stories promoting survival over submission suggest an artist in a more contented headspace on this recording. The other notable departure from her earlier albums finds Rose abandoning her country leanings, giving rise to a full-on indie/pop offering. She excels on the jaunty Nobody’s Sweetheart, complete with a rousing guitar break.  It is top-notch power pop, matched to the same degree by Black Obsidian. Gemini Moon isn’t far behind either in the quality stakes and Modern Dancing reflects on wasted relationships and repeated mistakes (‘It’s a different face, but it’s always the same set of eyes’). Getting It Right, written with Courtney Marie Andrews, broaches rehabilitation with realism and hopefulness.  Carried Away is somewhat more laid back, with a simple backing melody possibly borrowed from The Velvet Underground and ALL Right (Baby’s Got A Way) and Blameless are reminders of Rose’s capacity to both pen and vocalise stunningly beautiful ballads.

A web search for Rose will bring you to Wikipedia, where she is described as ‘a country singer and songwriter from Nashville.’ I’m not sure if that narrative ever sat well with Rose and simply may have been the direction that the industry was pointing her in. Similar to artists such as Lera Lynn, Carson McHone and Jade Jackson, who were touted as ‘new women of country,’ after their early recordings, you’re left with the lasting impression that this recording, in the indie/pop territory, is closer to Rose’s comfort zone. Her initial foray into a musical career was as lead singer with Nashville indie band Save Macauley, and that seems to be where her heart is. Either way, Rose’s return to the studio is a triumph and even if CAZIMI may lose her some of her former fan base it’s likely to gain her a host of new admirers. Welcome back.

Review by Declan Culliton

Miko Marks Feel Like Going Home Redtone

Country music has not always been the most welcoming home for black women. Despite the fact that it’s over fifty years since Linda Martell became the first black female artist to gain mainstream commercial success, and the first black female artist to perform on the Grand Ole Opry, the floodgates have been anything but open since then. Artists that became household names in other genres, like Tina Turner, Etta James and The Supremes, have all recorded country music during their careers but concentrated on, or were directed by their labels, into soul or rhythm and blues, rather than country. Fortunately, and not before its time, the tide seems to be slowly turning.

Country music radio has been in the past, and continues to be, less than supportive when it comes to female artists in general. When it comes to black female artists, a study in recent years unearthed that .03 percent of all songs on country radio stations from 2002 to 2020 were by black women.  Perhaps the all-embracing Americana genre has helped, but recent years have seen a noticeable growth in talented black female artists making their deserved breakthrough. The profiles of Allison Russell, Rhiannon Giddens, Adia Victoria and Yola, to name but a few, have risen substantially.

Miko Marks certainly deserves to be added to that list. Support slots to both Tedeschi Trucks Band and Ron Hope have helped introduce her to an audience that otherwise might not be familiar with her music and Marks has been named by CMT in the Next Women of Country Class of 2022. It could be argued, and would be by this writer, that very many of the artists championed by CMT, both male and female, fall short of what can be classified as ‘real country’ and often represent mainstream pop/country crossover. Having said that, it is refreshing to learn that Marks has deservedly achieved that accolade and FEEL LIKE GOING HOME stands shoulder to shoulder with the best efforts from her colleagues in the NWOCC of 2022, regardless of genre or classification.

With a core sound that is closer to Memphis than Nashville, FEEL LIKE COMING HOME arrives twelve months after the release of her previous full-length record OUR COUNTRY. The latter was her first release in thirteen years, in the main fuelled by the response to her two previous recordings FREEWAY BOUND (2005) and IT FEELS GOOD (2007). ‘I recorded two projects that were well-received, but I wasn’t,” she explained on the release of OUR COUNTRY. ‘That was hard for me to swallow. That’s why it’s taken me 13 years to do another album.’ Ironically, that recording was less traditional country and more expansive genre-wise than her earlier albums.  The positive reviews from big hitters like The Wall Street Journal for OUR COUNTRY (‘a genre and industry defying mission’) and NPR (‘a multi-layered experience’) helped to create the momentum for her latest project. Both of those assessments could also accurately describe Marks’ latest album. Over eleven tracks and forty-seven minutes she blends country, gospel, blues, soul and rock, pouring her heart and soul into each and every one of them.

The possessor of a voice that is powerful yet frail, bluesy and soulful, Marks and her backing band The Resurrectors offer hopefulness and optimism on the countryish One More Night and the gospel anthem Deliver Me. Less pacey but equally impressive are the impassioned The Good Life and Lay Your Burdens Down, proving that Marks is equally adept at both explosive and more subdued vocal deliveries. Those vocals, together with the production and musicianship, are faultless, on an album that is bound to increase its author’s profile by some measure.

‘Been a long time waiting and I’ve got a long way to go’ Marks announces on the opening and prayer-like title track.  However, the lasting impression one is left with is that she has arrived home musically, lyrically, and spiritually, and won’t be leaving this space for some time to come. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Gabe Lee The Hometown Kid Torrez Music

‘I woke up in a hotel room, went looking for something to do. Whole place shut down, but I'm wide open. I packed up in a minute flat, you tell the county I’m coming back to haunt all those hills I grew up rolling,’ Gabe Lee announces on the opening track, Wide Open, from his third studio album. Whether or not the album’s tales are entirely autobiographical or observational is irrelevant, that statement is a signpost towards the lyrical content on THE HOMETOWN KID, which finds Lee digging into the high points, expectations and struggles of the average man in the street.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Gabe Lee grew up in Nashville with wide musical influences that ranged from his mother’s gospel hymns that she performed in church to the country music of his hometown. THE HOMETOWN KID, his third studio album, offers the listener a suite of songs, twelve in total, that combine heartland rock (Wide Open), gospel-tinged ballads (Never Rained Again) and soulful country tunes (Longer I Run - Hammer Down).

He opens his heart on a failed relationship on Lucky Stars (‘Thank God for this guitar, not everyone survives a broken heart’), and regret also emerges on Kinda Man (‘Still think I coulda gone pro, well if only I'd have learned to cut my reckless ways’).

The possessor of the capacity to create songs that vividly represent modern American life, if you’re unfamiliar with Gabe Lee’s work, THE HOMETOWN KID is an exciting gateway into his music. I was reminded on a number of occasions of the similarity in many ways with the writing style of Jason Isbell, on an album that traverses a number of musical genres. Well-written songs and vocals that deliver a lovely listening experience, this album is quality groove-driven Americana. 

Review by Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Melissa Carper Ramblin’ Soul Thirty Tigers

Texan singer-songwriter and upright bass impresario, Melissa Carper, most certainly cannot be accused of inactivity. A member of two bands, Sad Daddy and Buffalo Gals, she also enjoys a solo career, together with regularly performing with Brennen Leigh and Kelly Willis, trading songs on stage as a trio. She is also no stranger to the studio and her latest project, RAMBLIN’ SOUL, follows hot on the heels of her 2021 release DADDY’S COUNTRY GOLD.

The title of her latest album reflects the post-Covid freedom as Carper reflects on getting back to doing what is closest to her heart - travelling, meeting up with like-minded friends and performing to live audiences. Though not straying too far from the formula of her last recording, RAMBLIN’ SOUL finds her in a somewhat more upbeat mood, with thirteen tracks that breeze between old-timey, jazz-infused swing and country.

From the autobiographical opener to the Brennen Leigh cover, Hanging On To You, which bookends the album, Carper treats the listener to a stockpile of songs that truly captures the shifting colours of country and roots music over the past six decades. The return to touring and playing to live audiences may have been the catalyst for the album but, interestingly, a number of the songs had been written or part written over the past decade and earlier, which is an indication in itself of Carper’s proficiency as a songwriter.  The touching soulful ballad Ain’t A Day Goes By recalls the passing of her parents within a year of each other, her brother’s struggles with mental health issues, and losing her beloved dog, Betty. The more recently written song, That’s My Only Regret, is a fine country shuffle and she forays into gospel folk with the Odetta-written Hit or Miss. Following on from the song My Old Chevy Van which featured on DADDY’S GOLD, she continues to pay homage to the motors that faithfully transported her on her musical touring travels with 1980 Dodge Van. Boxers On Backwards is laced with wicked humour and a reminder that fortune often does favour the brave.

Sticking with the same production team of Andrija Tokic and Dennis Crouch, who worked with her on DADDY’S COUNTRY GOLD, the credits read like a ‘who’s who’ of some of the most respected players in Nashville. Crouch played bass, and guitars and pedal steel were by Chris Scruggs. Also featured are John Pahmer (organ and piano), Matty Meyer (drums), Billy Contreras (fiddle), Rory Hoffman (clarinet, piano, nylon string guitar), and Wes Langlois (guitars). Sierra Ferrell and Larry Marrs provided harmony vocals, and backing vocals are credited to the trio of Kyshona Armstrong, Maureen Murphy and Nickie Conley.

A member of her family’s travelling band from a young age, Carper has remained steadfastly loyal to the music that inspired her over the years, refusing to modernise or remodel the purity of those genres so close to her heart. Unashamedly nostalgic, there is an undisputed quality and consistency throughout RAMBLIN’ SOUL, reaffirming that Melissa Carper is unlikely to ever radically shift in style. Amen to that.

Review by Declan Culliton

Rich Hopkins & Luminarios Exiled On Mabel Street Blue Rose

I have to admit that I’ve been a big fan of Rich Hopkins’ music since discovering his EL OUTRO LADO / THE OTHER SIDE album in 2010. It has been very much ‘business as usual’ with each subsequent album that Hopkins and his Luminarios have released since then.  Thumping drums, soaring guitars, hoarse vocals – sometimes spoken, more often sung – songs that often exceed the five-minute mark on albums that approached one hour in duration, have all been the norm.  Behind that formula are well-constructed and thoughtful songs, which often draw attention to the under privileged and unfortunate, and are seldom judgemental.

There has always been a glorious looseness about Hopkins’ music, which, despite his low profile, has earned him the accolade of ‘godfather of desert rock’. That unpretentiousness is repeated on EXILED ON MABEL STREET, creating the impression that Hopkins and his wife and co-writer Lisa Novak simply entered the studio with his latest Luminarios line up, cranked up the guitars and recorded live to tape.

Stand out songs Friend Of The Shooter from BURIED TREASURE (2012) and El Outro Lado / The Other Side (2010), from the aforementioned album of the same name, dealt with gun violence and immigration respectively, without ever attempting to sensationalise. His latest offering includes a similarly powerful track, Prodigal Son. A true story based on Hopkins’ encounter with an individual on the streets of Austin, Texas, it addresses mental illness and homelessness (‘The blanket I gave him can’t cover his mistakes’). Taking the album title from a street in Tucson, Arizona, close to where Hopkins resides, a jangly guitar introduces the opening track A Message Of Hope, with the writer recounting fatherly advice advocating forgiveness and tolerance. High-pitched feedback surrounds Novak as she takes the lead vocal on the chilling track Break Through. Other selections of note are Hopkins’ ode to his estranged biological mother Josephine and the confessional I Wouldn’t Listen to Me, before he signs off with Bataan Death March.  An instrumental track recalling the horrendous treatment of prisoners of war by the Japanese army in 1942, it bookends the album on a powerful note, with a backing track of marching boots and a Hopkins recital of The Lord’s Prayer adding intensity to the elegy.

‘Some say I’m like an old dog, but I can learn new tricks,’ claims Hopkins on Count On Me, a love song dedicated to Novak. On the strength of this album and his back catalogue, Hopkins is doing just fine digging into his memory vaults and consistently delivering records packed with grungy energy.

Review by Declan Culliton

The Great Divide Providence Self Release

When we reviewed Mike McClure’s ninth solo recording, LOOKING UP, back in 2020, we hardly envisaged that he would be hooking up once more with his former band colleagues in The Great Divide. Parting ways back in 2003 - McClure freely admits that his appetite for booze and drugs was a major contributing factor - the band left behind a legacy as one of the most influential bands on the Red Dirt music scene of the time, with five cracking albums while McClure was on board. He was replaced by singer Micah Aills after his departure, but the band disbanded in 2005 after the release of their album UNDER YOUR OWN SUN that year.

Older, wiser and with McClure in an altogether better place (‘I have a new lens of sobriety to look through, and I’m coming from a place of healing, forgiveness and rebirth’), PROVIDENCE finds the band in fine form and certainly matching the quality of their early work. The songwriting often chronicles McClure’s memories since leaving the band back in 2003 and up to the present. The album opens with Wrong Is Overrated, which reads like a confession or admission of guilt by McClure for his part in breaking ties with the band. With a Son Volt/Byrds vibe’ it’s a standout track and confirmation of the collective prowess of the band.

It’s not all foot fully on the gas either, I Can Breathe Again, which follows, is a splendid love song that channels rebirth and rejuvenation and the reggae tinged Slippin’ Away recognises the passing of time and the value of living in the moment. There are many other high points worth noting, particularly My Sweet Lily and Infinite Line. The former is a heartfelt ode to a loved one and the latter is a full-on Rolling Stones sounding belter.

It may be the best part of two decades since McClure’s departure, but his return signals ‘business as usual.’ Alongside original members Kelley Green (bass), Scotte Lester (rhythm guitar), his brother JJ Lester (drums) and newer recruit Bruce Conway (keyboards), McClure and his bandmates don’t stray far from their comfort zone with an unflinchingly honest and often powerful suite of songs. 

Review by Declan Culliton

Jeffrey Halford And The Healers Soul Crusade CRS

There is a lot happening in Jeffrey Halford’s latest album SOUL CRUSADE and despite my first impression from the record’s title, it is anything but restricted to the soul genre. Instead, the eleven tracks feature a crisscross between blues, roots, gospel, country and folk and soul, very much like a meeting of the musical outputs of Dr. John and Chuck Prophet.

Halford has been treading the boards for over three decades by now and his current partners in crime, Adam Rossi, Mike Anderson and Aaron Halford, are his backing band, The Healers. They are joined by a host of guest musicians on SOUL CRUSADE and collectively deliver an album loaded with intensity and fervour.

No doubt the aforementioned Mac Rebennack and Chuck Prophet would have been proud to include the funk-drenched tracks Pie Eyed Poet’s Plea and Take It Slow on any of their recordings. In contrast, Wandering Kind and Pescadero are less pacey roots-tinged efforts. The latter is a classic road song bringing to mind sun-drenched freewheeling trips along the Mexican border. The uplifting gospel anthem Walk To The River not only showcases the musicianship of Halford and his crew, but also the eloquent background vocals of Hannah Halford. The rampant bluesy rocker Devil has a mid-career Rolling Stones stamp to it and they sign off with Sad Sinking Feeling, with a nod in the direction of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, bringing closure to an album that is easy to get totally immersed in after a couple of plays.

Review by Declan Culliton

Tobias Berblinger The Luckiest Hippie Alive Ten Dollar

This album was originally released in 2018 but is getting a new release as it has just been released in vinyl format and in a remastered CD/digital format. Berblinger is a musician and illustrator/designer with a love of the more cosmic side of California country, alongside an affinity for the Texas troubadours Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Blaze Foley. His original material falls between these two primary influences. Nor is he without a sense of humour as evidenced by the album title and songs such as My Boots Have Been Drinking, wherein he asks for forgiveness from the people and places the errant footwear took him to. A similar sense of unworthiness continues with the lively toe-tapping beat of Blade Of Grass, with some tasty guitar from Chris Cook.

There are three covers included in the ten tracks. The first of these is his take on the Commander Cody classic, Seeds And Stems (Again), a choice that suggests certain substances may be involved in the overall scheme of things! As with Drinking, and other tracks, it benefits from the harmony vocals of Mariya May. The title track pretty much sums up a tale of misadventure and a freewheeling attitude, wherein he wonders “I don’t know what I done right but the sun is shining on me.” The story is worth following to see how this streak of luck unfolds, again some tasty guitar is delivered.

There is that overriding feeling that these songs define a hippie lifestyle combined with some enjoyable country music, and some more considered folk outings like It Ain’t Right with flute and soft harmonies from Annie Perkins. However, we are back in the arms of the honky tonk for the hapless ‘drowning of one’s sorrows’ tale that is the self-explanatory Heartaches, Hard Times And Hard Drinking. Divisions continues with an acoustic guitar tendency that works, while the final two tracks are again covers with Crawl Back To You coming from the repertoire of the late and lamented Blaze Foley. It is here given a treatment that is admirably fitting with its source. The final song is a version of the equally revered Gene Clark’s Polly Come Home, which has again a blend of an underlying folk feel, emphasised by the flute which is sitting easily alongside the pedal steel and it has an appropriately impassioned vocal from Berblinger.

Mo Douglas produced the album alongside Berblinger and he also played acoustic guitar, lead guitar, bass and rhythm guitar on numerous tracks. The duo bring a varied and layered sound throughout that was bolstered by the contributions of the other musicians, who included Jesse Cunningham’s pedal steel contributions to half a dozen of the tracks.

Given the way the world has turned since the original release in 2018, it makes sense to place it again before a possible wider audience. It has an easy freewheeling feeling that should find favour with those looking for something that most definitely sits outside the mainstream. I doubt this is the last we will hear from Berblinger and one can hope he will continue to produce new music in this unfashionable fashion.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Luke LeBlanc Fugue State Self Release

Minnesota native Luke LeBlanc returns with his fourth album release, written during lockdown and reflecting on the  state of things as he perceives them to be right now. If Covid brought any insights or lessons perhaps it was to look inwards in our search for answers, and to slow down the relentless rush of external commitments. There is a lingering feeling of time wasted in chasing some material illusion of happiness and success.

However, rather than finding ourselves in a fugue state, I like to think that more clarity has evolved from our scrambling in the dark and that a greater awareness has replaced the urge to look to others for our self validation. Have we lost our identity and our collective awareness? LeBlanc seems to think so and he attempts to make sense of his feelings around the current social challenges, post Covid.

Real Phonic Studio in Cleveland, Minnesota was the location for recording and from November 2021 to July 2022, the musicians focused their energies on developing the eleven songs included here. Produced and engineered by Erik Koskinen, who also plays electric guitar, bass, banjo, and keyboards, FUGUE STATE features John Cleve Richardson on keyboards and backing vocals, Ryan Young (Trampled by Turtles) on violin, Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Jayhawks) on pedal steel, Casey Frensz on saxophone and Erin Bekkers on drums.

Three of the players appeared on the previous album, ONLY HUMAN, and the contributions of Erin Bekkers, John Cleve Richardson and Erik Koskinen go a long way to creating the intimate sound of the recording and the bed rock upon which the other studio musicians can gel together. The interplay is superb throughout and the light production touch of Koskinen is very impressive. Certainly, a great advert for the approach of letting the quality of the song melodies breathe for themselves.

Maybe the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and the global economic recession that has ensued make us realise just how disconnected we have become despite our abundance of smartphones and social media. The isolation and loneliness felt by people during the last two years has left an indelible mark and on songs like When I Walk With You and Soothes Me we are reminded that personal connection and real communication are what remain as the cornerstones of collective recovery. LeBlanc displays a keen sense of trying to make it all seem worth the struggle.

The love song Now seems to be a reflection and understanding of parenting and the lessons learned in growing up. On the song Down Low there is a message that the process of slowing down brings its own reward, a theme that he also explores on tracks like Still, Walking Days and Take Your Mind Off It. Not allowing worry to cripple you is something that we can all try to practice in these times of change and the final track sums up the journey that LeBlanc has been on. Long Way To Go sings of the progress made and the challenge that still lies out ahead. With all these feelings of vulnerability I have the sense that LeBlanc is coming into his own and cruising along the fast lane to greater success.

Review by Paul McGee

Field Guide Field Guide Birthday Cake

Dylan MacDonald returns with a new album, his third release in the last two years. Field guide is his performing name and MacDonald has also released two Eps and a number of singles since 2019. This new release highlights a very self-assured musician, adept at penning reflective tunes that are wrapped in enticing melodies.

MacDonald has a richly toned vocal and the delivery is a mixture of just the right combination of wistful longing and knowing experience. These ten songs fall right into the basket of americana and roots sounds with the instrumentation delivering an impressive balance that enhances the arrangements. Recorded in a variety of locations and studios, the self-production of MacDonald is assured and uncluttered, giving the songs room to breath in the mix. The musicians that came together include the core trio of MacDonald (guitars, bass, vocals, Wurlitzer, B3, synths), Matt Kelly (pedal steel) and  Olivier Fairfield (drums). They are joined on specific tracks by Tom Dobrzanski (Wurlitzer), Kris Ulrich (Moog) and Leif Vollebekk (bass).

The gentle strum of Goddess and Leave You Lonely typify the easy flow of the music that paints different colours on other tracks like Remember When and Worst Of Ways. The track In Love Now speaks of wanting to make a relationship work, ‘I wanna go through the days more slowly, I wanna talk to you more gently.’

Similarly, on You Could Be Free the message is one of ‘If I cannot give you what you need, Take all your things and be free.’ Past mistakes are referenced on For Sure and Cracked Open is another look at how a relationship can be framed. Worst Of Ways has a more up-tempo arrangement and it unfolds around a fine guitar motif and subtle drumming. Wishing Well gives thanks for all the positive things that populate MacDonald’s life, while the message in Looking Back refers to living in the moment and not getting stuck in the past. Based on this fine collection of songs, the career trajectory for FIELD GUIDE is only going in one direction – accelerating forward and at a steady pace.

Review by Paul McGee

StevieRay Latham Hinterland Self Release

This fine artist has been creating his music over the last decade and has released a series of EPs that reflect an ongoing maturity and burgeoning talent. On this latest EP we are treated to four songs and the gentle, reflective sounds come across as strongly representative of where Latham finds his creative muse right now. Written during a period at home in Devon, having contacted the Covid virus, the songs have a directness that makes for an enjoyable and interesting listen.

Latham kicks off the EP with the reflective Let Me Inside accompanied by acoustic and understated electric guitar. The song looks at the essence of relationships and what keeps us apart while wishing for the glue that can bind us together.

Old Friends opens with an acoustic guitar and builds into a fine arrangement that questions friendship and being open with the truth. Nice keyboards and understated percussion support the song dynamic and the image of loss hangs heavily as Latham brings his sad tale of missed communications to an inevitable conclusion.

Fugitive has a nice tempo and a melody that echoes the words of frustration, regret and worldly woes that are mirrored in the haunting keyboard parts. It hints at a relationship breakdown but could also mirror the inner thoughts of a self-critical mind.

No Way Out is the final song and has a sparse arrangement around a message of being trapped in a dilemma, whether mental or physical, brought on by negative feelings. It could be a post Brexit plea for greater inclusion as we move forward, but Latham comes across more as a dismayed musician who feels the weight of uninspired leadership and limited options.

As always, the music is both interesting and rewarding, giving the listener plenty to digest while enjoying the superb musicianship at play.

Review by Paul McGee

The Welcome Wagon Esther Asthmatic Kitty

This band is comprised of husband and wife duo, Vito and Monique Aiuto. He is a pastor at the Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York and Monique has worked as a preschool teacher. Together, they have been releasing music since their 2008 debut, produced by Sufjan Stevens and released on his Asthmatic Kitty label. This new release is album number four and sees the couple in perfect harmony, both in their enthralling vocal delivery and their focus upon spreading the word of the bible in their lyrics. The references to religion may be off putting to many but when the message is one of simple acceptance and caring for each other, then it transcends any specific dogma and transfers into a universal message. Love and belief in a better way of living are the fuel that drives us after all, no matter what religious persuasion you identify with.

The album title refers to the enduring influence of Monique’s grandmother, Esther. Her voice opens the project with readings from scripture on Isiah, California and she also makes an appearance on a further song, Matthew 7/7.  The beautiful vocals and sweetly melodic song arrangements are all delivered with a style that lingers after the ten tracks have come and gone. Nothing ventures too far from the central theme of  serving the song with a less is more discipline. Two songs stand out, with Knocking On the Door Of Love and Consolation Blues heightening the experience that is both captivating and charming. The spoken part in Noble Tree is wrapped in lush keyboard and guitar sounds and I Know You Know is a song that engages and takes the certainty of trusting in another as a comfort. In the absence of playing credits I can only offer a general round of applause for all involved. The musicians deliver with understated grace and the playing is superbly consistent.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Releases

Tiffany Williams All Those Days Of Drinking Dust Self Release

Tiffany Williams was already an award winning fiction writer and an English teacher, but she moved to Nashville a few short years ago to satisfy her longstanding strong desire to be a songwriter. Initially she couldn’t even contemplate performing her own songs, such was her self consciousness, but eventually she got a lucky break, and her special vocal talents have now become apparent to all on this, her debut album.

The title track, All Those Days Of Drinking Dust, proudly proclaims her family heritage of eastern Kentucky coal mining, but also details the horrors of such a heritage. Her father, grandfather and great grandfather were all coalminers and she feels guilty at what they suffered, ‘all those nights of feelin’ that he couldn’t breathe/all to give a different life to us’.

Despite the attractive folksy cover art, the rest of the songs, all penned by Williams herself, deal with standard themes such as love, relationships and self worth. The pace is generally gentle and slow, and that probably enhances one’s appreciation of her rich sultry voice. She has chosen producer, and fellow Kentuckian, Duane Lundy (Joe Pug, The Lumineers) to realise her chosen sound, which tends towards the slick side of Americana. The production features electric guitars (J Tom Hnatow) and drums (Tripp Bratton), as well acoustic guitars (Justin Craig), fiddle (Ellie Miller) and banjo (Taylor Shuck).

On No Bottom, she proclaims that she would do things differently if she got her time again, especially in one particular love relationship. Know Your Worth, is a straight down the line song of female empowerment, encouraging women to be strong and like her ‘to tune out all the noise that I don’t need’, the uptempo banjo driven tune being quite a contrast on a generally more contemplative paced recording. There’s a country duet with another Kentuckian, novelist Silas House, who is also a music journalist and an activist against mountaintop removal mining. On When I Come Back Around, his baritone complements her sweet vocals perfectly.

The standout song for this reviewer is the pedal steel laden slowburner Wanted it To Be, where it emerges that the protagonist knows that her lover wants to be with another woman, but that despite this, she herself is prepared to accept being second best. A complicated scenario on what is otherwise a collection of well constructed straightforward songs.

Review by Eilís Boland

Jake Penrod Million Dollar Cowboy Papaw

In the past Jake Penrod has shown an affinity with the music of Hank Williams Sr and was for a time working in a one-man performance show of Hank’s music - something that one can easily see why listening to this album (and, perhaps, even more so on the CDs of Hank’s music he recorded in 2009). Since then, he has released CLOSER TO ME in 2013 and OUT OF CONTROL in 2016. This current album was started in the following year but finally gets it release this year. It is without doubt one of the year’s highlights in terms of a contemporary take of traditional country mores.

Two particular tracks can be seen as compass points on the album; the opening If You’ll Be Mine allows a more concurrent feel while Little Mama sounding like it could have come from the repertoire of Hank Sr. However, Penrod is not about mimicking any one his influences, rather he has distilled their essence to create his identity and own path. He is, though, of course not the only artist currently recording their individual take on traditional sounding music that is kept relevant today by maintaining a positive link with the past but looking to the future. This is something to savour given that, in recent times, what has been, and continues to be, sold as country music is to many listeners far from what they would recognise or as “real-deal” country music.

Penrod shows that he is not only an exemplary musician (playing drums, piano, bass, harmonica, electric, acoustic and steel guitar) but that he also wrote the songs (bar two) and produced the album. That shows a level of commitment and understanding of how he wanted the music to be recorded. Those two tracks are equally considered by their choices - the late great James Hand’s In The Corner, At The Table, By The Jukebox and a cross-fertilised take on the Bobby Braddock/Curly Putman written George Jones recorded classic He Stopped Loving Her Today, which he decided should to be done as if Waylon Jennings was recording it. It features some of the additional players who contribute to the album including bassist Kevin Smith, Austin bedrock drummer Tom Lewis, guitarist Chris Reeves with steel guitar from James Shelton. Both add a footnote to the album’s original songs and so rounds it off as a complete package that shows how far Penrod has come since his last release.

Blues For Company is a slow, mournful song that shows that Penrod is a vocalist well capable of imparting some real emotion in his delivery. Equally introspective is Better Than Being Alone which again has a bed of steel (guitar) to rest its weary head on. There is the requisite sense of sadness, heartbreak and dis-harmony in the relationships Penrod writes about here, that for most fans of something approaching hard country, know that despite the music itself is indeed uplifting and illuminating. There are few, if any weak spots here, and many other top-notch inclusions including the well-sung So Goodbye or the honky-tonk ready (and able) Erasing You, I Bet She Hasn’t Cried or Have You Ever Been A Fool.

Million dollar moments and memories abound on this album, which will be at the top of the lists for the best of 2022 for those lucky enough to have encountered it and it is definitely worth seeking it out and savouring. What Jake Penrod does next will be of great interest as his skill and talent could be developed in a number of different ways but here’s hoping he keeps it, as they saying goes, country.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Teague Brothers Band Love & War Self Release

There is a unity to the sound that this band delivers in its country/folk/rock amalgamation, which is why the John Teague fronted band uses the ‘brothers’ part of their name to signify something akin to, but different from, a sibling alliance. It signifies, as defined by a commitment to a work ethic, that Teague works on a small ranch and runs a construction company as well as fronting this band. With a previous album and EP under their belt, they have taken things up a notch with this new album. Co-produced by Scott Farrs and Christopher Reynolds and recorded in Lubbock, Texas, it is a prime example of what has come to define contemporary Texas roots music.

The band; Teague, guitarist Kyle Villarreal, A.J. Hoffman on fiddle and a rhythm section of Ryan Cobb and Jeremy Hall, all obviously committed to giving their best performances on these Teague written songs that touch on a number of lyrical themes. Many relate to relationships and how tricky they can be. “Eggshells don't make good enough flooring” being one line in Love & War that sets the tone for a song that concludes that “there’s no love without war.” Last Thing You Heard takes revenge to its unnerving conclusion with the protagonist being “the last thing you saw, the last thing you heard.”

Pipeliner is about a man whose job is laying oil pipelines and his struggle to hold a bond together while keeping to the unrelenting work commitment and trying to also keep committed to those close to him. Moscoto Wine (written with Matthew Teague) similiarly finds the confusion of knowing that “there's days that I wish you were home / and there's days that I'm glad that you're gone.” This doubt and self-seeking sense of purpose seems to underline the thinking for much of the material. In January there is a recognition that things can change and that the new person in his life could be the “first line in chapter two.”

From the opening I Found Trouble you are aware that this band is not about to take prisoners, by aligning its lyrical stance to an equally robust musical platform, which has Teague’s strong lead vocals and harmonies over the propulsive bedrock of bass and drums, topped by some engaging guitar and fiddle performances. Throughout, the band equally know how to take their collective foot off the pedal on the emotive introspection of some of the tracks, such as These Days and again for the more uptempo Pretty Ugly. There is a balance here that works and keeps things interesting and aligned.

This album, independently produced, promoted and performed is an example of why Texas has been a fertile ground for the conjunction of numerous influences and styles that, here, meld in a cohesive album that is, no doubt, equally reflective of the band’s live sound and appeal.  

Review by Stephen Rapid

Wesley Hanna Brand New Love Potion Self Release

Another name to add to the list of traditionally-minded Texas country troubadours. Hanna has a voice that immediately strikes you as fit for purpose as a country music singer. It has all the required resonance that you require to be convinced of the level of authenticity. There are ten tracks here that come from Hanna himself and they are good examples of songs that tell a story and take you places. Well Digger’s Lament tells of the life of those who work, meaning they end up missing a large part of their non-working life. It has a more acoustic delivery with the dobro and harmony vocals adding a certain folkiness, heard again in Concho Pearl, a love song. These are nicely balanced with the hardwood floor-fillers like the opening title track, or Back To The Honky Tonks which has a great opening lyric that tells so much about the life style of the protagonist. “Talking on the phone to some decent lawyer, he said I need to get my affairs in order, had I not had any affairs at all I probably wouldn’t have to be giving him a call.” Several locations in the Lone Star State are visited in the journey detailed in Texas Road Trip. There is some slow sweeping steel on the intimate songThe Waltz. 

Another example of Hanna’s vocal adeptness is highlighted in the song Sundown Kid, with some fine guitar too from Newcomb. The somewhat different direction of Gulf Coast Moon, drawing on the gulf and western sound is, while not a highlight, a diversion.The oft referenced old school phase about ‘creeks not rising’ turns up in Creek Don’t Rise, which has a harder edge than other tracks but shows Hanna can rock when required. It again is surpassed by other tracks here but offers another possibility in terms of sound. The songs that relate more to the honky tonk attitude are the focal points here but the fact that, for a number of tracks, he explores some other options shows that Hanna is exploring what works for him. 

Hanna is based in Fort Worth in Texas and plays the bars, honky-tonks and fairs in the region. So this album can only do him a lot of good and raise his profile a notch or two. I listened several times and was also impressed with the sound of the album so I checked the details and was not unsurprised to find the talents of Scrappy Jud Newcomb on bass and guitar, Lloyd Maines on pedal steel and dobro, the keyboards of Bukka Allen and the fiddle of Brian Beken, added to the drumming of producer and engineer Pat Manske, who has made this sound as good as it does. Pauline Reese adds harmony vocals behind Hanna’s to complete the picture. All this means it takes a few listens to fully take in the words and the stories which are, as one might expect, tales of hearts won, heartbreaks, honky-tonks and highways.

It is always a pleasure to discover a new album and artist who surpasses expectations with an all a powerful musical potion, one that’s easy to love.

Review by Stephen Rapid 

Grey DeLisle Borrowed Regional

Such a pleasure to have this lady back recording. Two distinguished albums in 2004 and 2005 on Sugar Hill, IRON FLOWERS and THE GRACEFUL GHOST, respectively brought her critical acclaim, as did her 2002 debut, HOMEWRECKER. Since then DeLisle took the time out to raise a family and to remarry, but she now has found the time to return with this album of wide ranging covers with interesting and, at times, some perhaps less than obvious covers - but then again maybe not, considering the scope of her output. 

None more so than the opening take on Roger Water’s Another Brick In The Wall, which contains its anger gracefully and features strings that have been arranged by Tammy Rogers (one of the arrangers featured on the album, alongside Eric Gorfain and Sasha Matson). It also use horns, arranged and performed by David Ralicke. This is alongside DeLisle on vocals and autoharp, Murry Hammond on acoustic guitar, Jonah Tolchin on electric lead guitar and Marvin Etzioni on mandocello and drums. Etzioni also returns to the production chair, as he had done with the three previous releases.

It lets you know that what will follow will be equally interesting and diverse. Alongside the choices there are a couple of songs written by Etzioni (Borrowed And Blue) and DeLisle with Etzioni (You Are The Light - a song covered by Lone Justice) and also included is Valentine, written by her ex-husband Murry Hammond. The latter has gentle forcefulness relating to the nature of love and loss.

Of the other tracks the eclectic picks are, perhaps, best exemplified by versions of You Only Live Twice, which features The Satellite 4, and the Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell classic Georgia On My Mind. The latter is graced by an understated and considered vocal over the sensitive arrangement of strings and Mickey Raphael’s harmonica. The former give a cinemascopic delivery, with the quartet of players hitting the right tone with electric guitars, bass and drums in what is an effective reimagining of the theme, that seems more like a Mediterranean romance than a spy thriller - though maybe the combination of the two would be equally suitable.

Calvary is given a slightly jazzy New Orleans feel with Ralicke’s trumpet, trombone and bass sax added to the atmosphere of the crucifixion tale. Another notable version is that of Julie Miller’s All My Tears, another song tinged with melancholic religious overtones. A bonus track has been taken from the 2004 compilation Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs Of Stephen Foster - Willie We Have Missed You, again featuring Etzioni alongside Greg Leisz on pedal steel. It fits with the overall concept of the songs and arrangements, which sees this collection highlighting, as does her previous recordings, the timelessness and uniqueness of the distinctive vision of DeLisle and Etzioni, something that anyone acquainted with those releases will, no doubt, wish to hear as much as I did. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

Various Artists A Tribute To Johnny Cash - Vol 3 Hillgrass Bluebilly

Compilation albums can often be something of a mixed bag, with some tracks getting the balance right between giving the song an individual twist and making a fairly straight ahead copy of the original. They can also afford the opportunity to listen to an act you may not have been acquainted with previously. A lot also has to do with the curator of the compilation and the artists chosen to feature. In my collection, I probably have more Johnny Cash tributes than for any other artist. The songs are often well know from Cash’s unique delivery, whether they were written by him or not.

Here we have a selection of sixteen cuts that range from Public Enemy’s Chuck D’s version of Man In Black, featuring Bob Log III through to (new to me) South Filthy or Willy Tea Taylor. None-the-less the album, collectively, keeps one’s interest and the ear attuned. Ten Pole Polecats are featured back to back on two hard edged takes of Redemption and Big River,  the latter more of a punkabilly-inspired account, while the girlish voice of Amanda Jo Williams gives a different gendered, small town perspective to Country Trash. 

Ballad Of A Teenage Queen, written by ‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement, a tale of seeking fame and realising it may not be what it was thought to be, is given a run-out by RestavRant. The version of Nick Lowe’s The Beast In Me by Delaney Davidson is not that far from the author’s own recording, though the vocal delivery favours Cash’s darker tone. Darren Hoff and The Hard Times give the opening track, There You Go, a sense of purpose that suits its place in opening the album - it has an agreeable roots/garage country/rock energy. Let The Train Blow The Whistle When I Go, by Tom VandenAvond, channels early Dylan. While Austin Lucas’ raw version of Tennessee Stud brings it back to the soil, with just his voice and guitar. The closing track on the album is Charlie Parr covering Were You There When They Crucified My Lord has a gospel feel, with Parr adding harmony vocal to his bittersweet take on the religious side of Cash’s output through the years.

In a similar mode, but full of fervour and with an anguished overtone, is the stripped back vocal, guitar and fiddle of Give My Love To Rose by Willy Tea Taylor. The banjo-infused ‘anger is an energy’ of Apache Tears by Los Duggans is full on in a good way, with an expansive rock guitar solo to boot. Wreck Of The Old 97 by Left Lane Cruiser is cruising in James McMurtry territory. Straight A’s In Love is another example of Cash’s influence on the ‘three chords and the truth’ punk leaning bands. More twangy by far, with echoes of Luther Perkins, is Karen Jonas’ rendering of Understand Your Man, which has a touch of June Carter’s sassiness. As you may expect, the late James Hand is pretty true to form and honest in his rendering of Get Rhythm, that has the feel of Sun era Johnny Cash down to a T. 

There is undoubtedly a rhythm to this record which is not towards the polished end of the spectrum, but rather it has a raw passion and purpose that pays tribute to an iconic individual whose body of work should not be forgotten. The fourth volume of this series (as visualised on the cover) will be a tribute to R.L. Burnside and will be equally varied and valuable as a measure of the magnetism and majesty of both performers.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Native Harrow Old Kind Of Magic Loose

Currently residing in rural Sussex, having moved to the U.K. from Pennsylvania via Brighton, OLD KIND OF MAGIC is the fifth full-length album from musical and life partners, Devin Tuel and Stephen Harms. A classically trained vocalist and ballerina, Tuel’s vocals have regularly, and deservedly, drawn comparisons with Sandy Denny and Joni Mitchell. Combining that gift alongside multi-instrumentalist Harms, and Tuel’s wherewithal to pen ageless folk songs, is a potent recipe and one that works spectacularly on this album.

OLD KIND OF MAGIC follows their 2020 release, CLOSENESS, and is focussed very much on the strength and intimacy of their relationship. Crashing waves and cawing seagulls, recorded during a field trip to Brighton beach, introduce the album’s opener, Song For Joan. With every word perfectly expressed, it paves the way, both vocally and instrumentally, for what follows.

For me, the album’s tour de force is the quite stunning and hypnotic six-minute love ballad, Heart of Love, described by Tuel as ‘a song that slowly drifted its way to me and sunk in deep, it sings of the passion in soulmate love. The deep love that you may search the world over for’. With an enthralling vocal performance by Tuel, delightfully understated guitar work by Harms and pedal steel by Joe Harvey Whyte, the track has had me hitting the repeat button more than once. Long Long Road, awash with strings courtesy of Georgina Leach, brings to mind Nick Drake and the organ lead As It Goes, which also features Leach, has a distinctly 60s vibe. Magic Eyes, which follows, is a throwback to the same decade, with echoed vocals and fuzzy distorted finger picked acoustic guitar. Not adverse to crossing folk with modern jazz, Used To Be Free ticks that particular box and shades of Sandy Denny are to the fore on the title track.

Self-produced by Native Harrow, OLD KING OF MAGIC is brimming with gorgeous vocals that perfectly convey the messages within the songs. With one song tumbling effortlessly into the next, the music flows freely throughout from Harms, long-time collaborator Alex Hall, Georgina Leach and Joe Harvey White. With magic both old and new in abundance, this contemporary alt-folk record is another superlative effort from Tuel and Harms.

Review by Declan Culliton

Joseph Shipp Free, For a While Self Release

‘I’m an American man, whatever that means’ sings Nashville -based singer songwriter Joseph Shipp on his debut album FREE, FOR A WHILE, which is based upon the writer’s relocation to Tennessee after having lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco for six years. Very much a pandemic album, Shipp’s intention of a family holiday in 2020 was scuppered for obvious reasons, leaving him with time and disposable income, which he redirected into purchasing home recording equipment. Originally envisioned as a solo undertaking, as the songs developed Shipp decided to call on the services of old friend, Grammy nominated and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Sovine (Ashley McBryde, Jaime Wyatt, Ian Noe, Kelsey Waldon) to co-produce the album. The resulting eleven-track record was recorded at Sovine’s home studio, The Back Room in Savannah, Georgia.

An accomplished and award-winning graphic designer and photographer - he grew up in a small town in Tennessee where his parents ran a photography business - Shipp and his wife moved to East Nashville to start a family in 2016 and he continues to work remotely in graphic design with his San Francisco colleagues.

With a vocal style that lands somewhere between Dylan and Conor Oberst, the album navigates its way around a variety of personal emotions. Brooding ballads such as Rest, Assured and American Man sit comfortably alongside more experimental and, for this writer, standout tracks Only The Moon and Dod. The latter two account for twelve minutes of the album’s total playtime. Following in the footsteps of Bonny Light Horseman, who included a selection of traditional folk songs from the book FOLKSONGS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND on their debut album, a reworking of the love lost ballad Green Grows The Laurel is also included.

An album of many moods and definitely one for the slow cooker, FREE, FOR A WHILE is a potent serving of contemporary American roots music dealing with the challenges and plights of parenthood, separation, and uncertainty. It’s also an album that reveals more and more to the listener with each subsequent visit.

Review by Declan Culliton

Sylvie Self-Titled Full Time Hobby

This project is the brainchild of musician Ben Schwab and was inspired in part by his father, John Schwab who had a 70s band called Mad Anthony. Their debut album fell victim of a record deal that never happened and all these years later, son Ben has taken the essence of the songs he unearthed to create a superb album. The album title is taken from the song released by Matthews Southern Comfort back in 1970 and Schwab pays tribute to the easy flow of the melody while adding swathes of beautiful pedal steel and gentle keyboard swells. The ethereal music continues across the seven songs included here and the running time of twenty-eight minutes just leaves the listener wanting more. The sweet melodies drift along and land in the sweet spot where inspiration meets talent.  

Further Down the Road  and Falls On Me feature the alluring vocals of Marina Allen while the retro arrangement of Shooting Star features the sweet tone of Ben Schwab and a sound that reminds me of Mojave 3 meets Gram Parsons. 50/50 features an old recording of Ben’s father, John Schwab speaking about a song that he was working on and the instrumental that follows the spoken part is just beautiful and conjures up passing days of youthful memory.

Final song Stealing Time is a paean to the old Californian sounds of Lauren Canyon and the close harmonies are so perfectly judged against the easy cadence and wistful vocal of Sam Burton. The use of pedal steel throughout the record is wonderful with Conor Gallagher excelling. He is joined by Sam Kauffman Skloff on drums and JJ Kirkpatrick on horns, but it is the overarching talents of Ben Schwab that shine through on all the tracks. Playing an array of instruments he draws upon the experience gained over years of honing his craft in bands like Drugdealer and Golden Daze. This is certainly a rich reward and the timeless music comes highly recommended.  

 Coda - The original songs of John Schwab that had lain idle in a forgotten part of memory until rediscovered by Ben are now in the process of finally gaining a release. Ben is acting as producer on the reworked songs, all these years later.

Review by Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

I Draw Slow Self-Titled Compass

With this being only their fifth album since they formed in 2008 (from the ashes of the much missed old time/bluegrass band Prison Love), I Draw Slow demonstrate why they are probably Ireland’s best exponents of the fusion of Celtic and American music. The core band composition of siblings Dave (guitar, vocals) and Louise Holden (vocals), along with Konrad Liddy (bass), Adrian Hart (fiddle) and Colin Derham (clawhammer banjo) has remained stable from the start, which probably contributes to the ever evolving progression of their sound towards something quite unique. Influenced by loss and tragedy over the recent couple of years, the songwriting of the two Holdens is darker than before, sometimes obscure, but always worth investing in. The sound too has moved on, with wider musical influences more to the fore.

We’re taken right back to the 60s/70s Laurel Canyon sound in About a Bird in an Airport and Copenhagen Interpretation. In the former, the unfortunate trapped bullfinch is a metaphor for the feeling of trying to extricate oneself from a complicated and smothering relationship, with the protagonist checking through security in an attempt to find escape, but ‘I swore when I left you last time/it would be the last time I’d ever leave, If I change my mind I can always find you/left of the devil, right of the deep blue sea.’ As well as co-producing with the siblings, Adrian Hart really comes into his own here on this acoustic track with his soaring fiddle wor evoking perfectly the frantic escape efforts of the trapped subject. The soundscape in Copenhagen Interpretation is even more deliciously lush, thanks in part to guest Kate Ellis (Crash Ensemble) on cello, interplaying with the acoustic guitar, banjo and fiddle, building up delicately then descending in cascades to an abrupt ending. The song, influenced by Orwell, explores the duplicity of political language, ‘yesterday you were the snake, the ladder/who are you today?’

Dearly contemplates the past through rose coloured glasses, musing that perhaps this is the best way to view it, with the repeated refrain ‘Dearly/Sincerely/Forgetfully yours’, guest Greg Felton on piano adding a delicate layer to the guitar and banjo soundtrack.

Louise Holden takes the lead vocal on all of the songs, her gorgeous voice reminiscent sometimes of the late Dolores O’Riordan, but perhaps even sweeter. As well as backing vocals from her brother, they are joined on several tracks by the ‘Choir’ of Michelle O’Rourke and Siobhra Quinlan,  including on Dublin Bay, Christmas Day (another musing on a long relationship) and on Bring Out Your Dead. We go to New Orleans for the bluesy Trouble, with horns here (and on several other songs) courtesy of Bill Blackmore and Colm O’Hara.

The album ends with two evocations of first love. A Chuid den Tsaol (with an English translation in the lyrics booklet) tells of the tentative longings of a young person attempting to communicate the depth of her love for an unsuspecting other, accompanied simply by acoustic guitar, cello and beautiful double stop fiddle playing that could only be Irish (even though Adrian Hart is actually a Yorkshire man!). Leisureplex recalls, with excruciating attention to detail, the intense awkwardness of first love, which eventually fizzles out as life moves on.

Nashville’s Compass record label recognised the potential of this band over five years ago when they signed them up. Spend some time with this record and you will understand why.

Review by Eilís Boland

Emily Nennie On The Ranch Normaltown /New West

Boasting all the key components that tick the ‘modern but real’ country music box for me, Emily Nennie’s second full-length album, ON THE RANCH, is a particularly slick slice of honky tonk honed tunes. Flawless production (hats off to Mike Eli for that), impeccable playing throughout, Nennie’s classic nasally vocal purr, and some great songs, all amount to a really accomplished presentation.

Firstly, a bit of background about the currently Nashville-based artist. Born and raised in California, she was introduced at an early age to the music of Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, and Jessi Coulter by her mother, and John Coltrane and James Brown by her father. Despite attending Columbia College and majoring in audio engineering, her early exposure to country music had sown the seeds for her favoured vocation and, like scores of others, she headed to Nashville to follow her dream. She didn’t waste any time in Music City, quickly finding herself on the hallowed stage at Robert’s Western World on Broadway, before independently releasing her debut album, HELL OF A WOMAN, in 2017. Steeped in a classic country vibe, that pedal steel laced album was followed by her four-track EP, LONG GAME, in 2020.

Being written while working on a ranch in Colorado - producer Mike Eli’s wife was already working there – has given her latest album an additional country and western vibe. Although, and to her credit, Nennie does not profess to be a genuine cowgirl, admitting that her duties were confined to serving meals, child minding and playing music weekly for guests at the ranch. She confesses her rural limitations on the title track (‘Well to be true, I really wasn’t much use, once the truck got to gettin’ loose, I was playin with a cattle dog’). Notwithstanding her admission, the album is packed with bona fide country songs from the word go. Opening the ten-track album in fine style is Can Chaser. Giving the thumbs up to a barrel racing rodeo queen, it sets out the primary full-on honky tonk sound that dominates much of the album. True to form she also includes a few tearjerkers, with Leavin’ and Matches ticking that box and she’s more defiant on Gates Of Hell where she gives the two fingers to a former beau.

She does stray off the page with a mildly countryfied cover of Abba’s Does Your Mother Know. In fairness, it’s not the car crash it could have been but, for me anyway, it falls way below the quality of her self-written material. She closes the record on a positive note with the chirpy Get On With It (‘Get up off your good intentions, get on with it’).

Given the exceptional playing on the album, a mention of the musicians is warranted. Producer Mike Eli also played guitar, Alex Lyon was on bass, drums and percussion are credited to Bradford Dobbs, and Eddy Dunlap played pedal steel and dobro.

All in all, ON THE RANCH finds Nenni ‘talking the talk and walking the walk’ as impressively as any country record I’ve heard this year. It’s yet another fine album coming from the growing number of female artists who are delivering traditional country music without the bells, whistles, drum beats and auto-tunes that dominates so much of the music currently coming out of Music Row. Nenni has been nominated at the upcoming Ameripolitan Awards in the Female Outlaw Artists of the Year category and has recently toured with like-minded artists, Charley Crockett and Kelsey Waldon. If there’s any justice, that exposure and this refreshing album should substantially raise the profile of this silver-voiced vocalist way beyond Nashville. Have a listen and make your own mind up. I expect that you’ll love what you hear, I most certainly did.

Review by Declan Culliton

Sterling Drake Highway 200 Orchard

Previously a published songwriter in Nashville, Sterling Drake’s six-track EP follows hot on the heels of where he left off with his previous recording, ROLL THE DICE, from 2021.

‘I always strive to create country music that is relatable, something you’d want to listen to in the feed truck,’ notes Drake about his recordings. I’m unable to confirm if that is the case, but I can verify that the album sounds fine to me playing in my VW Golf. Fiercely devoted to vintage country, his sound shifts between traditional country and western swing.

He kicks off HIGHWAY 200 with a fine reworking of the classic traditional song In The Pines, sticking closer to the countrified version recorded by Loretta Lynn than the blues rendition by Lead Belly. Next up is the title track and first single from the EP. It’s a standout track, portraying the harsh yet cherished sentiments of life as a rancher in Montana. With razor-sharp playing and a vocal to match, it doffs its cap in the direction of Merle Haggard during his late 60s purple patch. Elsewhere he goes full-on western swing with the light-hearted Bad Looks Good On You and Stuck In The Saddle is a country and western cowboy lament.

If you like your country super twangy, time-honoured, and circling back to the 60s and beyond, you’re bound to enjoy this album. Produced by Drake and Chris Weisbecker, it features dobro and pedal steel by Ryan Stigmon, and bass guitar by Gabe Tonon. Drake takes lead vocals and guitar, and Weisbecker plays drums.

HIGHWAY 200 is not going to dent the country charts or feature in what is peddled  on most country radio stations, no surprise there. But it is typical of the many artists that are currently writing and recording premium country music, even if you have to often scratch beneath the surface to find them.

Review by Declan Culliton

Alex Williams Waging Peace Lightning Rod Records

'Waging Peace' is just about trying to make peace with yourself,’ explains Alex Williams, commenting on his latest twelve-track album of modern country outlaw.

To date, the Indiana-born and raised Williams’ career reads like a film script. Although relatively inexperienced at the time, the bearded, long-haired baritone, scored a major record deal with Big Machine Records and recorded his debut album, BETTER THAN MYSELF in 2017.

The possessor of a winged ‘W’ tattoo on his arm in honour of Waylon Jennings, Williams was perceived by many as the latest torch carrier in the Outlaw country genre, and one of the artists most likely to revive that tradition and introduce it to a more mainstream audience, something similar to what Jamey Johnson had achieved a decade earlier. However, not having toured prior to the release of that album, life on the road subsequently led Williams down a path of excess and recklessness. ‘Never saw the devil ‘till I went out on the road,’ he remarks on the title track, an admission of his pattern of emulating the darker side of his musical heroes Waylon and Merle’s behaviour back in the day.

Fortunately, and prior to total burnout, Williams recognised the futility and diminishing returns of those few years, and WAGING PEACE is an account of his personal grapple between righteousness and devilishness during that time.  He puts his cards on the table on the album’s opener and lead single No Reservation. It’s a full-on gritty southern rocker, detailing the struggles in searching for inner peace and coping with the lures and temptations of life on the road.  That big sound is repeated on Fire and Conspiracy. In contrast, tracks such as The Vice, Rock Bottom and The Struggle are self-explanatory country ballads, loaded with twang and deadly pedal steel (credit to the legendary Danny Dugmore for that) behind William’s grainy vocals. Old Before My Time is a whimsical and self-deprecating song (‘I’m at the tail end of my twenties and I’m singing songs from 1969’) and The Best Thing hints at a lot of Merle Haggard cramming.

The production is outstanding, courtesy of Grammy winner Ben Fowler (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatt), on an album divided between themes of light and darkness, blazing anthem rockers, and more considered country tunes. It’s the ideal mix for a touring act and one, no doubt, that will raise Williams’ profile further and find him busy on the festival circuit in the coming year. Watch this space, this guy is back in the saddle and going places.

Review by Declan Culliton

Bonny Light Horseman Rolling Golden Holy ‎ 37d03d

The self-titled album by Bonny Light Horseman from 2020 suggested a one-off project by three artists with somewhat varying backgrounds, accompanied by a dozen other friends and fellow musicians. A singer songwriter and composer (Anais Mitchell), a producer and multi-instrumentalist (Josh Kaufman) and an indie pop/folk band leader and soundtrack composer (Eric D. Johnson), put their collective comfort zones to one side to create what became a Grammy-nominated collection of charming folk songs. The featured songs were reconstructions of traditional folk songs, many of which dated back centuries.

That debut recording may have remained a one-off meeting of minds, given their collective workloads and side projects. On the contrary, it appears to have aroused a desire to explore similar musical and lyrical concepts, resulting in the ten self-written songs embodied in ROLLING GOLDEN HOLY.

On this occasion the trio only called on two others to participate in the recording, J.T. Bates played drums and Mike Lewis contributed bass guitar and saxophone. Whereas the songs remain true to the template of its predecessor, they have strayed from the classic U.K. folk inspirations of that album, resulting in songs that remain fundamentally folk, but to a certain degree more Americanised, typified by the charming California, with its tale of pressing on to pastures new. Mitchell may be perceived as the frontperson, given that she takes the lead vocal on the majority of the songs. However, the contribution of her bandmates is immense.  Kaufman’s guitar work in particular is striking, as are Johnson’s smooth harmonies and the suitably understated arrangements throughout.

Although they had begun working on some of the compositions soon after the release of the debut album, the ten compositions were completed in the spring of 2021 when the trio and their respective families, free from their busy work schedules, assembled in upstate New York to finalise the songs. The end product is a contemporary exploration into the common folk themes of love lost and yearned for, hopefulness and death.

Johnson takes the lead vocal on the wartime ballad Someone To Weep For Me and shares vocals with Mitchell on the gorgeous Exile. The former finds its author pleading to be remembered with dignity after his passing. The latter is an ode to a loving relationship and the realisation that it is not everlasting. Equally impressive are the powerful love song Comrade Sweetheart and the banjo-led Sweetbread. They sign off with Cold Rain and Snow. Complete with three-part harmonies it’s akin to a late 60s ‘hippy anthem’, bursting with radiant love and positiveness.

ROLLING GOLDEN HOLY opens a door to a charming array of songs whose groundwork and themes may be stimulated from previous times but are presented in a timeless manner by three like-minded artists. Tune in and prepare to be mesmerised.

Review by Declan Culliton

Chris Canterbury Quaalude Lullabies Rancho Deluxe

‘The truth doesn’t care if you choose it, a heart only breaks when you use it,’ announces Chris Canterbury on QUAALUDE LULLABIES’ opening track, The Devil, The Dealer, & Me. The lines are pointers for what is to follow on an album that deals head on with thorny issues such as mental illness, substance abuse, and addiction.

Growing up in a small town in Haynesville, Louisiana, and born into a standard blue-collar working-class family, Canterbury, like numerous artists before him, chose a wayward and honky tonk lifestyle, abandoning the advice indoctrinated in the Southern Baptist sermons that featured heavily during his younger days.

A self-produced project, he describes this collection of songs as ‘loose like a box of bedroom demo tapes, but cohesive enough to stand on its own.’ A succession of confessional tales, the album is anything but an easy listen. With lyrics as painful as an open wound, the closing track Back On The Pills leaves a lasting impression of a life journey where impending doom is never far from the surface. Tracks such as Fall Apart and Felt The Same are slow-burning stories, rich in both detail and content, reflecting on the isolation and harsh reality of the solo travelling musician. The album’s only cover is the Will Kimbrough penned Yellow Mama. The last-minute declaration of a singer as he awaits execution by way of an Alabama electric chair, it mirrors the hopelessness and prayerful nature of Canterbury’s self-written inclusions. The pedal steel laced love song Sweet Maria does offer temporary respite from the painful content of its accompanying tracks and whereas much of the material is stripped back, the fuller sound of Heartache For Hire enters Jamey Johnson’s THE LONESOME SONG territory.

Canterbury’s plain-spoken tales are painted in vivid detail throughout QUAALUDE LULLABIES. It’s anything but a Saturday night listen, simply a brutally forthright and honest testimony of self-destruction and isolation, representing quandaries that have challenged artists for many decades. It certainly captured and held my attention from the outset, as it will, no doubt, for any lover of classic country singer songwriting.

Review by Declan Culliton

Parker Twomey All This Life Self Release

Those familiar with the country soul wildcat Paul Cauthen will no doubt recognise the name Parker Twomey. Touring with Cauthen since the tender age of eighteen, Twomey has played keyboards and contributed backing vocals in Cauthen’s band for the past three years. A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has been writing songs since childhood, his introduction to band life was courtesy of his father who included him in his gigs at ten years of age.  Attending Booker T. Washington High School in his youth, after classes Twomey’s afternoons were spent at Modern Electric Sound Recorders, working as a general dog’s body, an exercise that eventually led to assisting engineers and producers, and learning that side of the industry first hand.

Twomey’s debut album ALL THIS LIFE plays out like an old head on young shoulders. Still in his early twenties, the album reveals more grief and broken relationships than you’d expect from one of that age. Maybe that direction is more in keeping with traditional country storytelling than actual personal experience, but the title track and album opener sets that agenda from the outset. That rationale continues on the heartrending lost love song Baby, It’s Harder Way Now. It’s the standout track on the album, showcasing Twomey’s wistful vocals and the masterly group of players that joined him in the studio. Those musicians included co-producers Matt Pence (drums) and Beau Bedford (piano, mellotron, strings), together with Charley Wiles (slide guitar), and Scott Lee (bass). A fleeting encounter while on the road is recounted on Lines of Wilderness and Loving You Too Easy expresses further yearning for intimacy and companionship (‘there’s this place that I’ve seen but never been, like on the covers of postcards’). Notwithstanding the longing and angst throughout, the album does close on an optimistic note as the writer looks forward to brighter times with Family.

With arrangements that more than complement Twomey’s vocals - the strings are particularly imposing -ALL THIS LIFE is a delightful listen from an artist that touches on the grinding reality of attempting to combine his love of touring with an equally burning desire to find love and attachment. He articulates those sentiments exceptionally well with these richly constructed country songs.

Review by Declan Culliton

David Adam Byrnes Keep Up With A Cowgirl Reviver

This album follows up after NEON TOWN, the most recent album from the Arkansas native, who then located to Nashville to write songs, which turned out to have to follow the current formula of  “bro-country.” But after a writing deal failed to happen as intended, Byrnes moved to the Fort Worth area of Texas, and his music soon took on the sound of the country music that they listen to and dance to down that way. He had regional hits and racked up a lot of streams and gained social media followers, as well as those who caught his shows in person.

This new collection is packed with songs that fit with country themes of relationships both good and bad, alcohol, working late, cowboy and cowgirls and his adopted State. This is reflected in titles like One Honky Tonk Town, Too Much Texas, Like I’m Elvis, Past My Bud Time, A Shot Or Two and Better Love Next Time. All are delivered with the kind of vocal resonance and attitude that fit right in with his heroes such as George Strait, Mark Chestnut and Keith Whitley and contemporaries such as Aaron Watson and Cody Johnson. 

The production and playing serves to achieve a cohesive, modern yet solidly straight down the line country sound, with fiddle, steel and big guitars that is so popular in Texas but is again finding a foothold in the mainstream these days. As an additional incentive, the album has four of the full throttle songs repeated in acoustic version, which gives an insight into how Byrnes may have presented these songs as demos, or in an in-the-round setting. They show his solid vocal and songwriting in its most stripped back form. Though I imagine most will prefer his full band versions, it is an insight into his down to earth methodology.

An album that is a perfect example of good time country that will have the dancers on the floor and the drinkers raising the glasses.

Review by Stephen Rapid

Ragland Guardian Self Release

This album could readily be described as Americana in the sense it was conceived some time back. Contemporary takes on country music that are not tied to any particular sound or retro style, but instead explore through the writing many of the emotional pretexts that incorporate the light and the dark, the love and the heartbreak, those ups and downs that are part and parcel of the everyday and beyond. 

The vocalist and songwriter is Autumn Ragland and this is her fourth release under that name. The writing is shared with Sam Cox who with Ragland co-wrote the material, co-produced along with Hank Early (a member of the Turnpike Troubadours) - who adds steel guitar - and Javan Long. Ragland and Cox also play guitars, drums, keyboards and harmonica, while Long also shares the drum chair.

This tight, focused and emphatic combo take a considered approach to each song, which are often different but made cohesive by Ragland’s vocal delivery, which is central to the sound. The songs take themes that many can relate to, often hinted at by such titles as Couch Surfing, I’m Not Mad, I Just Miss You, I Think I love You Too Much, Guns in The House and Throwing MY Life Away, which features Sunny Sweeney on harmony vocals.

These are, as mentioned, not the type of songs that fit neatly into a pop-country or honky tonk pigeon hole. They find their own level that is, perhaps, floating between and above both. For instance, Remember Me has a sound that could find itself gaining plays on a number of different stations. It is a contemplation on one’s place, while also wondering what the memories of those who follow one might be. It does so in a way that may well trigger a similar response in the listener, as perhaps will some of the more confrontational lyrics. Ones that confront as in Throwing My Life Away, where Ragland sums up a relationship and lifestyle with the words “I been working my ass off and people still think I’m throwing my life away … If I say too much or I don’t smile enough he’ll call me a bitch anyway.” This is delivered with evocative pedal steel and a strong melody, and shows why Ragland have musically and lyrically moved up a notch with this album.

Review by Stephen Rapid