New Album Reviews

Alela Diane Who’s Keeping Time? Loose/Fluff & Gravy

WHO’S KEEPING TIME? is the seventh studio album from the Portland-based singer-songwriter Alela Diane and her first on the U.K based label Loose Music. It’s Diane’s first album in four years, and the inspiration to write and record again was the death of folk legend Michael Hurley in April of last year. A major presence in the Portland music community for many years, Hurley’s passing was marked by a tribute show, at which Diane performed, and soon after began the writing process for this record.

Recorded live over five days in Diane’s attic, she was joined by members of the tight-knit Portland music community. Included were her U.S. Fluff & Gravy label mate Anne Tivel (violin, backing vocals), Peter Lalish from the band Lucius (guitar), Danny Austin-Manning (drums), Sebastian Owens (bass), Katie Claborn (clarinet) and Peter Ydstie (pedal steel). Canadian singer-songwriter and producer Sam Weber was recruited to co-produce and mix the recordings.

The sensitive side of relationships and the passage of time are recurring themes on the album. Built around Diane’s sweet-toned alto and her deft storytelling, she recalls a close friend lost to addiction in Dusty Roses (“Night after broken night/She stumbled down that gravel road/Black bird flies/Ocean eyes/Ravaged body/Buried like a key”).In California, the record’s lead single, she speaks of a trip back to her beloved small town in that State where she grew up and an encounter with a woman she previously knew but had little recollection of (‘’All these faces/Names escape me/I can’t place it/But I’ve known you before/Time makes for shaky recognition”). It’s a beautifully constructed song with Diane’s vocals ebbing and flowing, alongside well-placed whistling and backing vocals.

Spring Is A Fine Time To Die is a touching and fitting tribute to Michael Hurley, which references the season of rebirth and growth as well as loss ("Magnolia, Tulip, and Daphne, too/Flesh is temporary but your songs will carry on forever"). Wide Open Spaces is about Diane’s brother; despite their differences, they are joined by their love of nature and the outdoors. In My Own Time is a relaxed song about love and happiness. In contrast, Piss, Coffee, Blood Or Wine comments on society’s growing lack of care and self-absorption ("A crowd is shouting in the street/While others stare down at their screens/In this land, our only home/They line their pockets with our souls").

Alela Diane’s voice, pure and unmistakable, combined with her precise lyricism, has been her signature since the debut of FOREST PARADE almost thirteen years ago. With this modern folk collection, supported by exquisite musicianship, she succeeds once again with flying colours.

Declan Culliton

The Deslondes Don’t Let It Die Vol. 1 New West

New Orleans-based band The Deslondes may have only recorded four albums since forming fifteen years ago, but their stamp on roots music has been immense, particularly in the community-based underground music scene in The Big Easy. Band members Sam Doores and Riley Dowling have parallel solo careers, and John James Tourville's production duties include albums by Emily Nenni, Pat Reedy and John R. Miller. The band’s songwriting duties are shared by Doores, Dowling, Tourville and the remaining two members, Dan Cutler and Howe Pearson.

Given the band’s democratic composition and the genre-hopping nature of their music, it’s little surprise that they would honour the artists, both household names and lesser-known, close to their hearts. In doing so, the twelve-track album includes The Ballad of Boot Hill, written by Carl Perkins and recorded by Johnny Cash, alongside lesser-known but hugely talented artists like Kiki Cavazos, whose song I’m Gone features, and one-time New Orleans resident Pat Reedy, with the inclusion of Long Drives and Lonesome Mornings.

Essentially a celebration of the many musical genres that brought The Deslondes together, the album features shared lead vocals by four of the five members, and the selections are generally faithful to the original versions. Pearson, accompanied by Sabine McCalla on vocals, does justice to country-soul legend Swamp Dog’s The World Beyond. Pearson also takes the lead vocal on a slowed-down take on the late Zydeco musician Clifton Chenier’s I’m Coming Home.

British-born musician and producer Hurricane Smith, who engineered both Pink Floyd and all of The Beatles’ EMI studio recordings, is honoured by the inclusion of Don’t Let It Die. It’s performed by Sam Doores, who is also credited as lead vocalist. Also included are Cordelia, written by Morgan Geer of Drunken Prayer, and a jazzy take on the traditional song Lawdy Mama. Shelby Lynn’s classic Where I’m From gets an impressive treatment by Dan Cutler, whose other lead vocal tracks include Family, an inspired choice borrowed from Nick Woods’ 2020 album, BAD CAPTAIN.  A more recent song, Try Again, composed by The Kernal’s Joe Garner, is another inclusion with Cutler taking the lead. Riley Dowling’s gravelly vocals take pride of place on the previously mentioned The Ballad Of Boot Hill, I’m Gone, and Long Drives and Lonesome Mornings.

The album could have been simply titled ‘This Is The Delondes’, given the selection of the material that moulded the band into the outfit they remain today. It’s a super compilation, and the good news is that, given its title, VOL.1, there’s more of the same in the pipeline. 

Declan Culliton

Grey DeLisle and Les Greene Grey & Greene Hummingbird

This in many ways can be seen as a marriage of three outstanding creative talents. Two are the named artists - Grey DeLisle as the chief songwriter and instigator of several recording projects, while Les Greene is a soul singer in the more traditional mould.  James Intveld is a force to be reckoned with in his own right as a singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Generally he works more in the country/rockabilly side of things, but he again here shows his ability to turn his hand to any particular genre.

While Greene is a soul/roots rock performer and a songwriter himself, it is his undoubted vocal ability that is on offer here, and that in itself highlights his feel for the songs and for a sound that is both soulful and rootsy in delivery. DeLisle writes all the songs on the album, either solo or with Intveld on three occasions. The final track is a take on that soundtrack hit You’re The One That I Want written by John Farrar, that was sung by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease. It is the one track where Grey and Greene take the lead together, taking the verses and chorus much in the manner of how you might remember the songs. They give it an energetic work out that may well have you singing along.

There are some stand out players here who contribute drums, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet and guitar (on this particular instrument we have Stephen McCarthy, Steve and Chris Reeves, Andy Paley and Deke Dickerson), names perhaps familiar to some readers. But when you take a track like the aforementioned cinema classic that closes the album, Intveld is credited with drums, upright bass, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, organ, tenor saxophone and hand claps. He brings this kind of instrumental incisiveness and production personality to the many of the album’s tracks.

This is an album that may surprise some in its ability to summarise some of that classic soul emotiveness, before the genre expanded largely into something less specific. This though is simultaneously an album that emphasises the vital human element and contributions from those assembled, rather than relying on any technical artifice to shore it up. The songs include Greene's take on DeLisle’s song Homewrecker, released originally in 2006, rooted in how a love exchange can change its nature over time and distance.

Two notable standouts here are Mister, with a forceful emotive DeLisle vocal, and Greene’s heart wrenching apology that is That’s All. Both examples show vocalists at the top of their game, working with a producer totally in sync with the intentions and aims of the album. As one of its titles puts it Go Go Go, you are likely to want to stay and listen some more.

Stephen Rapid

India Ramey Villian Era Copaco

This is by her own admission an uncompromising album for Ramey but one delivered with verve and conviction. She is direct and personal with no apologies for her stance, having in the past been trying to fit others' image of herself and her music. Now she tells the stories how she wishes from that personal perspective, often skewering unnamed opponents, as she no longer suffers fools or their opinions.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Eric Corn, the album imbues a country music attitude that directly relates to an era when Loretta Lynn and others told things in ways that were not always seen as appropriate for a mainstream Nashville artist at that time. That may still be the prevailing attitude there today but it is not one held to her heart by Ramey. This is hard core, strong and fast paced country. It is full of captivating moments of twang, mixed with gothic overtones and western imagery throughout. It is an album to savour and, in another era, might have been tagged ‘cowpunk'.

It is a forceful and energetic album that rewards continued playing and will please many who miss that feminine viewpoint that ran through the likes of Loretta Lynn to Rosie Flores and to some of today’s ‘no compromise’ crop of ladies looking to make their mark. Ramey can also, within the tracks, make some considerations that run that little bit deeper and offer some solid opinion on ways to live your life. This is also delivered, on occasion, with humour and humility. The song Scattered And Smothered is an example, with lines like “I’ve been somewhere I ain’t supposed to have been / And I’m looking like Alice Cooper in a little black dress” and “Stick a fork in me, I’m done”, demonstrating that Ramey knows how to pen a song that can work on different levels. This happens even if, in the main, the songs are both full of catharsis as well as a vigorous viewpoint from her comprehension. Meanwhile, the uptempo Dead To Me is something of a nod to a Johnny Cash state of mind.

Overall the album is musically impressive, with contributions from some of the West Coast’s finest including bassist Ted Russell Kamp, Kevin Brown on drums, pedal steel from Bob ‘Boo’ Bernstein, Chris Masterson and Eugene Edwards on guitars, Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle and Jordan Katz on trumpet. - all under Corne’s production nous. The later is most effective in adding atmosphere to Nobody’s Coming, which is again cinematic in nature, a realisation that there are situations where there “ain't no cavalry coming after me.” It is down to the protagonist to get out of the situation and features a great vocal too. The final track Ghost Town manages to again have an arrangement that has a strong suggestion of its title.

We are about half way through the year and here is an album that I know will be up there among my best of the year. And it is undoubtedly a personal best for India Ramey too. I hope she continues to ride this particular range as many of her contemporaries go off to explore different trails.

Stephen Rapid

The Riflebirds Of Portland April Regional

There is a timeless innocence woven through the nine songs on this walk down the pathways of the hidden past. Back in 1985 The Riflebirds formed in Portland and recorded a debut album, titled April. It never gained a wide audience and the few singles that found the light of day were not enough to keep the band from splitting and going in different directions.

To now find the original musicians reunited and creating new music can only be viewed as an unqualified success all these years later. The reunion led to the release last year of Windmills On the Moon, a well-received album among the music media. Now, complete with original producer Marvin Etzioni of Lone Justice fame, the four friends revisit the songs that were recorded all those years back and dust them down for new beginnings.

Hence the opening comments regarding a timeless innocence. The purity in the vocal delivery of Kate Oser is such a joy throughout as is the less-is-more approach on instrumentation, with some guest appearances on individual tracks from the quality of Kenny Edwards, Greg Leisz, and Jerry Donahue. Etzioni features on bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin, but it’s the core talent of Lee Oser (bass, guitar), Kevin Kraft (lead guitar), and Kevin Jarvis (drums, percussion), who provide the easy interplay.

Pieces Of Time is a great start to the album with the atmospheric accordion of Phil Parlapiano joining Kate’s gentle vocal in fine style. Memory Street is equally rewarding with a melodic bass line and wistful vocal. Dreaming Of A Kiss has a more up-tempo rhythm with guitar highlighted along with the superb fiddle of Skip Parente. Both The Rain and All I Know are dream-like in delivery and very contemporary in the Folksy sound and inspirations.

After Today has  a great feel with the horns of Doug Weiselman and Scott Schuerman a key feature, and the bassline on And Your Bird Can Sing is dominant in the mix, before the last song Might As Well Stay delivers a loose downbeat rhythm across the instrumentation.  It’s a really enjoyable album that delivers throughout.

Paul McGee

A Different Thread Over Again Same Cloth

Hands across the ocean. This American-English duo has been releasing music since 2017 and it has taken them until this new album to finally arrive together into the United States. The eleven songs featured are in celebration of their journey taken to date, and to the future that lies ahead. Having met as buskers in Ireland, Alicia Best and Robert Jackson have blended their Folk-Roots leanings to produce a lasting bond.

Despite an uninspiring album cover that does nothing to promote the duo, the music certainly brings a range of different colours to the project. The title track is a bright melody that sees a shared vocal duet between Alicia and Robert in looking to new beginnings.  On Sorrow Brings Me Joy there is a country groove to a happy song about being in a state of positivity and enjoying the moment. The Prophet speaks of a loss of faith and the harm caused by religious dogma.

Sweet and the Burn is about balance and taking the rough with the smooth, with both guitar and harmonica featuring. Always Leaving is a happy song and skips along on a light blues shuffle. Alicia takes the vocals on Come On Home Molly and it speaks of the comforts of home, sweet harmonies and harmonica prominent in the mix. On Goodbye Muddy Waters we are looking at rivers, and not the Blues legend, with the metaphor of water leading to feelings of drowning in trying to keep a relationship afloat.

Columbine tackles the inhumanity involved in school shootings and the mass murders that are an all too common occurrence in the reality of American life. Ironically, Columbine is a flowering plant, that provides nectar for pollinators, and this nurturing aspect of nature is not lost, as the antithesis of mass killing. As the lyric highlights ‘Your prayers arenʼt really answering the root of all this pain, And the columbine is growing.’

An Amaranth is an ancient plant, cultivated over thousands of years, and the song title is a metaphor for survival. Finding your way and discovering who you are, surrounded by big city life; a song of redemption with Alicia really delivering on vocals. Equally on Deep Water Fish we are given a song about self-doubt and the fears that can surface as we negotiate daily life ‘But you tell me you know the dark, There are times when you lost your spark, And you donʼt have to shine all of the time, Sometimes lightning is all you need to guide you home.’

The final song Leon is about travel, dreaming of your lover, and the Spanish city of Léon. The lyrical flute playing of Caitlin Jones gives the song a dream-like quality. In a way, it brings everything full circle, as their travels come to a happy conclusion with the musical duo now settled into a new life in North Carolina and building a career that has many positives to propel it into the future.

Paul McGee

Suzanne Jarvie Mother’s Day Continental Song City

Canadian singer songwriter Suzanne Jarvie delivers her third album and it is very impressive indeed. Having released a debut back in 2014 in the wake of a traumatic injury to her oldest child, this artist has developed into an accomplished musician in the personal vision that she channels from her creative source.

As a teenager Suzanne took guitar and piano lessons but she decided to play music as a personal hobby while concentrating on her college studies and becoming a lawyer. Raising a family of four while balancing a professional legal career then took precedence to any focus on her love of music. That all changed with the accident to her son and it drove Suzanne to channel her grief into playing music and writing her feelings down while the medical prognosis changed and her child came out of a coma to begin the long road towards recovery.

Her vocal tone is very warm and impressive in both range and nuance. Given that the majority of the songs featured here are quietly understated in their arrangement, the vocals of Suzanne are very much front and centre in the overall mix. Production was delivered by Hugh Christopher Brown and Jason Mercer, with both contributing on various instruments across the songs. Brown was the producer on both of the previous albums and his knowledge of bringing out the full extent of Suzanne’s talents is something that is clearly evident.

Opening song Honeycomb is partly inspired by the book Watership Down that was a favourite escape for Suzanne in the recording of the album. In the book honeycomb is a burrow to call home for the rabbits in their warren. The song reflects upon the importance of home and feeling safe against the external fears that can permeate so much of our waking hours. Not being in control against outside forces is also a theme in the words.

Caterpillar is a song that laments the change in a loved one and in this case it may be that her son’s accident lies at the core. Suzanne plays the melody to the French nursery rhyme Frère Jacques on piano as a recurrent motif in the melody and the sense of her child waking from a coma is intrinsic in the meaning. The need for hope into the future and acknowledging the presence of fear are also hinted at in the words. The caterpillar develops into the beautiful butterfly, after all is said and done.

There are enough lyrical layers to interpret these songs in different ways; surely the mark of a sophisticated writer, and Suzanne uses her finely honed skills to sculpt interesting vistas.

Polonium is a strange inclusion, given the personal nature of the other songs here, and it muses on the latter days and thoughts of Alexander Litvinenko, Russian FSB officer who was assassinated by his country by a lethal dose of polonium-210. As a study on Governmental corruption and abuse of power, it’s a strong statement and it is certainly something that moved the writer to express her rage.

40% is a song that reflects upon addiction and the need to keep those inner demons down with external stimulants and temporary oblivion, found inside a bottle of spirits. It also reflects upon hospital rooms and sitting by the terrible twins of frustration and hope, in seeking positive outcomes to illness. The title track is a damning critique of man and the damage done to our Mother Earth. It’s as if there was an audition, and the male species failed miserably at the casting director table that is the unyielding force of nature. With overpopulation, raging wars and rampant greed, man has been exposed as the only species on the planet that destroys its own environment. The response from nature is summed up in the lyric ‘I gave you music to make with one voice, I gave you love and freedom of choice, The amber light’s red now I’m hitting the brake, One virus is all it takes.’ Food for thought, if it weren’t already too late to call time on these despots and tyrants who rule without insight, conscience or forethought.

Charity is a song that implores us to live for the moment and not defer pleasure for some future time that may never arrive. Enjoy the day and look to positive outcomes. The grief of losing a loved one is the emotion that is captured on Nicole, a song that reflects upon ’I can’t quite figure how to carry on, It’s always the same problem, we’re still here after you’re gone.’ My sense in listening to the words is that the song is dedicated to her mother, but of course I could be wide of the mark.

The final two songs continue to seek solace in the joy of being alive and connected in this world. Lifeline is a cover of the David Corley song in celebration of the essence of love that surrounds us, with Suzanne delivering the key message on solo acoustic guitar. The last song Temporary Emissary is like something straight out of a Broadway musical with sage advice in the imagery painted by the words ‘Life’s a game of wizard chess, You’re on the board you do your best, Some are slain and some are blessed, You just keep trying.’  Both of Suzanne’s daughters sing on the album and this final track could well be a guide book from Mother in the ways to negotiate the rollercoaster ride that we encounter. In passing the baton of what has been learned from one generation to the next, this is an album of empathy, fellowship, hope, and above all, loving awareness. Such  great quality in the musicianship featured throughout, where understated performance is what delivers the real magic.

Paul McGee

Lolly Lee Everything Spins Admiral Bean

The title of Lolly Lee’s new album may well refer to the current state of the planet and the way in which everything is spiralling out of control. Equally it could mirror the personal chaos that many are experiencing in their lives with feelings of individual helplessness. Either way, the songs included here bring something of a healing balm against the wickedness of worldly ways. If nothing else, Lolly knows how to deliver a tune and her ability to rock out is not open to question.

Songs like Better Angels, Reverend Fred Lane, Sassafras and Trailerhood are all delivered with great aplomb and style, even if the lyrical meanings can be somewhat obscure at times. There are references to the Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys and the character of "Ricky" LaFleur, plus the 1970s jazz influence of  Rev. Fred Lane and his improvisational lyrics on songs such as Car Radio Jerome and Dondi Must Die. Big band childhood memories apart, the main theme running through the songs is that living in the moment and embracing life is what’s most important on this short merry-go-round ride we are on.

Wanting to believe in the message of love and all its complexities on Lost In Love is balanced against the pain that fleeting encounters and deep memories can contain on Bar Fly. The song Husbands and Tattoos is very much tongue-in-cheek as it looks at the preferences in staying single ‘After some reflection, I don't want to say 'I Do.' I'm gonna skip the husband, but I love my new tattoo.’

The superb Gospel feel to Shut Up Y’all has Will Kimbrough on electric guitar and the McCrary Sisters on harmony vocals. Producer Anthony Crawford (Neil Young, Dwight Yoakam) plays a number of different instruments across the tracks and his studios at Loxley, Alabama were used in putting the arrangements in place. The song Slow Down is a plea to take a breath and reflect while the closing track When I’m Gone looks at the finality of passing on and the profound impact of death, played to a swampy blues beat. Worthy of your attention.

Paul McGee

The Fugitives Self-Titled Rhea

This is the seventh album from Canadian quartet The Fugitives and it showcases their great talent and deserved status when it comes to the cutting edge of folk and roots music today. Their group dynamic is so finely honed and impressive in both their musical interplay and the uplifting harmony vocals.

Their adventure began with a debut album back in 2005, and if life can be viewed as a metaphorical journey, then the road travelled has more than been worth the point of arrival represented here on these eleven songs. The joy of playing music for a living is well captured in the melodies and song arrangements, and hopefully their nomadic path has brought  ongoing reward for these interesting wayfarers. The themes of that open highway, black-top warriors, and the eternal pull of nature surround these songs and develop a real sense of symmetry with nature. On the opening Wolf Road  we are introduced to the post-glacial geological shield that spans the Canadian great lakes, the Arctic and Greenland, in a celebration of the natural world. The soaring harmony vocals of Adrian Glynn (guitars, balalaika, harmonica, bass), Brendan McLeod (guitar, bass), Carly Frey (violin), and Christopher Suen (banjo) are very engaging and impressive throughout, all the way through to the final song Window Open which celebrates that we are all part of this wonderful universe together and are never meant to travel alone.

Young Enough has more of those harmony vocals that bring shivers in the delivery and the song looks to past memories as a source for providing a strong bedrock for living. On the track Reckoning there is a call to act beyond the short-sightedness of those in power and to look at the price we pay ‘You can’t buy the land.’

The fluent violin of Carly Frey is a highlight on the song Under the Ice, with the banjo of Christopher Suen never lost in the arrangement, as it provides lots of colour in the delivery. The guitar work of twin songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan McLeod is always bright and creative, with the use of harmonica on tracks such as Holy Strength adding great variety.

Café Deux is a delight, and As An Ending sparkles with the acoustic guitar strum, sweet banjo rhythm, and easy percussion all joining to bear witness to the tribulations of relationships. The band are joined by guest musicians on various tracks and the talents of Steve Charles (banjo, guitar), Sally Zori (drums, percussion), Erik Nielsen (bass), Tom Dobrzanski (Hammond organ), Jack Garton (trumpet, mellophone), and Oliver de Clercq (French horn), add greatly to the celebratory nature of the entire project. A real gem and a must-have purchase for all discerning music lovers.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Becky Buller Songs That Sing Me Dark Shadow

For her latest album, Becky Buller decided to cover some of the songs that 'awoke her deep love of music, and continue to teach her how to form melody and lyric’. One of the most awarded artists in bluegrass, Becky Buller has (so far) earned 10 IBMA awards for both Fiddler of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Her songs have won Grammys for artists including Molly Tuttle (who appears on this project), The Travellin’ McCourys and The Infamous Stringdusters. She performs widely and teaches fiddle on line, from her home in Manchester, Tennessee.

Some of these eleven songs are from well known pop/rock artists who are household names, and some from lesser known writers in gospel, folk and bluegrass. Most people of a certain age will recognise Paul Simon’s A Hazy Shade Of Winter, but I must admit to never having actually paid attention to the lyrics until now. Buller imbues her choices with a new sense of clarity, thanks in part to her dynamic, emotive vocal range and the passion with which she approaches her music. Stephen Mougin’s production also helps - he’s the owner of her record label, Dark Shadow, and a respected guitar player and vocalist in his own right. He also adds prominent backing vocals to many of the song choices here. James Taylor’s insightful tribute to the lot of the unfortunate Millworker of the 19/20th century is covered with the help of Dan Tyminski’s backing vocals. Jim Lauderdale lends his vocals to a well known Reno & Smiley bluegrass standard, Wall Around Your Heart and another champion fiddler Stuart Duncan joins Buller for some twin fiddling on this one. Ride on By is a tour-de-force and an album highlight. Written by a fellow Minnesotan veteran Dick Kimmel, banjoist Ned Luberecki (who tours regularly with Buller both as a duo and as part of her band) really shines on the lovely sparse arrangement, where Buller gets to use much of her wide vocal range. Becky Isaacs Bowman shares lead vocal on the gospel number The Outlaw, with Justin Moses guesting on resonator guitar, and Ricky Skaggs and The Whites guest on the other gospel choice, Camel Train. Another standout is Phil Rosenthal’s Muddy Waters, which he first sang in his days as lead vocalist with the legendary The Seldom Scene. It has since been covered several times, including by Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, but Buller’s version is swampy, bluesy and full of passion.

She is supported on most of the album by her regular touring band, including Jacob Groopman on acoustic guitar, Daniel Hardin on bass, Wes Lee on mandolin and the aforementioned Ned Luberecki on banjo. Bela Fleck’s family, including wife Abigail Washman and sons Theo and Juno, join in on James Taylor's children’s song Jellybean Kelly, which is a gorgeous riot. The album closes with another uplifting number, Reach (a 1977 hit for Orleans) performed by an all-female supergroup comprising Alison Brown (banjo), Missy Raines (bass), Molly Tuttle (guitar) and Sierra Hull (mandolin).

This life affirming collection is highly recommended.

Eilís Boland

Ryan Dart If Love Don’t Break You Self Release

Having paid his dues over two decades as a sound engineer, guitar tech and road manager (Ryan Bingham is a former boss), Ryan Dart’s ‘divorce album’ finds him coming out from under the radar. The Colorado-based horseman and farmer bares his soul on this latest project, although it’s not quite the record of pain that you might expect. Admitting that he has more recently fallen in love again, many of the originally planned songs were ditched in favour of new ones, reflecting his recent contentedness. The breakup of his marriage and newfound sobriety in recent years have brought about a huge catharsis for Dart, and he admits that his new self-awareness has altered the nature of his songwriting.

The title track opens the album and finds him struggling with heartache, “No matter where I find myself, part of me’s on the run/And every love song is a sad song to someone”. Long term friend Richard Bowden adds prominent fiddle over the sparse but effective, laid back, country rock palette throughout. Queen of Oklahoma reflects the love of the land that he shared with his ex-partner, Dart’s harmonica playing adding to the melancholy, while Eric Swanson adds tasty pedal steel here and elsewhere. Wranglers and Rock & Roll, the only song not written exclusively by Dart himself, is a co-write with Danno Simpson and another tale of longing for the happier past. Hard To Let Go covers similar territory, while he also admits to missing life on the road.

Ryan Dart’s rich vocals are perfectly suited to the laid back groove that permeates the album, which was recorded in Cinder Sound studio, with John McVey (I’m With Her, The Railsplitters) helming the production, as well as contributing guitar, piano and bass. The main backing vocalist is Katie Mintle, with Peyton Langford on bass and Nate Barnes on drums. Elephant Revival’s Bridget Law and Darren Garvey also guest and Charlie Rose adds mandolin and banjo.

New love is particularly evident in Dancing on your Porch with its refrain “Only read about this kind of love before/Now we’re dancing, right here on your porch”. Wild Sea, with its soundscape of waves gently crashing onto a shore mingling with his acoustic guitar and sweet fiddle, also celebrates his new love, as does Dirt Road Woman.

In Time Stands Still, Dart acknowledges that his perspective has changed after surviving and digesting the events of the past few years, he’s letting go of the past and living in the moment, also the theme of These Horses where his stated philosophy is “ain’t no more playing it safe/on the back side of my better days”. In a recent interview, Ryan Dart explained that he has finally overcome doubt and self-criticism, and is now more outward looking in his philosophy, and wants his songs to give a voice to others who are struggling. He expresses this in Masters of Time, with its repeated refrain, “Well I hope love is shining on you”. Whether you’re in love or out of love, this album is well worth checking out.

Eilís Boland

David Serby Broken Heart In A honky Tonk Self Release

Each new album from David Serby finds you in a comfort zone of Californian honky tonk delivered with heart, honesty, humour and hi-energy. Designed for a good time, it is, however, not without a sense of introspection, and a self-awareness of how life can deal you a bad hand and let you play it out for better or worse. You can do that to a shuffle beat on a barroom floor or sitting in your own home - and you feel good in either situation. This album is a solid affirmation of the Bakersfield western beat he started out his career with, back in 2006.

This is album seven by my reckoning and all have been interesting even when he has explored, at times, some different avenues for his music. All have been in association with Edward Tree as producer and multi-instrumentalist; it is a relationship that has paid off by being able to explore the sensibilities that each bring to the projects and in the obvious affinity they have developed together.

Here, as in the past, Serby utilises some of the best country/roots players on the LA/California circuit to enrich the songs. This includes, this time out, Chris Lawrence and Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel, the rhythm section of Kevin Jarvis and David J. Carpenter (drums and bass respectively) and harmony vocals from Darice Bailey and Teresa James. Producer Tree also adds guitars and piano to the mix. It was recorded, as usual in California. The songs are, once again, all from Serby and they explore those perennial topics of the neon honky-tonk existence, from both positive and negative perspectives.

However, on face value, without digging into the subtext, they have something of an upbeat ambience that is immediately attractive. There are shades of those artists who preceded him in the iconic shape of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, The Desert Rose Band and Dwight Yoakam, as well as countless lesser know luminaries who were all part of that thriving non-Nashville scene.

The album opens with the driving energy of the title track that is full of roadhouse memories. It mentions both Buck and Merle and that sets out where it’s coming from and where it is heading to. Next he tells us the things he works on just don’t stay fixed, and that if he ever breaks a heart it is likely you’re going to need to check the warranty. That’s how it goes for Don’t Say Fixed. Equally Flight Patch speaks of looking for ways out when things get tough. It has a nice spoken segment that is firmly bringing him to ground after looking for permission to land. Others like Gone For Good are part of a contingent of roots and rockin’ songs that germinate the album.

A little different are Border Town Romance, with an arrangement that eminently suits the more relaxed theme, while No Happy Endings has a more 60s pop feel with elements of an attractive folkier thread in its movie story analogy. “There ain’t no happy endings / On the silver screen / Boy meets girl and falls in love / That’s but just one scene.” That’s something that it seems that as a divorcee Serby can directly relate to. Also taken at a slow paced groove is Little Ol’ Bruise with Maness adding a fluid steel arrangement that is effective in its intent. Equally reflective and showing a different side of a brief interaction is If I Weren’t Me that proffers that in different circumstances something longer lasting may have grown from that moment. It shows that Serby can vocally handle emotional deliveries. It’s the closing shuffle for those who might like to get closer and, in these circumstances the practical consideration of “I need someone new to love me / Just enough to drive me home.”

These are songs that Serby can relate to the characters he writes about, which doubtless contain directly felt emotions but also ones that are broad enough for anyone to relate to. All wrapped up in the glow of a neon sign that is bound to draw you in.

Stephen Rapid

Jim Lauderdale & The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys The Birds Know Sky Crunch

"Since I first saw them at MerleFest several years ago, and after we did our first album together, I really wanted us to do a follow-up,” explains Jim Lauderdale on his latest project, a bluegrass album featuring The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. It’s Lauderdale’s second album release in a month, following COUNTRY SUPER HITS VOLUME 2, and further evidence of his capacity to switch genres without compromising on the consistently high standard of his work.

Lauderdale takes the lead vocals and plays guitars on the record, joined by C.J. Lewandowski (mandolin/vocals), Max Silverstein (fiddle/vocals), Jereme Brown (banjo/vocals), John Gooding (guitar/vocals) and Jasper Lorentzen (bass). The majority of the eleven tracks were written shortly before the recording sessions. Alongside self-writes, Lauderdale shared the songwriting duties with Adam Wright (Two Crows, Don’t Look Down, Life Has A Way Of Making Jokes; Don’t It), Joe Newberry (The Bird’s Knew), Odie Blackmon (Little Blue Diamonds), and Sarah Douget (You Wanted Mountains From Me).

THE BIRDS KNOW follows the template that worked so well on THE LONG and LONESOME LETTING GO, Lauderdale’s previous album with The Po’Ramblin’ Boys in 2023.  Stirring banjo and fiddle kick off the opener, Two Crows, in fine style, a precursor for the quality of playing that follows. Lauderdale’s in fine voice, also supported by harmonies and backing vocals. Landing somewhere between traditional country and bluegrass, Chuck Will’s Widow, the album’s longest track, tells the tale of an unlikely union and love story, explaining how the bird with its distinctive call inherited the same name. Similar in style and a theme commonly drilled into country songs, You Wanted Mountains From Me (‘’I tried my best /But it was never enough /Now there’s nothing left /That’s not what you call love’’) could have been borrowed from George Jones’ treasure chest of unrequited love. We Look At Things In Different Ways is a plea for empathy in an increasingly polarised time, and Innocent Heart was written by Lauderdale the night before it was recorded with Ralph Stanley's style in mind. The playful children’s nursery rhyme Rainbow Choo Choo Train bookends the album, complete with semi-giggles by Lauderdale in the delivery.  

Though referred to as a bluegrass album, THE BIRDS KNOW is more than that, with excursions into traditional country at times. As you would expect, the playing is exquisite, as are the vocals and harmonies, and the songwriting, particularly considering the short notice in which the songs were composed, is earnest and incisive.  It should appeal to a wide range of listeners, not just bluegrass lovers. All in all, a hugely satisfying listening experience.

Declan Culliton

Yarn Saturday Night Sermon 333 Entertainment

The album title and the opening track of the same name are an introduction to what to expect from the Carolina-based roots rockers' latest record. It may only be under two minutes long, but the guitar and gloriously choir-driven song suggest that what follows will be upbeat, toe-tapping and fast-paced. That’s precisely what SATURDAY NIGHT SERMON delivers, no-nonsense tracks that hop from country to soul and gospel to dynamic southern rock.

Originally formed in Brooklyn, New York, two decades ago, Yarn is Blake Christiana (Lead Vocals, Guitar), Andy Thomas (Lead Guitar), Rick Bugel (Bass), and Robert Bonhomme (Drums).  Co-produced by Damian Calagne and Yarn, the former also contributed piano and Hammond B3. Various horn players and backing vocalists joined the recording at The Pinebox, Boonton Township, New Jersey.

Musically, there’s a lot going on the record. Soaring guitars compete with heavy keys and horns, yet the recordings never feel overcooked.  Christiana’s gritty vocals work as well on the up-tempo inclusions like Longshot, Never Enough, Good Day, and the country rocker Let The Universe. The quieter moments work as well on the gentler tracks, Where We Land and A Welcome New Home. Brand New Light also impresses with a backbeat that recalls Thin Lizzy’s Dancing In The Moonlight.

Without trying to rewrite the rule book, and with nods in the direction of 1970s classic rock, SATURDAY NIGHT SERMON shows how southern rock should be done.

Declan Culliton

Michaela Anne These Are The Days Georgia June

One of a select number of artists and songwriters who successfully blend traditional country music and storytelling with pop and rock influences to great effect, without crossing over into bland pop/country, Nashville-based Michaela Anne has consistently released strong albums with writing inspired by real-life events, both joyful and tragic.

THESE ARE THE DAYS is Anne’s fifth album. Like her previous work, it feels like an update on what’s been happening in her world since her last album, OH TO BE THAT FREE from 2022. That record reflected a traumatic period in Anne's life. During her first pregnancy, Anne’s mother suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, resulting in Anne spending the latter stages of her pregnancy at her mother’s hospital bedside. After a two-year pause from songwriting, Anne's latest album reflects on motherhood, grief, recovery from difficult times, and the fine line between bliss and distress.

Anne didn’t have to travel far for the recordings, working at her husband and producer Aaron Shafer-Haiss's home-made studio in their backyard, close to Percy Priest Lake, ten miles east of Nashville. That independence is also reinforced by the album's release on Anne’s own label, Georgia June Records. Alongside production duties, Shafer-Haiss played drums, and in the studio were Seth Taylor, Ethan Ballinger and John McNally on guitars, Owen Biddle on bass, and key player Jimmy Matt Rowland.

Built around Anne’s hypnotic vocals, this nine-track album veers more towards rock than her previous recordings. With a driving rhythm behind her vocals We’re All Good (‘’Sometimes people don't do the things they know they should/ And forgiveness feels much better than you'd think it would’’) opens the album with a message of compassion. That thread is repeated in If Your Body Fails You, before Anne turns her thoughts to matters closer to home with a doting ode to her eldest daughter, That’s What I Tell Georgia. More mundane day-to-day realities are negotiated in These Are The Days (“When I thought I knew what tired meant/But now those bills pile on the table/Baby's crying all night long/I'm hanging on by just a thread’’). Caroline Spence adds her voice to Two Pianos, which rejoices in the precious, often-overlooked, simple gifts which surround us. 

Once more, Michaela Anne, the sweet-voiced author of a most impressive batch of songs, has come up trumps with this hugely impressive record.

Declan Culliton

Bodinrocker Special Blend Bearman

Anders Bodin is a musician based in Sweden and he formed his band Bodinrocker in 2005. This is the fifth album and most of the songs are written by Bodin, together with Dutchman Jan Leentjes. Interestingly, the pair have never physically met and their remote writing partnership has been a successful model for both over a number of years now.

The studio band is comprised of local musicians, with Anders Bodin playing guitars in addition to vocals; Lars Ekberg plays all keyboards and also sings, along with Anders Mossberg on bass and harmonica duties, and Fredrik Wallumrod driving everything in the engine room on drums. Family members turn up on backing vocals for selected tracks and Bodin co-produced the album with Lars Ekberg in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The musicians are excellent and their talents shine through on the song arrangements with tight ensemble playing and a vibrant sound. Bodin is a fine guitar player and his lead runs are dynamic and infectious in raising the energy output on the tracks. Lars Ekberg plays some rich organ and keyboard melodies that colour the arrangements and the unit of bass and drums is really solid and inventive in the delivery; hats off to Mossberg and Wallumrod. The whole thing sounds like a very enjoyable experience to be involved with and the old school rock and roll sound has quite a few touchstones, from Dave Edmunds with Rockpile all the way through to Big Star and the Flamin’ Groovies.

Highlights are We Were Young and the addictive groove of Running the Show. Elements of power pop are hinted at on songs like This Song Is For You which has a more commercial base, but it’s not too long before we return to a swampy blues rocker on What I Wanna Say. There is a song that is sung in Swedish and Ligger I Min Famn has a quiet acoustic build as the band deliver a nice climax. Other songs are reminiscent of Thin Lizzy meet Status Quo in the rocking no-prisoners-taken drive, and all-in-all, it’s a fine album to enjoy. Bravo!

Paul McGee

The Ghost and the Machine Sorrows Fullmax

Austrian guitarist and singer-songwriter Andreas Lechner is the key creative source behind The Ghost and the Machine. His resigned vocal style is wrapped in a sound that incorporates elements of indie-folk and rock, with resonator guitar incorporated along with synthesizers to provide an otherworldly effect.

There are twelve tracks included and the playing time is just over the forty-minute mark. Building on a debut release back in 2016, this new album is the fourth in the ongoing progress of Lechner’s individual vision. The band is comprised of Andi Lechner (vocals, guitars), Martti Winkler (accordion, synthesizer), Hannes Wirth (guitar), Lina Neuner (bass), and Aurora Timón Hackl (drums).

Ghost Romance is very atmospheric and memorable, while the driving beat of Midnight Plains is compulsive, before the more laid-back tempo of Last Day Of Summer brings a sense of calm. The title track Sorrows is an acoustic arrangement with accordion and strummed guitars as Lechner sings “Cover me in blankets when the morning’s turning grey.” The rocking beat on Pale Rider has an urgency that is in contrast to the country sound of Foreign City. Light Of Love is another slow tempo song that brings a sense of quiet calm and there is no doubting the creative variety across this interesting project.

Paul McGee

Catcher Evo Charcoal Paraply

This is the performing moniker for singer, guitarist and songwriter Stefan Leoson, a Swedish artist who favours the EP format as a means of getting his songs to a wider audience. When I researched his name on the Hemifran website, I found a telling quote from Leoson ”There's a lightness to the EP format that I like. I also felt that only releasing singles wouldn't carry enough weight to launch an entirely new project. People have such short attention span these days, so I felt that five or six songs at a time is just perfect.”

No argument from me in this logic. It does appear to be increasingly the case, with the blur of social media platforms, and the relentless volume of singles that find little air to breathe, there is no potential for artists to differentiate themselves from their competition. Leoson has delivered six songs here that are really impressive and that definitely stay in the memory. My abiding feeling was one of wanting to hear more.. and isn’t that just the reaction that Leoson is seeking with his release format after all?

His sound is very much in the roots rock field and most of the instruments are played by Leoson, with drums added by Jordan Perlson (four songs) and Beo Kjellsson (one track). Separate songs feature Alo Karlsson (bass), and Johan Svensk (guitar), with his wife Karin providing backing vocals on the impressive Take This Weight.

The production quality is top drawer and the expressive vocal tone of Stefan is engaging. He plays lots of melodic guitar lines and Don’t You Ever Change and Beside You are instantly impressive on first listen. You and All Your Friends will never make radio play (due to expletives), but the lyrics are great fun and a stab at the greedy, self-promoting, arrogance that we all experience as part of modern living.

Little L is a sweet memory of childhood days and an old friend that no longer features in the life of the writer, while the gentle delivery on Waiting For A Change is superbly delivered, capturing the need to keep ourselves open to all possibilities, in both relationships and in the opportunities that life puts in our direction. A fine set of songs and very much recommended – I look forward to the next instalment!

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Bobby Dove Fortune Teller New Motor

Five years after the release of Bobby Dove’s album HOPELESS ROMANTIC, the Montreal- born trans/non-binary artist’s foot is firmly on the classic country pedal with this 13 track record. Co-produced by Aaron Goldstein (Cowboy Junkies, Kathleen Edwards, Daniel Romero, Zachery Lucky) and Dove, the recordings took place at Gold Standard Recorders in Toronto, Ontario.

Dove wrote eleven of the songs; the other two are Did I Speak Too Soon, a co-write and duet with Jim Lauderdale, and the Blaze Foley-written If I Could Only Fly, which bookends the album. 

There is real weight behind the record's songs. Dove’s passionate vocals are supported by exceptional playing. Alison Corbett shines on violin, and Burke Carroll and Aaron Goldstein contribute pedal steel. Other talented musicians include Justine Fischer (electric bass), Nichol Robertson (electric guitar, banjo, mandolin), Thomas Hammerton (piano, organ, accordion), and Dani Nash (drums).

“Am I just a fortune teller makin’ shit up as I go along/ tellin’ folks what they want to hear in a lonesome country song’’ opens the album. Taken from the song and album title, Fortune Teller, it’s a light-hearted and modest confession, especially considering the depth of the songwriting elsewhere. There’s nothing ‘made or trumped up’ about tracks like Leaving Manitoba or Trans Canadian Blues. The former is Dove’s reflection on unrequited love, told with tearjerking intimacy. The latter lays bare the torturous life of a travelling musician. Emotional contours are also at play in Salem; Corbett’s whispering violin beautifully enriches the song; it’s simply spellbinding. Crocodile Road and This Time are pro-forma country songs. The inclusion of Dreamt I Met John Prine and Billie Holiday finds Dove paying homage to artists who fuelled their creative juices.

HOPELESS ROMANTIC (2021) introduced an artist steeped in traditional country music. With FORTUNE TELLER, Dove raises that bar, offering a hugely impressive collection of classic country songs. 

Declan Culliton

Rachel Brooke This One’s For You Self Release

Never one to follow trends, Rachel Brooke has steadfastly immersed herself in country music since her childhood, when she played in her family band. Her professional career followed a brief stint in an all-girl punk band, and she carried that edge into her early solo albums, which blended country and gothic blues. That individuality earned Brooke the Ameripolitan Outlaw Country award in 2023, acknowledging her contribution to country music, far removed from the mainstream crossover pop dominating the industry.

After a five-year break from recording, during which Brooke struggled with her mental health, she returned to the studio in 2025 with enough material for three albums. Deliberately stripped back lonesome country songs were the order of the day in SINGS SAD SONGS, which was released that year. By contrast, Brooke’s latest album is a full-on classic country affair, often self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek. One look at the image of a beaming Brooks on the album’s cover is an instant signal that she has parked her ‘sad songs’ on this occasion in favour of a playful, upbeat project. The album’s title also suggests that Brooke may possibly be ‘mirror gazing’ and addressing herself as she moves forward, somewhat invigorated. Either way, the ten -track album is old-school country of the highest order, laced with pedal steel, banjo and fiddle, built around Brooke’s infectious vocals.

She sets out her stall with the opening and self-critical track I Chose Poorly (‘’I’m a walking talking Hank Williams song/Bad bets and new regrets only/You want to get to know me? I’ll make it one short story”). The twangy semi-spoken When Dub Gets The Crud follows. Peppered with clever wordplay and no end of humour, it tells the tale of a larger-than-life character often debilitated by the ‘crud.’  That wittiness works equally well in The Real Pretender, which is an accurate observation on today’s music industry, from first-hand experience.

Setting aside humour, earnest and heartfelt songs include the gorgeous border-influenced country tearjerker Currently The Fool and the barroom lament, The One That Got Away. The draw of leaving behind small town living (“Blueberry picking, bluegrass in the kitchen/Years go by but time stops ticking”), starry-eyed and in search of fame and fortune, is no stranger in country songwriting, and Brooke takes her turn in The Battle Of Bald Hill. Fond memories of carefree and youthful escapades are ‘reality checked’ by anxiety and concern (‘’And a young woman’s beauty only lasts so long/But as the years go by, I write better songs?/When I grow cold and old tell me, will anybody listen”).

Deliberations on heartache, melancholy and humour have always been the backbone of country music songwriting, and Brooke embraces all three in her latest album. It should appeal not only to lovers of her back catalogue but also to a much wider audience of traditional country music fans. Hopefully, that exposure will elevate Brooks from her current ‘cult’ status to a household name in the ever-growing traditional country music movement.

Declan Culliton

Florence Dore Hold The Spark Propeller

HIGHWAYS & ROCKETSHIPS, the 2022 album by singer-songwriter, musician, academic and teacher Florence Dore, was one of our albums of the year at Lonesome Highway. Her latest effort doesn’t stray far from the formula that worked so well on that recording. Razor-sharp wordplay, driving rhythm section and screeching guitars are once more the order of the day across twelve tracks that range from full-on rockers to more relaxed ballads.

Unlike many of her peers who uprooted from their hometowns to relocate to Nashville, Dore now lives in North Carolina, having grown up in Nashville, where her father taught at Vanderbilt. Dividing her time between teaching at the University of North Carolina, songwriting and performing, Dore’s musical contributors and backing bands have included a host of well-known players over the years. The only consistent player has been Dore’s husband, Will Rigby (The dB’s, Steve Earle), and for this record he is joined by a number of contributors. Include are Jason Wilber (John Prine), Chris Masterson (The Wallflowers, Steve Earle & the Dukes), Mitch Easter (R.E.M., The Baseball Project, Alex Chilton, Wilco, Drive-By Truckers), Libby Rodenbough (Mipso), Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five), Kelly Pratt (Father John Misty), Eleanor Whitmore (Elvis Costello, Steve Earle & the Dukes), and her sister Bonnie Whitmore (Hayes Carll, John Moreland).

No doubt born out of personal experience, Dore’s frustration at witnessing academics with inflated egos competing against each other like school children (‘’ How many words does it take to say what you mean/ Twelve great minds and twelve ways to fuck it up”) worked its way into the song Twelve Great Minds (Department Meeting). It’s one of several full-on inclusions on the album. 

Trippy guitar, cello, sitar, and Dore’s vocal harmonies with Eleanor Whitmore’s vocals unite impeccably in Butterflies. A tale of distressing loss, sonically it plays out like a mid-60s acid-induced psychedelic hallucination. A vulnerable character daydreaming her way through modern-day America is revealed in the punchy Can’t Come Down. Archetypal Dore peppy rockers include Sunset Road and Superstar. The former details a woman escaping a bad relationship, the latter follows the trail of a ‘wannabe’ not quite as talented as he likes to think he is.

The quieter moments work as well. The title track is a heartfelt, horn-filled song and a reaction to Dore’s daughter leaving home for college, and to the sadness and pride that accompany such an event, while the acoustic track The One I Need explores unreciprocated love and longing for companionship.

A powerful crooner and as a songwriter not known for hiding too much, Dore must be heralded as the coolest teacher on campus by her college students, and rightly so. If, like me, you considered HIGHWAYS & ROCKETSHIPS a career highlight which Dore was unlikely to equal, well, she’s achieved that and more with this gem. 

Declan Culliton

Dale Watson Unwanted 40 Below

It is easy to forget the contribution that Dale Watson has made to country music (the real thing, not some ersatz media version) since his debut release in 1995 (the first of some 28 albums listed online). At the start, Watson may have hoped that a major label deal might have come his way, but that wasn’t to be despite some close calls, so he continues to release independently. This has given him the freedom to release the music he wants to, when he wants to and in the musical variation of his ‘Ameripolitan', a descriptor he uses for his award show for the kind of music he and other believers make, as he feels that ‘country music’ as a format has been hi-jacked and was coming to mean something very different from what it had meant to him.

The title of this album then is something of a reference to himself and other similarly-minded performers. But one listen to this new release will let you know that, while times might have changed in recent years, Watson and his music have remained true to himself and his long-time fan base. The opening song here is Waylon, Willie And Whiskey, a tribute to both the artists mentioned and to the alcohol that fuels that passion. It clearly uses titles from those artists' catalogues as well as recognisable riffs from their songs. It shows that Watson has retained all the factors that made him standout as a performer who has remained authentic to his vision that has been evident since his debut album.

This is apparent as one listens to the twelve self-produced tracks on offer here. He is again backed by his Lonestars band with guest contributions from such as Asleep At The Wheel’s Katie Shore and pianist Matt Hubbard and his partner, Celine Lee. The material runs from the plea to If You Really Love Me (Outlive Me), a notion that I think some of those in a long-term relationship may endorse, while on the same track he emphasises that if you want to win or maintain that kind of relationship then that is laid out in You Gotta Try Harder. Just Yesterday is another sign that Watson has found lasting love, after some previous tragedy and loss.

Looking back to earlier and perceived better times is the theme of the standout song What The Hell Happen To The Cadillac? There is also a plea that many would agree with in Don’t Let the Honky Tonks Go, given a workout suited to those hallowed hangouts, with its phased Telecaster sound. In something of a classic duet mode is You’ve Got My Heart, Celine Lee sharing the mic on the back and forth lyric that expounds love again. As with past recordings, he utilises individual touches of different aspects and eras of the classic country sound which he has always loved, even if the term itself has been devalued almost to the point of extinction in the recent manifestations of the mainstream. That is one of the reasons he tried to distance himself from the term, but it is one that is most appropriate here by the standards of the music played under that banner since the late 40s onwards. All those touchstones and artist he holds dear.

Throughout you see how well Watson’s vocal has grown and matured, making it, in some ways, the lead instrument here, though there is no doubting the contributions of all involved. He may feel, as the title implies, unwanted but I think he has his place in the hearts of many true believers. He is more than welcome there.

Stephen Rapid

Matthew Payne Better Times Self Release

Sometimes, on first listen, it is the voice and the lyrics that draw you into an album. You soon become a part of the performer’s world and worldview. With Matthew Payne, a singer/songwriter I had not encountered previously, the simple delivery of the opening song was enough to make you want to hear more. That was the title track, with a simple stripped down but effective arrangement with guitar and pedal steel providing the atmosphere to the pervading sense of hard times and seeking the better times of the title. This is not what can be described as easy listening in terms of detailing the life and times of many of these forgotten places and people who exist pretty much everywhere and, also, in the outline of a person’s own struggle. Something that this couplet suggests “Tryin’ to give my love and not take it back / Tryin’ to lift it up above the weight of the past … I’m tryin’ to have faith in what I believe / Tryin’ to believe better times come from these.”

Over the album, the majority of the songs are arranged in a similar stripped back fashion, a sound that relies a lot on the vocal, guitar and writing skills of Payne. However, on occasions he is joined by James Stevens, his co-producer, on harmony vocals and percussion and by the subtle aura provided by Marty Muse’s pedal steel and the bass of Kevin Smith. Their contribution is effective when it is employed as on Heartsick, a song in which he tells of growing up in Drippin’ Springs, Texas, and how one's hometown can change, and the dilemma exists as to the draw of that small town and the notion of being unable to return. Again this bigger sound seems right for that big predicament.

From then on the songs tell of travel, of leaving and moving on and trying to find some sense of oneself. That also appears in Adilena, where the heartbreak of lost or misunderstood relationships is apparent. “O Adilena, what’s gone is surely gone / cause I can hold you here with me in a thousand ways but one.” Another one of Payne’s personal recollections and one that hints at his own past and his passage to this particular place is clear in the sadness in My Father’s Son “You know my father never found what he wanted / never done what he wished he’d done / never reconciled with his own demons / I wish I weren’t my father’s son.” A poignant song that is one of the album’s best.

It is one part of the writing that signals Payne as a worthy addition to the annals of the great Texas (and beyond) writers, who can bare their soul in a way that is real, authentic and necessary. He has previously released an EP prior to this debut album, but offers enough to justify that conjecture and make Payne a person of interest who is likely to go on the develop his craft and his identity. There are times when one is reminded of some those stalwart singer/songwriters of yore who went on to develop their talent, perhaps because the nature of the singer and guitar format takes them all back to a similar platform, especially in a live setting. One hopes that there are better times ahead for Matthew Payne on a number of different levels, yet this album represents a very good place for him to build upon.

Stephen Rapid

Adam Klein with Adam Poulin Live at Leesta Vall Sound Recordings Self Release

As the album cover image suggests this is a live to lathe vinyl that features some material from Klein’s previous albums, alongside some new material. So what you get are Klein’s own songs in a stripped down acoustic arrangement, similar to a live show. The one outside song is his version of John Hiatt’s Feels Like Rain.

The sound throughout, despite what may be considered as very old-school recording technology, is clear and precise and captures the nature of the recording process that allows for no overdubs. The mastering by Damon Moon is the only chance to affect the sound. Klein has had a number of previous albums prior to this current release (which was recorded in 2019) that are testament to his singer/songwriter skills. Important to the overall feel and spirit of the material is the skillful fiddle playing of Adam Poulin, his slightly mournful sound suits the songs well. I am, personally, reminded of the playing of Scarlet Rivera with Bob Dylan. It has a similar emotional tone and range, to these ears.

The songs are varied, from the opening testament of Burnin’ Love that illustrates how a passion can progress from warmth to an overheated destructive intensity all too easily. But much is covered here, including the political climate in Nicaragua in Faithful Brigade, though there is still awareness of the personal element at play, a subject he returns to again in Patron Saint’s Day. It finishes the album with a spoken thank you and a sound that feels like an old 78rpm single from a century ago. Closer to home, the destructive nature of the work that went on and goes on in coal mimes is apparent in the thought of Black Lung Blues.

A sense of that crossover of personal conviction and closely-held hopefullness and inherent love runs throughout the album. It offers a more incisive look at these songs and a reminder of a performance in a live setting. It is a testament to two skilled musicians in sync and expressing the humanity of their music.

Stephen Rapid

Brock Davis Nothing Lasts Forever Raintown

Ever since a debut release back in 1996, Brock Davis has been mining the emotions of the heart and the American heartland. His songs reflect the everyday and the everyman; the challenges faced and the strength required to keep believing in a better tomorrow. Davis produced this album in Nashville, with his regular aide-de-camp Zach Allen, and the core musicians on the project are all players that have appeared on the last two albums. Continuity is a key element here as the songs have a lived-in feel in the delivery that can only be achieved by an ensemble that knows intuitively where to go in the build of the arrangement.

There is always an element of the confessional and the personal that threads through the songs of Brock Davis. Couple this with observant story-telling and you capture the emotional barometer of those who can relate to the messages contained therein. Internal conflicts are masked by the external daily battle for survival, and the instinct is to push personal feelings down so deep that they become supressed in a fog of self-delusion.

There are love songs like All Of You and My Beautiful Bride; others that look at the stark reality of relationship breakdown such as I’m Glad You Left Me and the bad timing of circumstance with Nowhere Near Ready. Youthful hedonism is captured on the vibrant Laughin’ Till It Hurt and there is perspective in the wisdom gained from maturity on both Nothing Lasts Forever and Make Your Own Change. Workplace harassment and bullying is dealt with on I’ll Be Your Alibi and the sweet taste of revenge. The real value in living is captured on two songs of gratitude, with both Miracle On the Hudson and Christmas (going home) bringing strong messages that being alive is the true reward.

The song Till the Morning Comes is a poignant look at a cancer victim’s decision to quit treatment in favour of a better quality of life in their final days. Davis himself only recently survived a cancer diagnosis so the song really hits home in the delivery.

Daddy’s Girl is another heartbreaker, channelling the frustrations of a daughter who just wants the acceptance and love of a parent, and the final song A Daughter is a spoken word reflection of a shock family revelation that suddenly introduced an unknown sibling to the household dynamic. This is a very impressive album, played with real conviction by all involved, and the rootsy feel to the songwriting is both authentic and honestly delivered. An excellent piece of work all round.   

Paul McGee

Great Lake Swimmers Caught Light Harbour

Album number nine from the Canadian collective who never fail to deliver beautifully honed and sensitively constructed music to please. One More Dance Around the Sun brings into play the signature sweet vocal of Dekker as he emotes on daily life and the importance in keeping nature as our constant. The presence of our environment is always there, reminding that we are all part of a greater whole ‘If I could get to the edge of it, Turn it over and figure it out, Cut through the fog, cut through all of it.’

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong is a song about disappointment, confiding in a friend, and the way that we struggle to try and do the right thing all the time ‘And I can’t afford therapy, And I don’t expect your sympathy, I’m not trying to make you feel bad for me, But the truth is, I’m barely hanging on.’ Some lovely pedal steel colours and highlights this melody. On For You To Come Round we get a treatise on expectation and holding out hope – the longing for something to turn up that can ease our doubts and fears ‘I guess some things just have to be endured to be believed, The weight of all the knowing, at first glance, hard to conceive.’

Youth Not Wasted is a standout moment with understated instrumentation reflecting the insight gained from adulthood when looking back to years now passed by ‘And it’s getting later now, The streetlights are starting to come on, All that living needs somewhere to go, Exploding out head-on into the great big world.’ Sweet mandolin plays along with piano and a sense of longing. Endless Detours is a song that suggests distracted thoughts pulling at our attention, and Running Out Of Time looks at the way in which humans continue to destroy the habitat for trinkets such as profit and power. There is a psychedelic groove on this song that is very 60s and very addictive as it unfolds.

Jump to the excellent title track Caught Light and the atmospherics in a song that contains lyrics that hint at being temporarily side-tracked, or being taken by a moment in time. Sometimes the lyrics can appear a little obtuse, which of course leaves plenty of room for listener interpretation. And maybe this is the true essence of great songwriting, where the original intent becomes less important in the meaning it brings to others. Sometimes the mystery of life can appear in such momentary flashes of capturing an emotion, or a sudden feeling that arises.

The song that captures the sense of distance and separation from others is A Distant Star and the reality of trying to capture that magic of creating something for others ‘ I am a distant star, Far from where you are, Pulling strings on this old guitar.’ As the album winds down we are given The Fledgling Jay and a song about the cruelty involved in nature where a hawk attacks a Jaybird nest in search of prey. The sacrifice of the mother for her young. The final song is a note to a family member or long-time friend to get back in contact as the years unfurl and on All the Best Dekker sings ‘I’ve been thinking lots about what you said, The last time we spoke, About how we got all the punchlines, Now we just need the jokes.’

The album features Tony Dekker (acoustic guitars, vocals), Darcy Yates(bass), Jim Bowskill (electric guitars, pedal steel, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, fiddle, upright bass, backing vocals), Steve O’Connor (piano, harmonium, Wurlitzer, electric piano, Hammond B3 organ), Gary Craig (drums, percussion), Colleen Brown (backing vocals). Production and engineering  were handled by a combination of Darcy Yates (Bahamas) and Jimmy Bowskill (Blue Rodeo), the latter shining brightly throughout on an array of instruments. The album was recorded in just a few days and the spontaneous feel of the music bears this out. It’s one of the most rewarding releases from Great Lake Swimmers, among a very impressive back-catalogue. Definitely one to treasure.

Paul McGee

Sugarfoot Cosmic Norse Americana Proper

Back in 2012 this band released a debut album in their home country and it started a very interesting journey to this present release. Founding duo Øyvind Holm and Hogne Galåen decided to put together a list of fellow musicians that they would like to perform with, and four of the contacted names agreed not only to begin collaborating, but their individual parts were recorded remotely from backing tracks provided. None of the additional players had met in putting down their individual parts, and this led to an inspired approach in recording the debut album.

Even Granås, Thomas Henriksen, Bent Sæther, and Roar Øien, have all since formed the other core members of Sugarfoot and this new album is a compilation of the first five albums that were released over the time period between 2012 and 2019. The official release has ten tracks selected across these various albums, with the CD release containing a further two bonus tracks, including an almost-fifteen minute jam on Santa Ana (Hats off to Shakey). The Nordic music scene is very strong and Norway has embraced Country music to a greater extent than some of it’s neighbours, with Finland and Sweden perhaps leaning more towards Hard Rock and Metal in overall tastes. However, the close ties of Norwegian Folk music and traditional Country music have long been established with emigration playing a role in the trends that were adopted over the decades.

On this compilation we are treated to a fine sampling of what is commonly called Cosmic Country music and the influence of bands such as Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds and The Grateful Dead are clearly evident. Also prominent in the song arrangements are the superb harmony vocals of the band, something that recently led to Mike Scott of The Waterboys featuring the band on a recent album, plus inviting them to support his Waterboys tour as the opening act. A nice break to be given and a perfect segue into this resume of their back catalogue.

The opening song Tiger Rider defines their great sound, with references to Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert in the lyrics, and the band laying down an impressive groove. The superb playing by guest musician Øyvind Smidt on violin and mandolin is a feature on Flatfoot Willie as is the slide guitar of Alexander Pettersen. The harmony vocals on All Dried Up are classic CSNY territory with some nice guitar lines on a slow burn song. On Dolphin Hotel we are in the territory of Neil Young for atmospheric guitar effects and a building melody.

Where pop music stops and psychedelic rock takes over is a meeting point where nobody can ever pinpoint and it is somewhat incongruous to always seek comparisons. This is fine music to the ears and that is all that should really matter. The creative experimentation on Changing Times has some superb bass playing and big keyboard sounds, while Ego In A Bag shows a softer side to the band with an acoustic number featuring the impressive Ida Jenshus on dual-lead vocals, and some nice harmonica and pedal steel effects.

The original band consists of Hogne Galåen (guitars, vocals), Even Granås (drums), Thomas Henriksen (keyboards), Øyvind Holm (guitars, vocals), Bent Sæther (bass), and Roar Øien (pedal steel). This is a really enjoyable retrospective and a testament to the enduring talents of this excellent band.

Paul McGee 

New Album Reviews

The David Mayfield Parade Go Big And Go Home Mountain Fever

The cover photo of the second album from The David Mayfield Parade depicts the besuited band inside a little wooden church, wrestling with snakes. Welcome to the manic world of David Mayfield and his equally manic bandmates. What’s even more bizarre is that four of the ten songs on the album are gospel songs, without a hint of irony or irreverence, even though this is one of the most irreverent bluegrass bands in existence. Bear with me here, because this is one of the finest albums that I have come across in the last 12 months. You may have seen David a few years back playing guitar in the backing band of his sister, Jessica Lea Mayfield. A phenomenal finger picker, he then did a stint with Cadillac Sky, a progressive bluegrass band out of Nashville. He has now gathered a bunch of equally talented players (who are also songwriters and vocalists) to create one of the most dynamic and hilarious live bands on the circuit.

The record blasts off with the high energy Time’s Winding Up, a tongue in cheek, apocryphal prediction of the ending of the world. Each of the band gets to perform a solo break to show off their undoubted chops, and the song ends with a long scream! That song and the next are co-written by David and his wife Jessie. Three and even four part harmonies are a feature throughout the album, and none more so than on Face Your Life. Much more serious than the opener, it’s a philosophy for living: ”stand up straight/ face your life/ embrace the pain” and stand together with your fellow man. Producer Tim O’Brien has done a stellar job, his crisp production allowing all the instruments to be heard. He also contributed fiddle to that second song. Unusually, the resonator guitar plays a prominent role in the band’s overall sound and player Ryan Wallen also wrote three of the songs here. He takes the lead vocal on Daytime Moon, a positive fun song about simply enjoying life, with another robust ending! At Your Throne is another co-write from Jessie and David, a gospel song with an unconventional soul/blues groove. Tim O’Brien plays bouzouki on this one, dramatic lyrics detail how the protagonist "gave it up and laid it all at your throne”, ending with more impressive four part harmonies. Banjo player Stephen Moore is a multi-award winning player and he co-wrote Sapphire Town with Mayfield. It began as an instrumental, then Mayfield wrote the lyrics after learning about the dangers of working in the sapphire mines in Madagascar. The exploitation of lives is hinted at, while the vulnerable worker dreams that “I might be the one who finds what shines”.

Mandolin player Keith Wallen leads on his own gospel number, a dynamic one called The Lord Comes Down.

The second contribution from Ryan Wallen is a gospel song, The Line, describing the queue that we’re all in "for the stairway to paradise". David Mayfield’s Never Knew I Could is another gospel song, inspired by his wife, where he credits the Lord with saving him AND finding him a wife! The Old Bronson Church is quite stunning - performed a capella with five part harmonies, it’s not so much a gospel song as a song of encouragement. “It won’t matter who you pray to/ if you pray at all/ Don’t care if you voted/ or who you voted for”. Amen, say I. The closing number is nearer to a traditional bluegrass theme - Ryan Wallen remembers his upbringing with his family and his late Papaw’s Spirit. (Wallen, incidentally, also designed the album sleeve)

Recorded at their record label Mountain Fever’s studio in Willis, Virginia, I am sure that much hilarity will have been involved, if the band’s live performances are anything to go by. You can get an inkling of this on their videos for some of these tracks, if you’re still needing to be convinced. Seek them out live and buy this album!

Eilís Boland

Steve Baskin and The Fourteens I Sometimes Think (Better) Vanelle’s Songs

The latest release from Atlanta-based artist Steve Baskin is a reworking of the songs on his 2006 album I SOMETIMES THINK. That debut album was an introduction to the recording process for Baskin, a ‘hands-on’ approach that found him playing on all ten tracks. For this 20th-anniversary edition, Baskin established backing band, The Fourteens, adding their groove and swagger to breathe new life into the songs. The Fourteens is Roger Brainard (guitars), Mark Socus (bass), Geoff Gill (drums, percussion), and Mark Van Allen (pedal steel). Vocals, guitars, mandolin and lead vocals are credited to Baskin, who also co-produced with Rich Herring.

In keeping with his back catalogue, Baskin genre-hops sonically from power-pop, country soul, and classic rock. The opening tracks, How I Feel and Where You Are, tick that power-pop box. The closing two, Bad Idea and I Sometimes Think, are full-on rockers. Elsewhere, Trip Begin is a highlight, loaded with screeching guitars and a Tom Petty-type rhythm section.

Matters close to the heart also feature. If the mandolin-led and slow-burning I Don’t Know Nothing (Love Song), complete with dreamy pedal steel, is a mature and heartfelt love song, the racy and somewhat tongue-in-cheek Lucy depicts teenage angst and longing. Including a Beatles cover is a brave move, and it could go either way. In this case A Hard Days Night, which was also included in Baskin’s 2025 covers album UNDER COVER, gets a sympathetic, soulful makeover that works.

More adventurous in arrangement and production than his 2006 record, the album certainly lives up to its title. The musicians excel at adding greater expression to the songs behind Baskin’s gritty, soulful vocals, offering the listener a rewarding, relaxed listening experience.

Declan Culliton

Juni Habel Evergreen In Your Mind Basin Rock

If most of the Scandinavian artists whose work Lonesome Highway has reviewed in recent years are bedded in the country/roots Nordicana genre, Norwegian singer-songwriter Juni Habel’s melodies have consistently been grounded in classic folk, and by her own admission, inspired by Nick Drake, Yashi Bunyan and Ane Brun.

The songs on EVERGREEN IN YOUR MIND are even more unhurried than those on her two previous records, ALL EARS (2020) and CARVINGS (2023), although they follow a similar path and structure. Beautifully articulated by Habel’s quite stunning vocals, some of the inclusions date back several years, but the majority were written since her last record. The recordings took place in Hebel’s home in Rakkestad and in her co-producer Stian Skaaden’s apartments in both Oslo and Gjerstad. Multi-instrumentalist Skaaden played bass, synths, percussion, organ, violin, and backing vocals. Lead vocals, guitar, organ, and piano are credited to Habel, and guesting were Herman Wildhagen on pedal steel, Martin Morland on double bass, and Emil Nojgaard Petersen on electric guitar.

Nature and its connection with the human spirit loom large in much of the material. The simple pursuits of hiking, running in the forests and swimming in lakes close to her rural cabin feed into the spareness of Habel’s writing and the song compositions. A prime example is the title track, which finds Habel deep in the woods savouring the tranquillity and escape from distractions (‘’Forest grows tall, you looked down on the trail, you were cold to the bone. Honey, I don’t want to go back home’’). Simply featuring layered vocals and acoustic guitar, it’s a classic case of ‘less is more’, a recurring feature on the record. That sense of calm and ‘time standing still’ is also crafted in Pearl Cloud Song, an instrumental featuring acoustic guitar, percussion, and pedal steel. Less calming, more experimental and quirkier, another instrumental, Gitarhum, has Habel humming over contorted bass lines. Her relaxed folk melodies excel in the opening track Another High, and an otherworldly sense of aloneness and tranquillity plays out in the quite beautiful Colours Close To Me.

Built around Habel’s infectious, hushed, and sometimes semi-spoken vocals, EVERGREEN IN YOUR MIND is an impeccable collection of delicate folk songs.

Declan Culliton

Emily Nenni Movin’ Shoes New West

“This isn’t strictly honky tonk like my former records, even though it’s still all the same influences, I’m just drawing from more artists and genres than I have in the past,” explains Emily Nenni on the release of her latest album, MOVIN’ SHOES.

If DRIVE & CRY, the Nashville-based artist’s 2024 release, was hard-boiled and vintage honky tonk, her latest album moves toward southern country soul. It’s therefore not surprising that she packed her bags and headed to Memphis to record MOVIN’ SHOES. Although the recording venue changed from her last album, Nenni still worked with the same producer, John James Tourville (of the Deslondes), and Grammy-winner Matt-Ross Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine), who recorded and mixed the album’s thirteen tracks.

The album may shift sonically from Nenni’s previous recordings, but the common denominator is her powerful, extremely soulful vocals, which fit ‘hand in glove’ with the direction she’s chosen. The raging fiddles and pedal steel that worked so well on We Sure Could Two Step on her last album are put to one side this time around and replaced by sweet-sounding horns on tracks like What Have I Done Wrong and Yes It Hurts, with nods in the direction of Dusty Springfield rather than Loretta Lynn.

Nenni’s songwriting has consistently referenced the ‘here and now’ like an update on her current state of mind. Matter of fact songs like Changes and I Don’t Have To Like You from her last album are repeated here in Take My Money (‘’ Rather see you gone than hold these nickels and dimes/Take my money, give me back my time’’) and Good Ma’am (‘’ I need to calm down. Only I can say that I need to slow down’’). Livin’ in Shame, the first single taken from the album, is a song for these times and defiantly calls out the appalling ‘body shaming’ culture (‘’Everybody is different each time, every curve and scar is one of a kind. Never saw a size or shape I didn’t like, so why the wasted years being so cruel to mine’’).

Without straying too far from the originals, Nenni does justice to her takes on Paul Simon’s Tenderness and Delbert McClinton’s Honky Tonkin (I Guess I Done Me Some). Nenni herself has done her fair share of ‘honky tonkin’ since bravely moving to Nashville from California at age twenty-one. Through hard endeavour and abundant talent, she has established herself among a troupe of younger artists who champion the ‘traditional meets modern’ country sound. The album is a delightfully accessible listen from start to finish.

Declan Culliton

Colton Bowlin Grandpa’s Mill Thirty Tigers

In recent years, Kentucky has produced several stellar singer-songwriters deeply influenced by country music. Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers exemplify the successful male artists, while Kelsey Waldon and Carly Pearce stand out among the women. Each has an individual style, united by unapologetic pride in Kentucky’s musical heritage. Colton Bowlin is the latest talent to emerge, wearing his heart on his sleeve in GRANDPA’S MILL, an album rooted in family, recollection, and honest reflection on his younger days.

GRANDPA’S MILL is Bowlin’s debut album on the Thirty Tigers label, following his 2024 release SONGS FROM THE HOLLER. Much of the material was written during work breaks at his father’s feed mill in Albany, Kentucky. Inspiration often came from casual chats with older workmates and locals in the small town. On weekends, Bowlin brought these stories to life playing at local bars.

Fond memories of Bowlin’s blissful younger years are presented in Clinton County and Greenbriar Road, while less memorable times of lost love are the subject matter of State Lines and Missed The Dance. Appalachian tales would hardly be complete without a murder ballad, and Don’t Come Home ticks that box. Through the eyes of an elderly man, the protagonist in Man I Used To Be reminisces about a life well lived, including working hard, raising a family, and serving his country in war.

The title track closes the album. A heartfelt tribute to a major influence on Bowlin as a child and young man (‘’I wish I could have back my best friend, but the Lord’s taken him away/ He’s found a better place for him’’), it bookends a self-assured and open-hearted collection of songs that contemplate youth and adulthood, past and future, and life and death, from an artist with endless potential. Fans of Jason Isbell will lap this up.

Declan Culliton

Andy Cohen+Eleanor Ellis+William Lee Ellis Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard Riverlark

What do you get when you bring together three of the most celebrated musicians from the Blues and Folk genres of American Roots music? The answer is a collection of twenty-one songs that highlight and illustrate the depth and breadth of both musical worlds, together with a healthy sprinkling of old-time and gypsy jazz genres to spice up the variety on offer.

Included here are traditional songs, given a fresh interpretation, a few tasty instrumentals, and some cover versions of more recent songs. A number of the selections were written by the musicians themselves with Chicken (Andy Cohen), Handful Of Frets, Memphis Minnie and Me (William Lee Ellis) featured. Traditional arrangements are reworked by Eleanor Ellis on a number of songs like Drunkard’s Lament, Red River Blues, Riley and Spencer. Andy Cohen also does a fine job with Ye Banks and Braes.

Every tune is a joy, often pairing atmospheric blues with a gospel and ragtime mix. Perfect music for a relaxing evening with a log fire burning in cosy surroundings. Whether it’s fingerstyle picking or Piedmont blues featured, the songs move quickly along and seduce the listener into a pleasant state of well-being. Instrumentals like Won’t That Be A Happy Time, played by Andy Cohen on piano, and the Blind Lemon Jefferson song Shuckin’ Sugar performed by Eleanor , are a real treat.

South Nashville Blues by Steve Earle is played like it was written a century ago, and the duelling guitars of Andy Cohen and William Lee Ellis on the Rev. Gary Davis/Scott Joplin song Make Believe Stunt is a real high point. The steady bass playing of Steve Feinbloom underpins a number of the tracks and his rhythmic strum is a highlight on the Furry Lewis track I Will Turn Your Money Green. Fraser Speirs provides harmonica, Vernita Weller brings vocals and tambourine, and Julie Coffey on vocals, all adding colour to various songs.

A Charly Patton song I’m Goin’ Home is dripping with atmosphere and I’ll Be Rested (When the Roll Is Called) is a gospel celebration to the day when the kingdom of heaven comes calling. William Lee Ellis arranges the song I Am Born To Preach the Gospel which brings proceedings to a satisfactory close on this immensely enjoyable album. Praise goes to Eleanor Ellis (vocal, guitar), Andy Cohen (vocal, guitar, mandola, dolceola, piano), and William Lee Ellis (vocal, guitar, banjo, 12-string guitar, slide guitar, steel guitar), for their inventive and inspiring musicianship throughout.

Paul McGee

Band Of Heathens Country Sides BOH

Twenty years down the road, the original duo and founding members Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist are alive and well and still making vibrant records as Band Of Heathens. On this new release, the band is comprised of Ed Jurdi (Vocals, Guitars), Gordy Quist (Vocals, Guitars), Trevor Nealon(Keyboards, Vocals), Clint Simmons (Drums, Percussion, Vocals), Nick Jay (Bass, Vocals). The credits state that Geoff Queen (Pedal Steel Guitar) features, suggesting that he’s not a regular band member, but based on the evidence here, his stamp on these songs is an integral part of their sound.

The band are from Austin Texas and the album was co-produced with Jim Vollentine, and recorded at The Finishing School in Austin. Their career has seen them focus on an independent path to success, keeping everything within their own decision-making process and highlighting an approach that has been at all turns steady and structured. The first two albums in their discography were recorded live and this focus on performance is something that the band has always promoted, to the point of making many of their shows available to purchase on the night by USB drive, all the way back to 2012. An innovative idea at the time and a novel move that worked so well for them.

On this new album the rich vocals are a highlight throughout, and the simpatico playing coupled with easy melody and rhythm, are reminiscent of bands from the original LA Country-Rock scene of the 1970s. No Direction opens the album with a nice Country style and a song about missing your loved one when you’re apart. It could be clocking up miles on the road that keeps the separation uppermost in the mind. Next up is High On Our Own Supply and it isn’t a song about having an ample supply of weed. More to the point, it is a statement of what works for the band when they are out on tour and looking to keep that positive momentum when playing to fans across the miles “We play rock and roll music all night long / Getting high on our own supply / Feels like going home.”

She’s the Night is a song about looking to the morning and not allowing the dark shadows of night to rest on you like the weight of the world. On the next song Lead Don’t Follow the advice is to take control of your life and trust your instincts. The pedal steel is nicely woven into the up-tempo beat and the harmonies are nicely balanced against the melody.

Getting your heart broken is a risk in trusting others and being vulnerable, and Forever’s Not A Long Time consoles in the thought that a true friend will always be there for you when needed “Nothing ever comes easy / So I'll be waiting here for you.” One of the highlights is the soulful delivery on Something That I Started and that chase for what love could turn out to be is something that we can all relate to.

On these songs the lead vocals are shared between Jurdi and Quist with each possessing a sweetly blended delivery of both tone and perfect timing. On Pleasing People we have the reflection that trying to be what others expect us to be can be a difficult path and one that leads to ultimate frustration. Again, be yourself and live the way you want, leaving others to do the same. Good As I Can Be is another testament to belief in yourself and in what you bring – it’s all bound up in positive mental attitude.

Take the Cake rocks along with some nice guitar and keyboard breaks, and the mellow groove on Just As Much is a promise to always be consistent and unwavering in being present for someone – “I will still love you tomorrow, just as much as I do now.” The final song is Letting Go and it speaks of rolling with the punches “There’s one thing I’ve learned more than I know / I can keep a little grace, Instead of trying to save face / I just roll with the flow.” This thought is a nice way to summarise the album; it’s filled with fine melodies and great harmony vocals, flowing along like a river in the way that the songs carry their own momentum forward to a pleasing conclusion.

Paul McGee

Isabel Rumble Hold Everything Lightly Self Release

Australian indie folk delivered in a beautifully packaged new album from the impressive Isabel Rumble. A debut album appeared in 2023 and this new project was produced by Heath Cullen, a sought-after musician, producer and songwriter from New South Wales. All ten songs are written by Isabel Rumble and it’s a very intimate album with the deep underlying message of loving awareness running throughout.

The opening track Soften is a song that captures the heartbreak of losing a lover and a friend “They keep telling me I’m strong / I’ve been doing the work, Breaking parts of my heart / And healing the hurt.” The understated playing and atmospherics are delivered by Isabel on vocal and guitar, Heath Cullen on drums, guitar, piano and Robyn Martin on bass. And it is Martin who is the anchor on all of the arrangements, bar one, with her light touch on either upright or electric bass.

Better Half Of Me  is an exploration of falling gradually into love with another “Hoping we belong to each other / As lovers do … Good things take time.” There is superb pedal steel, played by Ben Franz, who features on five tracks, bringing some lovely moments. The cello on Lonely Hunter is beautifully delivered by Ben Tolliday on a song that celebrates the close bond between two lovers in the moments of quiet intimacy. A similar feeling runs through Knowing and that sixth sense of unspoken understanding, entwined in one another.   

Room To Grow sees lovers part with a sense of regret, and yet looking forward to the next chapter ‘I realised the limit to what I was giving, You could see it too, no longer ringing true.’ The intimacy on Born Again is both gentle and tinged with rueful reflection, Isabel performing solo on just vocals and acoustic guitar “I’ve been hiding all this time, hoping you’ll find me / Now I’m realising I put a guard around my heart / What did I expect you to see.”

The building passion on I Danced is a highlight with Heath Cullen providing nuanced guitar, organ, piano and drums. There is a wistful quality on Digesting History with piano and upright bass, understated cello and a vocal that looks back on a relationship “Softness in the words you speak / The hard truth settles in.” Another memorable song is You’ll Sing with the lovely piano melody augmented by haunting pedal steel ‘For what you think, And the kindness you bring, Lives eternally.’ Echoes of Jane Siberry on this song and the sense of longing entwined with regret for the loss of the past.

The final song is also the album title, and Hold Everything Lightly is like a mantra, or a prayer, to be offered in times of vulnerability and uncertainty. It’s the longest track and a reflection on a relationship of real meaning and substance, mirrored in the lines “I gave enough to you, I gave myself to you / Beneath this quarter moon, Driving away from you … Gave my heart away and chased until the days were longer than the nights.”

There is a deep sense of acceptance and of quiet humility running through these songs and their overall impact is quietly stunning as they wind their way around the lovely melodies and the ensemble dynamic. A highly recommended album.   

Paul McGee

Jesper Lindell 3614 Jackson Highway Yep Roc

This release is the first half of an intriguing project undertaken by Swedish musician Jesper Lindell and his band, The Brunnsvik Sound. In September 2024, over a four-day period, Jesper and the band travelled to a pair of iconic recording studios in Alabama and Tennessee to record two albums in a live format. Quite a daunting task and one that inspired the jet-lagged musicians to rise to the occasion. The result can be seen in the separate albums 3614 JACKSON HIGHWAY and ROYAL – in paying tribute to both the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama and Royal Studios in Memphis.

Such an inspirational idea could only result in a positive outcome and the first of these two albums has now been released with 3614 Jackson Highway the address of the iconic sound studio at Muscle Shoals. Across nine cover songs we are given the playing skills of The Brunnsvik sextet to absorb and assess, and the results are impressive, with the soulful sound of the musicians producing an album of great moments.

Starting off with the Dan Penn song If Love Was Money the bar is set high, with Jesper Lindell sounding like Graham Parker on the lead vocal. Horns and string arrangements were added subsequently by Rasmus Fors, one of three producers who worked on the album and the backing vocals of Michaela Holmberg and Kajsa Hansson also add great energy.

The Spooner Oldham/Dan Penn song She Ain’t Gonna Do Right follows and the performance is again convincing and fresh. Things really lift off on the Staple Singers classic Respect Yourself (Ingram/Rice) with a soulful vocal and some fine lead guitar courtesy of Lindell. The Tony Joe White classic Rainy Night In Georgia is included but it cannot come close to the Randy Crawford version, the string arrangement here making the sound almost too smooth.

Pretend It Never Happened is better, with the Willie Nelson song given a magical soul vibe that really works, the warm sound of organ and piano courtesy of Rasmus Fors. Ever popular Dan Penn returns again on the song Rainbow Road and the pain in the message is well captured with Lindell sounding close to Nathaniel Rateliff in the vocal delivery. Again, the addition of horns and backing vocals bring the edge, even if the relative need for strings can be debated here.

The Staple Singers hit Heavy Makes You Happy (Barry/Bloom) is another inspired choice with Michaela Holmberg shining on co-lead vocals. There is a real groove on this one. Another song from Tony Joe White is included with I’ve Got A Thing About You Baby hitting all the bases. Perhaps the standout performance is reserved for final track Drift Away (Mentor Williams), made famous by versions from Dobie Gray and Michael Bolton over the years. The smoky, soulful delivery from Lindell is just perfect, restrained and yet powerful, shared with Phil Campbell on co-lead vocal and benefiting from the harmony vocals of Michaela Holmberg, Kajsa Hansson and Elin Larsson.

The members of the Brunnsvik Sound are Jesper Lindell (guitars, lead vocals), Anton Lindell (bass), Carl Lindvall (piano, backing vocals), Jimmy Reimers (guitars, harmonica, violin, trumpet, French horn, backing vocals),  Rasmus Fors (accordion, keyboards, organ), and Simon Wilhelmsson (drums). They all shine on the project and their live recording concept is augmented by horns, strings and background vocals which, more often than not, add colour to everything.  As key moments go, it’s well worth your time and investment; a reverential nod to a time when the rural rhythm and blues sounds of the 60s began merging with the soulful urban sounds of a developing musical experience.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Elaine Palmer Some Seek Silver, Some Seek Gold  Butterfly Effect

Like the precious metals invoked in the album’s title, Elaine Palmer’s latest album shimmers, and then some. The ninth album from the rural North Yorkshire native, who regularly criss crosses the Atlantic to Phoenix, Arizona to be with family there, finds her in a reflective but also defiant mood. The seven self-penned and self-produced tracks were initially laid down in the rural Amberville Studios in Cullybackey, Co Antrim, with Malojian's Stevie Scullion engineering. Then Elaine took them to San Diego, to Mike Butler (The Pretenders, Ray LaMontagne, Phoebe Bridgers) in Half Moon Studios, where he laid down lead guitars and mixed the tracks. (He had also recorded her last album, HALF MOON RISING, which was very well received).

There may be only seven songs on this mini-album but each is a gem, with a sound somewhere between edgy country music and English folk. Palmer’s sultry vocals exhibit restrained passion, and her lyrics use words sparingly but effectively. There’s as much power in what isn’t said, as in what is. Some Seek Silver recounts a love affair with someone who appeared 'out of the dusty desert .. at just the right time’ but, regrettably, now they 'walk on different paths'. In this song she declares herself to be driven to be a writer (‘I was made for the stories to be told’) and tell them she does, with the backdrop of her own rhythm guitar playing under the searing lead Telecaster guitar of Butler. Perhaps referring to the same love affair, I Still Feel The Same drives along with energy, the pain of longing further evoked in Butler’s raucous guitar work, and the telling lines ‘what happens in the desert, you know, it stays there…’ In the slow burner Roses, Palmer ponders on the transience of life, which still goes on despite heartbreak.

On the lonely windswept ridge between Rosedale and Farndale, in Palmer’s native Yorkshire Moors, there stands Ralph’s Cross, tied to the local legend of the tragic love affair between a monk and a nun. This is the inspiration for Once Were Lovers, the highlight of this excellent record for this reviewer. The intense illicit love of the hapless couple, and their subsequent murder, is suggested by the haunting, echoey, multi-layered vocals, shimmering cymbals, organ and piano. ‘I would have followed you down into the depths of the darkest ocean/And I would have sat there like a stone’. Christopher Coll, who contributes bass throughout the album, adds to the eeriness with his singing saw. All percussion and drum duties are by Decky McManus (Dead Goat). Palmer herself plays rhythm guitar, piano and organ.

In The Losing Hand, Palmer shows that she is not to be crossed in love, with the strident lyrics and delivery assuring us that she ‘could love you better than she loves you’ and that she ‘can't stand being on the losing hand’. In Telling of the Bees, she ponders on a long distant relationship, rueing the fact that she perhaps never really knew him properly and that 'the years have turned to ice’ between them. There’s a hopeful note of potential redemption in the closing song, the melodic The Wildest Storms.

This album is a slow burner. Give it the time it deserves and you might discover why it is one of my favourites of the year so far.

Eilís Boland

Andy Hedges The Westerner Cowboy Songster

This is an album that exudes a sense of humanity through a series of songs that deal directly with the lifestyle and ethos that is suggested by the album title. Andy Hedges sings cowboy-related songs that feel timeless, some are originals, co-writes or traditional arrangements, all delivered with a sense of authenticity. The title track is a co-write between Hedges, musically, and a poem written by Charles Badger Clark (taken from his book Sun and Saddle Leather published in 1915). Indeed many of the lyrics here have their origin in poetry sources from the past. That cross fertilisation runs from that opening song right through to the final song, Driftin’ Cowboy, written by Woody Guthrie and sung here by Hedges and the iconic Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

The production by Rich Brotherton and Chris Ryden is understated and ageless. It is acoustic based, with a variety of instruments that add colour to the recordings. Guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, cello, cittern, dobro and accordion abound from the talents of the likes of Warren Hood, Diana Burgess and Don Flemons, but it is Brotherton who is central to the recording on a number of levels and this delivers a masterclass in what is, in truth, a particular niche of Americana (in this case the term is used fittingly).

Cow Trails Blues was written by an artist of a very similar disposition - the late Don Edwards - any fan of his recordings will find themselves at home on the range here, as would those who enjoy aspects of the music of Peter Rowan. Don Flemons adds backing vocals and harmonica and brings a recognition, in some respects, to those cowboys from the African-American culture who were very much a part of that lifestyle. Flemons also appears on the last track too. The life of those who worked as drifting cowboys was far from easy, then as it is now, but is one that these songs illuminate that the proponents would not have changed - even if they could. Titles such as A Cowboy’s Hard Times, Death Of The Last Cowhand and Tom Blasingame give a clear and sympathetic reading of life, love and death in Hedges' warm and welcome voice and love for the musical environment he inhabits. Not one, it has to be said, that is anything other than a specialist subject but thankfully has its exponents and, in the likes of Colter Wall, contemporary performers who continue to explore its rich and timeless heritage.

This thirteen track album would provide many with a perfect introduction to a musical trail that has been brought to life, to some degree, with the televisual exploration of the ranch lifestyle in Yellowstone and its more relevant prequels. If you listen to one track that perhaps sums this up then I’d Like to Be In Texas is a tale of an older man relating something of his life and where he would like to be. Simple and effective storytelling.

Stephen Rapid

Benjamin Tod Vengeance & Grace Thirty Tigers

Tod’s last album, the first under his own name, was one of my albums of the year. Previously he had released under his Lost Dog String Band moniker, but that album explored a much more traditional country direction. He is back now with this collection that is twenty tracks long, divided between those recorded with a band and those delivered solo with just voice and guitar, in the form they would have been created and occasionally performed live.

Like the previous album, production is in the very capable and understanding hands of Andrija Tokic and recorded in his studio,The Bomb Shelter in Nashville. But unlike the album running order I’m going to start with the “alone” versions. These open with The Hard Way, the first of a set of songs that are reflective of a lifestyle that tries to learn from mistakes, to consider previous errors and consequences of that, to find some redemption in the future, faith and fervour. This is explored also in many of the songs such as End Of My Rope, Closing The Door or Goner. These are delivered in a darkly compelling voice, with a simple guitar accompaniment, and because of that have the directness and starkness that you could expect from such an exploration of one’s inner-self and such introspection. In many ways it makes you focus on the heart of the material, whereas with the band tracks the music is so accomplished as to be a focus in itself. However these different perspectives on the songs, on the same album, allow the listener the choice of deciding which format works best for each song.

This time out Tod brings only fiddler Billy Contreras and drummer Dave Racine from the previous album’s players, but meanwhile bringing current band members Cotton Clifton on guitar, bassist Paul DeFiglia, Mat Menold on organ and pedal steel player Tebbs Karney into the fold. These players give a wider substance to the songs naturally than Tod’s solo versions, and the move from that simplicity to this broader perspective gives a sharp perspective as to how Tod’s songs find life in the different iterations. Both illustrate Tod’s vocal confidence in the way he tells the songs in each context, as he is able to illuminate the emotions that are at the centre of each song.

There are strong contributions of the central elements of real country with pedal steel and fiddle over the danceable rhythms and the flavourings of organ and electric guitar. While the album takes a more consistent overall route than the slightly more diverse musical gatherings from the previous album, it is none-the-less an album that resonates with many of the fundamental strands that combine in more hard core country.

The progress of Tod and his band is palatable and the combination of his voice, songwriting and commitment to an ethos of the past being refurbished for the future puts Benjamin Tod at the forefront of group of artists who might still be too raw for mainstream consumption, but whose role is pivotal in widening its appreciation, its grace and does so with a vengeance.

Stephen Rapid

Drivin N Cryin Crushing Flowers Self Release

‘’Looks like we’re back again. Looks like you need some truth, looks like you need some fun,’’ announces Kevn Kinney on the track Looks Like We’re Back Again. It’s a declaration that wholly sums up where Drivin N Cryin are coming from with their latest record. The track may be powered by a guitar riff borrowed from The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again, but the emphasis is on the word ‘fun’, and that’s precisely what the band deliver, simple old-school rock and roll, with CRUSHING FLOWERS, their eleventh studio album.

It’s been four decades since Kevn Kinney formed Drivin N Cryin in Atlanta, Georgia, and despite several line-up changes, the band’s trademark ‘punky southern rock meets power pop’ sounds as compelling as ever. The current band members, alongside Kinney, are Tim Neilson on guitars, bass, and mandolin, and drummer Dave V Johnson.  CRUSHING FLOWERS follows LIVE THE LOVE BEAUTIFUL from 2019.

A major player in early 1990s college rock, which birthed fellow Georgia bands R.E.M., the Black Crowes, and the Indigo Girls, Drivin N Cryin was recognised for their contribution to their home state with induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Recorded at Fat Back Studios in Nashville, the production duties on this album were carried out by Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell), who also played keyboards and guitars. Peter Buck added guitar to two tracks, Mirror Mirror and the title track, and Todd Snider's vocals, possibly his last studio appearance, can be heard as backing vocals on the track Iggy Monkey.

It’s business as usual, with thunderous guitar-driven tracks and honeyed harmonies across the ten tracks. The album’s title track strikes an optimistic note in uncertain times (‘’Break away from the story, it’s all been done before. Stay awake for tomorrow, closing in on your today’’) and Kinney addresses his mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s in Mirror Mirror (‘’Maybe you remember me, it’s possible you don’t. I know you’re in there somewhere, singing me this song’’), reflecting on whether he faces a similar scenario in later life. The instantly fetching Come On And Dance is classic and no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll that sounds like it was borrowed from The Ramones.

Death Of Me Yet lands somewhere between glam and what used to be called ‘rock’ decades ago, as does Jesse Electric, complete with Kinney’s snarling vocals and a driving rhythm. They sign off with Iggy Monkey (‘’Shimmy shimmy, shake appeal. Funhouse, won’t you come down’’) hailing another industry survivor, trailblazer and ageless entertainer.

Riddled with killer tracks, unfussy lyrics and razor-sharp guitar licks, CRUSHING FLOWERS captures everything that’s so good about Drivin N Cryin and stands shoulder to shoulder with anything they’ve previously recorded.

Declan Culliton

Various Artists Old No.1 Revisited Truly Handmade

My initial reaction when this album arrived for review was surprise that this classic recording, given the many artists who took inspiration from it, had not been honoured previously. The debut album by Texan Guy Clark was recorded in 1975, and though it reached No. 41 on the U.S. country charts and earned favourable press reviews, it did not achieve the commercial success it richly deserved. Over fifty years later, the cream of American songwriters, both male and female, revisit the ten songs from the celebrated album.

Fittingly, none of the inclusions strays too far from the originals. Why try to improve on perfection? Dan Knobler recorded, produced, and mixed the album at his Good Wishes Studio in Nashville. Each of the ten featured lead vocalists is joined by some of Nashville's top instrumentalists and backing vocalists. The players are Knobler (guitars), Russ Pahl and Joe Pisapia (pedal steel), Will Honaker and Jesse Wilson (bass), Jamie Dick and Dom Billett (drums, percussion), Eamon McLoughlin (mandolin, fiddle), Sam Bush (mandolin), Nat Smith (cello), Jen Gunderman (piano, organ, Wurlitzer), Chris Scruggs (guitars), and Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle).

The passion each vocalist pours into the songs is a joy to behold, as if they are proudly acknowledging the opportunity to take part in the recordings. Given the contributions of the musicians, the playing is exceptional, as is Knobler’s production.

 Brennen Leigh’s take on Texas 1947 is a delight; her crystal-clear Texan drawl is tailor-made for the song. Sounding remarkably like a young Guy Clark, Andrew Combs takes the lead on Desperados Waiting For A Train, supported with backing vocals by Rodney Crowell. Erin Rae would do justice to any song she covered, and Old Time Feeling is no exception. Her East Nashville neighbour, Kelsey Waldon, adds her gorgeous Kentucky twang to Nickel For The Fiddler alongside super-lively duelling mandolin and fiddle breaks. Instant Coffee Blues, possibly Clark’s finest song for this writer, is beautifully presented by Aaron Lee Tasjan, and author and poet Caroline Randall Williams recites Let Him Roll.

It’s no surprise that Margo Price is given the opener Rita Ballou; she pours her heart into a song that could have been written for, or indeed, about her. Logan Ledger's quivering vocal is well suited to Like A Coat From The Cold, and Sarah Jarosz takes the lead vocal on She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, while one of Clark’s best-loved songs, L.A. Highway, is performed finely by Jade Bird.  

Tribute albums can be hit or miss, and covering one of country music’s finest works was a bold choice. Fortunately, the project succeeds, more than honouring the original album.

In parallel to the album’s release, a new hundred-page book, Old No.1: History of Guy Clark’s First Album, written by Peter Blackstock, is available at guyclark.com, the proceeds of which, together with the album, will benefit the Guy Clark Family Foundation.

Declan Culliton

Charley Crockett Age Of The Ram Island

The third album in twelve months from Grammy winner Charley Crockett completes his Sagebrush Trilogy. AGE OF THE RAM follows on where he left off with LONESOME DRIFTER and DOLLAR A DAY from 2025. All three records were released on the Island Records label.

Crockett’s self-titled ‘Gulf & Western’ sound more than lives up to the ‘Western’ billing on his latest record. A concept album that follows the trials and tribulations of a fictional character named Billy McLane, the twenty-track record tells of his passage from drifter and hired hand to small-time cattle rustler, and eventually to legendary outlaw and gunslinger.

Divided into three acts, titled THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BILLY MCLANE (THEMES 1,2 and 3), Crockett has created a timeless and cinematic gem with this trilogy curtain closer. Once more, Shooter Jennings co-produced and, as was the case on the previous two albums, he never attempts to smooth over the edgy sound that Crockett and his regular band members excel at.

In keeping with Crockett’s passion for Western outlaw history, the album is loaded with references to outlaw country individuals (I Shot Jesse James and Remembering Pat), literature (Lonesome Dove) and cinema (Rancho Deluxe). Crockett’s leading character, Billy McLane, was borrowed from Marty Robbins’ single Old Red and also featured in the title track of Crockett’s 2024 record, $10 DOLLAR COWBOY.

Shootouts, barroom scenes, and loose women shape McLane’s tales. Low Down Freedom (“Long haired young girl here beside me… and tomorrow she'll be one more thing I'm gonna leave behind”) accepts the fleeting cowboy life and inherent downsides. The narrative shifts briefly in I Shot Jesse James, which recounts Robert Ford’s infamous slaying of the bank robber and gang leader in 1882.

Like the record’s central character, Crockett has matured from a one-time drifter to a highly respected and regarded operator. He may not have had to survive gunfights and bounty hunters, but, in his own way, he has taken on the music industry and advanced on his own terms. Sixteen studio albums in and apparently with number seventeen already written, Crockett continues to be the leading light in the authentic modern country music genre. Long may he ride.

Declan Culliton

Lynn Miles A Bouquet Of Flowers CRS

This compilation of songs taken from the BLACK FLOWERS series of albums is a very welcome reminder of the incredible talents that Lynn Miles brings to the table on everything that she writes. These fifteen tracks are selected from an original list of forty songs that appeared across four separate releases that spanned the years 2008 through to 2014.

Lynn splits the selections with six songs lifted from the 2008/2009 first and second album releases. There are six songs from 2012 and album number three; with the remaining three songs chosen from album number four in 2014. All the songs more than stand the test of time, given that the yearning vocals of Lynn are in themselves timeless, with matters of the heart examined from every possible angle. Insight gained, lessons learned, growth achieved through hard choices, reflections of both happy and sad memories, optimism and pain, it’s all here in these words of wisdom and beautifully structured melodies.

Indeed, it’s just like being at an intimate listening party with Lynn revealing her innermost emotions with both honesty and resilience. Embracing love and feeling sorry for other moments where love left the room, Lynn always speaks from the perspective of one who knows the path that has been walked in arriving at such signposts to empathy and forgiveness. These remastered songs are superb in the delivery and the recording.

The yearning, warm quality of Lynn’s vocal hits front and centre on the opening I’m Still Here, a testament to the enduring power of love and the instinct to keep trying to make relationships work. She switches from piano to acoustic guitar on the next song, the reflective Sweet and Tender Heart which looks at the vulnerability in another to open to possibility.

The other side of love is tackled on Sorry That I Broke Your Heart and a reflection on a reluctance to commit to a relationship, harmonica adding a sad tone to the arrangement. One of Lynn’s most popular songs is the beautiful Hockey Night In Canada and her look back to youthful memory, wrapped now in the reality of adulthood, where “The boys always get their way.” Lonely piano reflects on what may still haunt the deserted streets as she walks alone. On A Thousand Lovers the pain of rejection hurts as the lady feels the sting of failed romance, and on Look Up we get encouragement in the advice that no matter how you feel there is always the comfort to be found in optimism and wishing on a star in the night sky.

On I Give Up the guitar rhythm is in sympathy to the frustration felt in the disappointment that life can bring; doubt and self-criticism flow into the troubled seas of the mind. And yet, in the surrender, is that a light up ahead that signals a new dawn? Perhaps what is needed is a Fearless Heart to cast all self-doubt aside and to stride with confidence into the challenges presented “ wish that I could leave the past behind / I wish I had a straighter line.”

The quiet elegance of Map Of My Heart is a reality check, the desire for connection, the reaching out for forgiveness, asking for mercy in making amends. It’s one of the high points on such a strong album. Sorry’s Just Not Good Enough is a put-down for a lover who keeps slipping up ‘You’ve been on this road for years, Letting other people shed your tears, Pay the bail for all your petty crimes.’ One of the stand-out songs is Surrender Dorothy and the clever metaphor of using the Wizard Of Oz as a way to illustrate the failings in love “The man behind the curtain has let me down / My little friends have stopped calling me, coming around, / These shoes are too tight, the damn dog’s got fleas / Everybody’s all given up on me.” Such a cleverly constructed song.

I Always Told You the Truth has an up-tempo guitar rhythm and speaks to the choice of always being honest in relationships – face the compromises and don’t accept the blame “I always told you / Look after your heart / Keep it protected and out of the dark.” As we draw towards home, the song that offers optimism for the future presents itself on The One You’re Waiting For and a promise that out there waits the future – hope, and a belief that the power of love outlasts everything else.

The final song is Rust and it reflects upon a life lived, the joys and pain that experience brings. Checking all those times you either held on too tight, or when you let go in order to move on. Choices made, friends come and gone, footprints left on the places you touched “The lines and the scars and the rust / That’s what I love about you.” An appropriate way to end a collection that is brimming over with classic songwriting and heartfelt emotion for the things that really matter. An essential purchase.

Paul McGee

David Coller When Summer Comes Upstart Yankee

There are fifteen songs included on this new album from Folk singer-songwriter David Coller, who has been around the music business since back in the 1990s. He took time away to develop a career in emergency medicine, bought a schooner to indulge his hobbies, raised a family, but always continued to pursue his passion for both songwriting and performing live.

Since 2019 Coller has been focused on gigging as a duo with his partner Diane Chodkowski, and she provides harmony vocals across these self-penned songs. There is one cover song, a rendition of the traditional tune Liberty, and it mixes into another song, Trouble - about chasing that sense of freedom, whether with your girl, or wherever in life you find yourself. It shows off the superb guitar skills of David Coller as he plays with great dexterity, and also joins with Sara Milonovich on superb fiddle, sounding very much like an Irish jig in the melody created.

Starting with the Folk air of Let Nothing Come Between Us and the simple arrangement of two voices in sweet harmony, it delivers a message of inclusion, as all are welcomed ‘The good of all, our one concern.’  The songs reveal themselves on sweet melodies for the most part, a highlight provided on When Summer Comes with the interplay between Sara Milonovich on fiddle and Rusty Park on pedal steel standing out.

Coller is based mainly in the New England and New York regions and his songs highlight the celebration to be found in nature, in rural life, the changing seasons and small country towns. Songs like Balance Of the Season look at the ageing process “And lookin’ in the mirror things are changin’ / But I’ll be out here splittin’ wood until the evening sun goes down / Though it gets a little harder every season / Ah, but I don’t mind this growing old”

There is a loving sentiment expressed in I’ll Take the Moon complete with a light waltz, accordion and violin “Your laughing eyes, the dancer’s sway / This tender love, this small café.” The short, almost vaudeville-like whimsy, of We’re Sinkin’ is a real slice of fun ‘Are you daft, are you dim, Do you really want to swim, Get your ass up off that bunk, because we’re sinkin.’

Coller sings in a clear, resonant voice and the acoustic arrangements are nicely interpreted by the rhythm section of Eric Parker on drums and Mark Dann on bass. Brian Mitchell provides accordion atmospherics and Class of ’63 is a look back to school days and the characters that populated those old class photos ‘And I said goodbye to Jeannie, kissed her underneath the trees, With her hair tied back in rubber bands and Band-aids on her knees.’

Small Blue Island is a song that reflects upon our fragile planet and the need to preserve it “This small blue island in the void, It is our one hope, our life, our joy / You live in Eden after all / This is The Garden, there was no Fall, So tend it well with love and care / A gift like this is all too rare.” If only we could all heed this message and realise the importance. An album with lots of variety across the songs, and with something for everyone to enjoy in the playing and the production.

Paul McGee

Paula Boggs Band Sumatra Self Release

A Seattle artist who has been releasing albums for a number of years, dating back to 2010 and the release of A Buddha State Of Mind. Her music spans quite a few styles including Folk, Soul, Gospel and Blues traditions. She is a former U.S. Army officer and a qualified attorney, in addition to her interests as an activist for human rights.

Paula describes her music as ‘Seattle-brewed Soulgrass.’ Her regular band members include Tor Dietrichson (percussion), David Salonen (bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, vocals), Paul Matthew Moore (keyboards, accordion, vocals), Darren Loucas (banjo, guitar, harmonica, lap steel, vocals), Jacob Evans (drums), with Paula contributing on vocals, guitar, ukulele. Quite a line-up of experienced and talented musicians, all of whom feature on this new recording, in addition to Daniel Walker who features on a range of keyboards, piano and accordion.

There are guest appearances from The Blind Boys Of Alabama who, together with Valerie June, provide co-lead vocals on the last song included here, the traditional Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around. There are also cameos from Josh Neumann on cello, and Arietta Ward on vocals, while James Falzone plays penny whistle and clarinet across two tracks.

The first song begins with an atmospheric Gregorian chant, courtesy of the Evensong Choir of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle. Their voices blend into the opening bars of Sumatra, album title and a song that celebrates the eternal pulse at the heart of nature, despite the troubled times we all witness “Babies are caged, Are we enraged? /How’d the hell we get here?” Sumatra is one of the largest islands on the planet, located in the Western Indonesia region, and home to some of our most exotic and endangered animals and plants. The pull of the natural world informs the song and the plea “This doesn’t feel anointed. Wake Up, I need Sumatra.” Almost a metaphor for our human condition.

Bard Of Vietnam looks at the fragility of life and the spectre of death that looms above it all “When you’re young, death is the last thing on your mind / But the older you get, the more friends leave you behind.” If growing older is indeed a privilege, then Route 66 is a song that celebrates the ageing process “Hoping for a new year where heart and mind grow / From seeds planted long ago.”

The studio musicians have the skills to support these songs, always playing with a depth that convinces; fully engaged in the message that Paula is trying to communicate. Still Grateful is a song of thanks and loving awareness towards her partner and the journey that they share “For the first time neighbours knew who we were / No more hiding or pretending – just a girl loving a girl.” The devastation caused by the Aids virus is the subject of Note To Quinn, a song about a friend who was taken far too young ‘Now I’m twice your age when you left us. For good.’

The instrumental Traces Of You highlights the ensemble playing and has melodic violin dancing with banjo, accordion, mandolin, and atmospheric harmonica lines. Wasting Young Man is a song about unrequited love and the toll it takes, while Airline Boogie focuses on Paula’s ability to endure travelling with a drunken passenger as the challenge of air travel looms large “Anxiety climbs the higher we go / Can’t even see the ground no more.”

The traditional song The Snow It Melts the Soonest is interpreted by Paula in a tribute to her great-great-grandmother who was a slave that suffered at the hands of her owner in the 1830s. Acoustic guitars and penny whistle providing a simple, and poignant, arrangement. The Gospel rhythm to Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around bleeds into a hazy, New Orleans boogie as the harmony vocals attest to the need for freedom to reign and for faith in the future to endure. Paula Boggs has delivered an album that is very stimulating and impressive; highlighted by great musicianship and plenty of spirit.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Rick Faris Life’s Parade Dark Shadow

The fourth solo release from the irrepressible Rick Faris finds him reaching new heights in his songwriting, singing, arranging, producing and playing. Another of the many illustrious bluegrass artists that have graduated from the 'Greg Cahill School of the Special Consensus', Rick Faris started his career in the Faris Family Band, out of the Ozarks. He went solo in 2018 after 11 years with Special C, playing both guitar and mandolin.

LIFE’S PARADE opens with a song that probably sums up Faris’s attitude to his journey through life to date, and in Bend, Don’t Break he takes everything that has been thrown at him and runs with it. The driving contemporary musical backdrop to his songs are provided by a bevy of some of the top performers out there currently, including Dan Tyminski on lead mandolin and backing vocals and Ron Block on banjo on this one. Can’t Sing The Blues No More introduces the stunning mandolin playing of young Henry Burgess, who is also a member of Rick Faris’s touring band. It also introduces the powerhouse playing of another young hotshot, Gibson Davis on banjo, who is also Faris’s regular banjo man. Davis is a fourth generation bluegrass musician from West Virginia (his father Chris played mandolin with The Grascals, among others) and his dedication to his craft has already made him a stand out player. The bluesy Lonesome is Your Name allows fiddler Maddie Denton to show her chops, and she is now the regular touring fiddle player, although most of the fiddle playing here is by the well established Kentucky player, Laura Orshaw. As with most of the twelve superb songs here, Storm Clouds is another co-write with Rick Lang. This time, the mandolin contribution is from Harry Clark, and Faris gets a chance to feature his own guitar prowess here. On The Right Track is a driving train song, and on the heartbreak song The Sound of Lonely, bassist Mark Schatz backs up Dan Tyminski and Ron Block once again.

Co-written with Brink Brinkman, The Rabbit Hole is a treatise on falling in love with the wrong person and closes out the record in breathtaking style. There’s so much to digest here that on each play, one discovers new things. One thing though - it is always an uplifting experience. Faris has succeeded in developing a bluegrass/country sound that is contemporary and where the lyrics are as important as the musicianship, something that is not always the case in the genre.

Credit is also due to Stephen & Jana Mougin, of Dark Shadow Recording, who took a chance and signed Rick in 2018, and nurtured him towards the superb work he is producing now. Check it out and be prepared to be reeled in, like I was.

Eilís Boland

CJ Land Storm Chaser Self Release

A singer/songwriter who has moved from a more metal background into something of an alt-county arena. He mixes that with a touch of outlaw and country soul to create a mini-album seven track release that highlights his love of some of the songs and performers associated with these forms. The album was produced by noted session guitarist Jeff Williams and so it sounds pretty good. It would fit right at home among some current Texas playlists. CJ Land is joined by the talents of pedal steel player Steve Hinson, who certainly adds something to the country feel here. Aside from him, it’s Jeff Armstrong on keyboards and Bobby Hamrick on background vocals, while everything else is down to Williams and Land.

The opening two tracks are mid-tempo songs that essentially outline a man who is trying to come to terms with the way to handle relationships and his own sense of himself. Those tracks, Distance and That’s Just Me, give you a pretty good feel for Land as a vocalist who has the ability to tell his tales convincingly. Things kick up a notch with Where Has All The Time Gone? Slide guitar gives a bluesier feel to this song about being a musician on the road and wondering if that time has been well spent. However he begins to wonder if he's now beginning to take after the music that his granddaddy loved and how a cowboy hat and a whiskey bottle in a honky-tonk might suit him better now, after all those years and miles of playing. The next song, On Downstream, has a twangier tone and is again a reflection of missed places and people.

The title track has a little more ambience and reckons that he has always been a storm chaser and trouble seeker. It has a driving full-bodied sound that might suggest his earlier influences. It all settles down again with I Need Some Time, which asks that he be given the space to come to terms to find where he needs to be. The keyboard and steel interplay give the song more of a sense of longing. The final track opens with a bass riff and then speeds on down the road as he is again, maybe, making ill considered choices. Looking For Trouble is something of an understanding of the whys and wherefores of his life and where he might go now.

Land is coming, at this particular juncture, to a place where he may easily find acceptance, as there is, undoubtedly, a musical landscape now and an accompanying journey for him to chase and to find his place in. This is his calling card for that.

Stephen Rapid

Turn Turn Turn All Hat No Cattle Simon

Whilst I was aware of Adam Levy via his stint in the alt-country band The Honeydogs, this album comes from a different place where vocal harmony and melody are key elements. Levy is joined by Savannah Smith and Barb Brynstad, both with their own track records, activities and solo performances. Here working as a trio, they conjure up something that will please many who have a fondness for the flavours of that 60s/70s West Coast mix of country, folk and cosmic soulfulness.

The album opens with a compelling Civil War ballad Antietam, sung initially acapella before the acoustic backing joins in on a song written by Levy that is both tragic and poignant, as these words express “I was a nurse in the Union Army / of the Potomac McClellan’s charge / our great country was torn asunder / two years of bloodshed, a death toll large” It’s a song that not only references a previous time of tumult but also of one that might return.

That mood and setting changes with Last Drink, from Levy again, which sounds like a 70s take on a 50s country song. Mandolin and electric guitar are prominent as it allows that a relationship is not going to work out with these familiar lines “When you leave don’t let the door hit your rear end.” Something of a south of the border Norteña feel adds to the atmosphere here, with the three way harmonies that are a feature throughout making their presence felt. The song Trouble was written by Levy and Brynstad (both co-wrote several other songs) and, as it suggests, it details how it is to get oneself into that position.

Throughout you are reminded of a number of different influences and many will find their own comparisons, but Gram and Emmylou is one obvious one. I was also reminded a little of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their ground breaking albums featuring many of the previous generation of country musicians.

The album was produced and recorded by Levy and the band played the majority of the instruments featured, but were joined on certain tracks by drummer John Kaplan, pedal steel players Adam Schmidt and Joe Savage and Peter J. Sands on keyboards. When Love Reigns is one where they employ these additional players in an effective and convincing way. The same seasoned musicians also contribute to Hungry Ghosts. Here the harmonies overlay the whole track, a homage to lost souls (human and animal). It also has the distinctive 12 string Rickenbacker sound featured prominently and pleasingly.

Things close out nicely with Solid State that muses on how we continue to rely on things we shouldn’t,“This world is run on flesh, plastic bottles, nylon mesh / Dreams of the West in a Kevlar vest”, Levy protests. Simply put this is not an album that is trying to do anything new, rather it is here to deliver some finely wrought music that many will enjoy simply for what it is. They do not add layers of polish bur rather present the music with some energy and  sparkle. The unlisted title track, sung solo with acoustic guitar by Levy, is simply him expressing the notion that many assume the mantle of authenticity yet revealing that “In truth I ain’t no outlaw but got it through my inlaws.” (It is a notion that has also recently been expressed by the titles of recent releases by The Doohickeys and Joshua Hedley). That’s the way most lovers of this music actually do despite, in some cases, appearances that may suggest otherwise. However in the end it’s what is delivered that counts and here it counts for quite a lot.

Stephen Rapid

Brown Horse Total Dive Loose

The rapid evolution of Brown Horse, from playing around their local city of Norwich, UK, to releasing three albums, has been remarkable. TOTAL DIVE marks the band’s third release in three years, and if their 2024 debut album RESERVOIR found the band members wearing their hearts on their sleeves and giving the thumbs up to their musical influences, TOTAL DIVE signals an outfit progressing from ‘one to watch’ to the finished article.

Brown Horse is Patrick Turner (vocals, guitars, violin), Emma Tovell (lap steel, pedal steel, bass, banjo), Nyle Holihan (guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo), Rowan Braham (organ, piano, accordion), Ben Rodwell (drums) and Neve Cariad (vocals).

Sonically, the bona fide alt-country drift of their earlier albums remains, but with a much fuller guitar-and-lap-steel-driven focus. Also, the song structures are on another level, probably aided by seemingly endless touring over the past few years. Another progression is the potency of the songwriting, which, although written individually by four of the band members, is consistent, flowing and significantly dark and brooding.

Standout opening tracks on albums are often not equalled by what follows. Not the case here. The blistering Sorrow Reigns, driven by fuzzy electric guitar, lap steel and organ, may very well be the finest song they have recorded, but repeated listens to the other nine inclusions unearth a number of ‘close seconds.’

More than regurgitating sounds of bands dear to them, Brown Horse have now fashioned their own distinctive ‘sound.’ A pointer towards this was Wisteria Vine from last year’s ALL THE RIGHT WEAKNESSES, and both Wreck and Twisters, from the latest record, further reinforce this. Turner’s vocals approached breaking point on both songs, and flanked by shrill guitars and soaring pedal steel, they have Brown Horse's distinctive stamp on them.  

Lyrically, despite four songwriters, the consistent direction is dark, with middle-of-the-night tales that often drill into strained relationships. ‘’I don’t believe you when you say nothing good could come from you asking me to stay,’’ growls Turner on Wreck, while the title track also implies a fragile courtship with the lines, ‘’Just think of me as a place you can’t visit anymore.’’

Comeback Loading recalls Israel Nash before he dropped Gripka from his surname and released the excellent BARN DOORS AND CONCRETE FLOORS. As if to give the listener a breather mid-record, the meditative Hares is a folksy-styled country ballad before the guitars are cranked up again for Heart Of The Country and the title track, which follows.  At close to the six-minute mark, they sign off with the explosive Watching Something Burn Up, which flits from one disturbing scene to another, playing out like a nightmare of frightening proportions.

The Americana genre is overflowing with songwriters who share stories of lost love and other heartfelt themes. It’s refreshing to witness a new wave and second coming of young alt-country and indie-country bands. Brown Horse stand shoulder to shoulder with their American counterparts, Florry, Wednesday, and Friendship in leading the charge.

After avoiding the ‘difficult second album’ trap last year, Brown Horse have hit the mark spectacularly with this release.

Declan Culliton

Ashley Monroe Dear Nashville Self Release

A surprise and unannounced album by Ashley Monroe, titled DEAR NASHVILLE, tells a story common to so many talented women who moved to Nashville to pursue full-time careers as country artists. Unfortunately, Music City greatly values commercial potential aimed at the masses over artistic talent, and many artists, and women in particular, have invested so many years of their lives without the return they deserved.

After twenty-five years working and recording in Nashville, the hugely gifted Monroe has written this bittersweet record, a reflection on the reality of sacrificing so much over those years, often without the industry recognition she hoped for.

Monroe has every reason to record her regret, given the consistent quality of her output from day one. Signed to Sony, her 2009 debut album, SATISFIED, had been held back for release by the label since 2006, and it pointed to an artist with an exceptional country voice and the wherewithal to write deeply personal songs. LIKE A ROSE followed three years later by the Warner Brothers label. Produced by Vince Gill, and for this writer, one of the strongest traditional country albums of the past twenty years, it reached No.10 on the Country Music Charts. THE BLADE, also produced by Gill and released on the Warner Brothers label, followed and was nominated for Best Country Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards. With wide commercial success still escaping her in 2018, Monroe shifted to a more Countrypolitan sound on her next album, SPARROW, and even further from her earlier traditional country leanings with ROSEGOLD, which followed in 2021.

From an early age, Monroe has been at her most fluent writing about sorrow and regret, and on reflection, the past decades since she moved from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Nashville have provided her with ample subject matter. Working with Grammy Award winner Luke Laird, who co-produced the record with her and contributed all instrumentation except pedal steel guitar by Paul Franklin, they recorded this eight-track record at The Cabin Nashville.

DEAR NASHVILLE is a concept album that explores storylines filled with conflict, contradictions, highs and lows. As a devoted country artist, Monroe summarises her relationship with Nashville by saying, 'Country music is the reason I’m alive. I wish you loved me as I love you.'

She sets her stall out with the opening track I Hate Nashville (‘Everybody tells you you’re the next big thing. Pay your dues, can’t pay your bills. It’s a dream that’s hard to kill’). The lyrics play out like a conversation with herself as she pines over the time invested and the limited return, while also expressing her love for Vince Gill and Paul Franklin.  Also included is the simply gorgeous breakup song, What Are We, which mixes both spoken and angelic lyrics over a dreamy backbeat. Whether aimed at a failing personal relationship or a bittersweet bond with Nashville, torn between staying and leaving, lonesome and lamenting, Steal captures the scenario beautifully. Franklin’s pining pedal steel adds another dimension to the song. In complete accord with that song is Getting’ Out Of Hand, which explores pain and capitulation (‘You’ve got me carried away, all over the place, as gone as I’ve ever been. There’s just no walking away’).

If much of what goes before it is laced with regret, the album closes on a more optimistic note with the stripped-back, Quittin’. Accepting her lot and wondering if that happy ending still awaits her, Monroe asks herself ‘Why would I close the door? What if the high I’ve been chasing is out there waitin'?’ before bookending the album on a defiant note with the resolution ‘So much for quittin’, I guess I’ll stay on the ride, Til the day that I die.’

Possibly even more personal than she’s ventured before, DEAR NASHVILLE may address sunken and somewhat unfulfilled dreams. Be that as it may, it is also another most impressive venture on all fronts from one of country music’s premier vocalists.

Declan Culliton

Spencer Cullum Coin Collection 3 Self Release

If the previous two volumes in Spencer Cullum’s COIN COLLECTION trilogy genre-hopped between jazz, krautrock and classic Brit-Folk, his final instalment focuses very much on the latter, resulting in a consistent flow between the album’s nine tracks. Recorded in his makeshift home recording studio in Nashville, the motivation to focus on the traditional folklore of his birth country stemmed from the vitriol and distressing current events, both political and environmental, emerging from his former home and his present homeland.

Better known as ‘go to’ pedal steel player for Miranda Lambert, Caitlin Rose and others, the COIN COLLECTION project was an introduction to an artist and student well-versed in many categories of music outside of his core work in the country genre. When moving to Nashville from Romford in East London a decade and a half ago, Cullum's interest in jazz, blues, R&B, and country led to the formation of the band Steelism, with his East Nashville neighbour Jeremy Fetzer adding twang and surf.

The musical ambience is hypnotic throughout the album. Lyrically, the songs address the depressing political landscape and environmental issues while also acknowledging personal domestic bliss. Many of the songs' directions were credited to the book Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology,in  which Cullum immersed himself  before the recordings. A classic British collection of folk-horror short stories, it ranges from witches’ curses to ancient, haunted graveyards.

Cullum’s vocals, unhurried and distinct, land somewhere between the spoken word and full voice. Guest vocalists included Erin Rae, Oisin Leech and Annie Williams. Musical contributors included Allison De Groot (banjo), Sean Thompson and Ethan Ballinger (electric guitars), Eli Beaird and Adam Bednarik (bass), Dominic Billett (drums), Jim Hoke (flute, saxophone), Jo Schornikow (piano), Hollow Hand (recorder) and Rich Ruth (guitars, synths).

The rowan tree has often been noted in folk mythology as a guardian of evil powers (‘Bury my body long out at sea, 'Cause I waged my war on a rowan tree’), and the album’s opener Rowan Tree is a prime traditional English folk song with nods to early Fairport Convention. Annie Williams, who, as well as Rich Ruth, is a member of Cullum’s touring band, adds backing vocals on the song. Williams also appears on Old Paul Hill, which addresses gentrification at the expense of stripping cities of their longtime communities (‘Sorry about your city, no one seems to care. Only for a profit that they'll never share’).

A regular collaborator with Cullum, Erin Rae’s whispered vocal behind Cullum’s full voice adds charm to Look At The Moon, which, together with Jackie Paints, written about Cullum’s mother, are odes to his wife and mother respectfully. Washed Up Shore is a trancelike affair, with spoken lyrics and Ruth’s synths, recalling Cullum’s fellow countryman, Robert Wyatt.

Returning to deliberations on excessive commercialism Don’t Go Downtown features Oisin Leech adding vocals. Well-placed saxophone breaks practically steer the song into the realms of free jazz.

COIN COLLECTION 3 pays homage to the late 1960s purple patch in British progressive folk music. Delivered at a fluid and measured pace, this album is a worthy companion to the two charming albums that came before it.

Declan Culliton

Jim Lauderdale Country Super Hits Volume 2 Sky Crunch

The title of the thirty-eight-studio album by the 2025 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award winner Jim Lauderdale could suggest that it’s a covers album of country standards. However, those familiar with the extensive output of the North Carolina-born artist will recognise it as a follow-up to his 2006 recording, the equally tongue-in-cheek titled COUNTRY SUPER HITS VOL. 1.

Lauderdale is a master of genre-hopping, spanning bluegrass, rock, singer-songwriter, blues, soul, R&B, Americana, and traditional country. His latest offering leans toward smooth country, at times approaching Countrypolitan, rather than hardcore honky tonk.

The conventional country music theme of love lost, found, cherished, and yearned for may recur across the album’s thirteen tracks, but Lauderdale also addresses current, worldly, and worrisome issues. For example, Artificial Intelligence drills into the positives, as well as the unknown and possibly unintended consequences of this branch of computer science. Modern-day challenges that face us all are addressed in Everybody’s Got A Problem and We Don’t See You Anymore. The latter is a semi-spoken country rocker about the passing of time and friends departed, and one of four cowrites with Odie Blackmon (George Strait, Lee Ann Womack).

The matters-of-the-heart tracks explore bittersweet relationships in While We Learn To Break Each Other’s Hearts and infatuation in You're My Honest To Goodness. Similarly, I’ve Still Got You acknowledges the often-undervalued blessing of having a loved one or cherished friend always nearby when needed. As you would expect, the instrumentation is flawless, with Telecaster guitars, piano, and pedal steel working optimally alongside Lauderdale’s polished, unrushed vocals.

One of the most prolific Nashville-based songwriters of the past three and a half decades, Lauderdale has had songs recorded by Patty Loveless, Vince Gill, Elvis Costello, The Dixie Chicks, Old Crow Medicine Show, and George Strait. This latest collection is a country album in the true sense, rather than what often seeps out of Nashville under the same banner.

Never one to sit on his hands, Lauderdale follows this record with THE BIRDS KNOW, a bluegrass album which will be released on April 24th.

Declan Culliton

Dead Goat Self-Titled AV8

This album heralds the coming together of four of Northern Ireland’s like-minded premier songwriters and musicians. The band members of the recently formed Dead Goat include Stevie Scullion, who has released a number of acclaimed albums under the moniker Malojian, and Mark McCausland, whose CV includes collaborations with Howe Gelb, M. Ward, and Jolie Holland, as well as being one-half of the musical duo The Lost Brothers. The other two members are songwriter and producer Matt McGinn, who has recorded five solo albums and has collaborated with Paul Brady, Foy Vance, and Ben Glover, and drummer Declan McManus, a former band member and recording musician for The Basement, Malojian, and The Breeze.

The four artists initially met for casual jam sessions, enjoying themselves with no intention of forming a recording or performing group. As their songs took shape, they decided to record demos. Later, on revisiting the tracks, they agreed to release the demos as their self-titled debut album, rather than adding further production.

Songwriting was shared among the four members, with many songs featuring harmonising vocals. Scullion’s glam rock influences are evident on Writ of The Lonely and So Long John. Conversely, El Salvador and All That I Need are gentle love ballads, while the similarly paced Laughs For The Lonely tells a mournful tale of loss and regret. A standout, Prisoners Of The Dark, echoes the classic sound of CSN&Y.

Whether this album is a one-off venture by kindred spirits remains to be seen. Although the songs draw on numerous influential sources, the result is a collection of tender, intimate songs that fashion an impressive fusion of folk, roots, and alt-country.

Declan Culliton

Jude Shiels Detour Self Release

The recent musical output from Jude Shiels has shifted from blues and rock to classic country, a genre that has always been close to his heart. Temporarily abandoning the heavy rock sound passed down to him by his father and Irish music icon Brush Shiels, Jude’s 2024 album ONE MORE LAST TIME followed the country direction of his 2017 single Peaceful Dreams / A Friend Like You. His latest record finds him continuing to drill deeply into a country vibe, both traditional and alternative.

Shiels self-produced and recorded the album at Sonic Studios in Dublin. He played electric guitars, piano, and organ, and recruited several big hitters to guest. His father, Brush, added bass and acoustic guitar. The late Noel Bridgeman, who founded Skid Row with Brush, played drums and percussion. Pedal steel was played by Richard Nelson and B.J. Cole.

The excellent album opener Another Life, which features stunning guitar breaks, is a border-influenced affair that transports the listener from Dublin to far away sunny desert lands. That atmospheric sun-kissed western vibe is repeated in the cinematic The Ballad Of Joe & Isobel, and the ten-track album closes with the similarly themed Peaceful Dreams. The latter marries B.J.Cole’s ghostly pedal steel to the fore alongside Shiel’s unrushed vocals. Shifting tempo, the upbeat rootsiness of Watch The Day Begin and A Friend Like You impress, while Sanctuary adds element of jazzy swing to the album.

The album’s title references the many distractions that delayed its completion. Thankfully, it has seen the light of day, and Jude Shiels’ moody cosmic country journey continues.

Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Downriver Collective Give It All Away Self Release

Downriver Collective were named the IBMA Momentum Band of the year in 2024, and their first full length release fulfils the expectations that honour implies, and then some. Nashville based, and having met at the city’s Belmont University, they have been performing together in various permutations for several years. They describe themselves as ‘a bluegrass band that doesn’t write bluegrass music’ and the eleven impressive original songs (and one cover) on this album are a great introduction to one of the hottest young bands on the acoustic music scene right now. Ali Vance’s lead vocals immediately hit the listener full force throughout, but the supporting cast are equally impressive instrumentalists and songwriters.

Opening track Heal These Hands is a full on gospel song, written by Vance and band co-founder (and banjo and guitar player) John Gray Zahurancik, and reveals some jazz and soul influences. Vance’s phenomenal vocals could be equally at home singing soul, jazz or rock music, but let’s hope the secret stays within bluegrass! Dan Tyminski adds backing vocals to the fast, fiddle led, bluegrass tune Come On Back, where the protagonist pleads with his love to come back home. Restless Heart is a gorgeous mid paced ballad, featuring Rico Wallenda on mandolin and Bailey Warren on fiddle. Tears At The Bank pokes fun at a would-be boyfriend who ‘every time he hears me on the radio, he thinks I’m singing to him soft and low’ and Catch Me If You Can is another barnstormer, dealing with getting to a good place in life. There’s a dark undercurrent musically to suit the theme of tough times in a post-mining town, ‘I’ll find my peace when I make it up to heaven/ And make up for all this time in a living hell’. Eli Broxham’s bass lends more darkness to the haunting Devil in Me, Jonny Therrien’s dobro and the electric guitar of producer Caleb Christopher Edwards emphasising the sinister tone. Fiddle player Bailey Warren takes lead vocals on her own song More To Be Found, which also has jazz and pop influences, with an interesting percussive arrangement. The title of the album is taken from another band original, Bird’s Eye View, ‘moving so fast that I couldn’t see the moments .. and I’d give it all away for just a glimpse of what I had’. Gospel bluegrass singer Sonya Isaacs joins as co-vocalist on Vance’s own song, Words of Wisdom, with words of advice for a little girl, based on hard lessons learned. The closer is a dynamic version of Jimmie Rodgers’ Muleskinner Blues (Blue Yodel No 8) and I don’t think you will find a better one today.

Having seen them live at IBMA at Chattanooga last year, I can confirm that they sound even better live than on this excellent album. Check it out and see why it is one of my favourite releases from the past 12 months.

Eilís Boland

Michael Weston King Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore CRS

That this album, which had its origin and inspiration in personal loss and tragedy, should also be one of the highlights of King’s career as a writer and performer is testament to his ability to share both grief and an undoubted love in a way that is open to all. He does so in a way that surmounts that pain to produce something positive that can be understood by anyone who has suffered such a loss - even without knowing the particular adversity that underscores it. That event was the death of his (and his wife’s and My Darling Clementine partner) six-year-old granddaughter Bebe in an unwarranted attack in Southport in July 2024. Both parties decided to express themselves via individual solo releases rather than as a duo at this time (Lou Dalgleish’s album will be released later this year while a single from that album The Empty Swing is currently available online).

The opening song The Golden Hour (a reference, in this case, to the importance of swift medical attention within he first hour of an incident) takes on a wider context and personal viewpoint here with the realisation that “I have no strength and I have no power / I’ve stood sentry at the tower of strong for far too long / So let me in / Let the healing begin.” That realisation that the time has come to try to heal the internal pain on its own terms. The title track is also another song that deals directly with the aftermath, with loss and memory “She is leaving us today / She has gone but we still hear her singing.” Of course many other songs here are a reflection of that deep hurt, they are not simply caught in that furrow, rather they are just a couple of  examples of the very fine writer that Michael Weston King is and should be recognised more widely as such. The final track is a testament to that beautiful granddaughter who called herself by a name that would seem to sum her sense of life. Sally Sparlkes is a gentle reminiscence for a life that would have had so much ahead, but was lost in a moment of unrestrained and unwarranted hate. A reminder of how the world needs to listen so that no one will have to feel that hurt anymore.

Yet that is not the whole story, important as those song are here, it is the overall delivery that is equally outstanding. King’s delivery vocally is at a pinnacle and his production alongside that of Colin Elliot and Clovis Philips is entirely at one with bringing these songs to fruition in a way that suggests a career highlight. Both of the latter also contribute instrumentally throughout, with skill and understanding.

The brass used in Grow Old With Me enhances the song sense of longterm love. A Field Of Our Own is another gentle reminder of the things that can be achieved together with assured understanding. Philips’ contribution again is central musically. It features Jeb Loy Nichols on backing vocals on this track, but something that is used effectively on other tracks on the album. Into The West with the words “Our grief is written on white sheets / Pegged across yards the sun won’t heat” seems to head from an inherent darkness into something that can offer a glimpse of the light ahead. There is not a track that seems out of place here and many that continue to grow in appreciation with each listen. It is an album that should be listened to as a complete experience.

That the source of this recording stems from something so grievous and yet delivers some life-affirming music is a testament to how the human spirit can survive and what can be done when delivered by the hands of a musician with the collective skills that Michael Weston King has shown here.

Stephen Rapid

Stuart Warburton Love, Loss & The Thousand-Yard Stare Big Hat

The third album by English singer-songwriter Stuart Warburton is a twelve-song collection, five of which were recorded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, five in Freiburg, Germany, and the remaining two closer to home at Airtight Studio, Manchester, and House of Loop Aznavour, in Bury, Lancs.

The arrangements and instrumentation on the recordings recall the early-career work of Graham Parker and The Rumour. Warburton, aiming for a soulful sound often accentuated by horns, piano, and organ, brought in numerous musicians to play alongside his vocals, guitar, and harmonica.

Nostalgia and regret feature strongly on the album, arising either from first-hand experience or otherwise. In Not A Single Day, a failed relationship, clearly attributed to the writer, is recalled with regret.  Leave of My Senses finds the protagonist ignoring the "once bitten, twice shy” signals and becoming smitten again. This liaison might be short-lived if I Always Knew refers to the same relationship. Why Can’t Love Play By The Rules? could be a meditation on those two songs, as the writer, now alone again, heads back into self-destruction mode.

Some Memories reflects on the lasting torment and tragic ripple effects of undisclosed and hidden sexual and domestic abuse. I Wasn’t There For You is a brutally honest admission about a long-term friendship, expressing the writer’s regret over the passing of his former helpmate and favours left unreciprocated. On a lighter note, Warburton is joined by Bella Nugent on the duet This Love, an uplifting tale of resilience and attachment.

Never intended to be a party album, unashamedly nostalgic, and with ‘busted-hearted’ songs at the fore, the aptly named LOVE, LOSS & THE THOUSAND-YARD STARE is a ‘real life’ store of songs, well written and supported by excellent instrumentation throughout.

Declan Culliton

The Long Ryders High Noon Hymns Cherry Red

Bookending their latest album with a cover of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young may have been directed at their loyal supporters or indeed aimed at themselves; either way, it’s a fitting finale to The Long Ryders’ sixth studio album since their formation over three and a half decades ago.

Three of those six albums, including this latest one, have been released in the past seven years. PSYCHEDELIC COUNTRY SOUL from 2019 was the band’s first recording in thirty-two years and registered highly in the Americana charts, kickstarting the second coming of the band that captured precisely what alt-country was about, a decade before the genre was formally recognised. SEPTEMBER/NOVEMBER followed in 2023, and HIGH NOON HYMNS continues the purple patch that the band are enjoying in recent years.

The core trio of Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy and Greg Sowders are now augmented by Murray Hammond on bass, replacing Tom Stephens who sadly passed away in 2021. This album was produced by their ‘go-to’ man, Ed Stasium, who worked on the band’s three previous recordings.

HIGH NOON HYMNS is classic Long Ryders, with high-energy rockers shoulder to shoulder with soulful country ballads. If their core sound remains the same, it’s little surprise that Griffin and McCarthy’s songwriting has matured, reflecting on worldly matters alongside a more retrospective outlook. Declarations such as Join My Gang and Final Wild Son from their debut album NATIVE SONS are replaced by songs that drill down deeply into present times, like the album opener Four Winters Away which awaits with enthusiasm the exit from the White House of its current tenant, and that song is followed by the equally heartening World Without Fear.

Though totalling thirteen songs and stretching over the fifty-minute mark, there is nothing approaching filler on the album. Standouts include the Griffin-composed "Stand A Little Further in The Fire," which opens with an instantly catchy T-Rex-esque riff and a driving rhythm. Also ticking that box are the fiery Down To The Well and the mid-paced Ramona, which could be an outtake from their debut album. It’s not all foot firmly on the gas either, Griffin reminisces about his younger days in the heady musical scene of Los Angeles and Knoxville. On The Line and Wanted Man in Arkansas are the best country ballads that McCarthy has written.

Thirty-four years since their formation, few are doing alt-country better than The Long Ryders and HIGH NOON HYMNS is another infectious hybrid of country, cowpunk and roots.

Declan Culliton

The Long Ryders play Kilkenny Roots Festival on Monday, 4th May.

Cat Clyde Mud Blood Bone Concord

‘Love was not present in my life, and I didn’t know where to find it or how to get it back’, confesses Canadian Cat Clyde, addressing her frame of mind that led to the writing in her fourth full-length album. Although Clyde opens the album with the questioning Where Is My Love, the album conquers self-pity as the writer reconnects with her indigenous Métis roots (mixed European and First Nations ancestry) and approaches her loveless situation as liberation rather than rejection.

That sense of rebirth and positivity comes through in the album’s closing track, Another Time, which measures the future with optimism, not fear (‘Dance me slowly baby, take me for a ride. Lead me back to someplace I can come to in my mind’). That resilience and ability to overcome rejection also emerges in Press Down, a co-write with Courtney Marie Andrews. It’s a stomping rocker, with Clyde’s vocals soaring above a full-blown rhythm section (‘If someday you find me and time has untied me, I’ll be moving like a mountain, Only the sky can press down’). Confidence and inner strength shine in an ‘ebbing and flowing’ cover of Marty Robbins’ My Love.

Clyde’s blues inspiration began as a young teenager, drawn to Lead Belly and Robert Johnson riffs. This early passion led to busking as a teen and joining the punk band Shit Bats in college. Those influences appear throughout the album with the stomping, punky Wanna Ride, bluesy Man’s World, and swampy Hold My Hand. I Am Now impresses as well, opening with simple piano and dreamy vocals before pedal steel, violin, and vibraphone arrangements bring the song to life.

Building on her early musical training, Clyde has developed her own unique style of folk music dressed in punk clothing, occupying a similar space to her peers S.G. Goodman and Angel Olsen. MUD BLOOD BONE is a melting pot of dreams, disappointments, memories and positivity, all beautifully articulated by an artist who has created something quite special across these eleven songs.

Declan Culliton

The Third Mind Spellbinder!  Yep Roc

Continuing their adventure of jam-like psychedelic recordings, Los Angeles-based The Third Mind's latest offering takes up where they left off with their 2025 record, RIGHT NOW! In fact, the four tracks on the new album were recorded during the sessions for that last album.

The five-piece collective of Dave Alvin (guitar), Victor Krummenacher (bass), David Immergluck (guitar, mandolin), Michael Jerome (drums) and Jesse Sykes (vocals) is joined by guests Willie Aron on piano and Hammond organ, and Stevie Blackie, who arranged and played strings. The band was formed in 2018 by Alvin and former Camper Van Beethoven bass player Krummenacher. SPELLBINDER! is the fourth studio album by the West Coast supergroup.

The free-form instrumental opener and title track is an eight-minute-plus jam inspired by Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo. It transforms the jazz standard original into a prog-rock/Santana crossover, superbly delivered. Two of the inclusions here also featured in RIGHT NOW! The Mike Bloomfield/Nick Gravenites/Paul Butterfield-written ‘Reap What You Sow,’ previously recorded by Otis Rush in 1969, showcases Sykes' haunting and emotive vocals. Before We Said Goodbye, written by Sykes and Alvin, is also repeated, this time with lush strings, adding a further ethereal quality to the song.

The final track and the record’s tour de force is Darkness, Darkness/The Creator Has A Master Plan. At close to the fifteen-minute mark, the two-song melody captures the blissed-out, cosmic mastery that The Third Mind brings to the table. What began as an experimental liaison among a number of like-minded artists simply joining forces to jam and enjoy themselves has yielded some excellent listening experiences. SPELLBINDER! is no exception.

Declan Culliton

Iron & Wine Hen’s Teeth Sub Pop

The eighth album from Iron & Wine, the brainchild of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Beam, was recorded concurrently with his 2024 album LIGHT VERSE.  

While working at Waystation Studio in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, Beam was joined by several renowned session players from the jazz, classical, and Americana genres for the recordings. The classically trained Jacob Cartwright played several instruments, including viola, violin, tenor guitar, mandola and mandolin. Tyler Chester was on keys, David Garza played guitars, and three drummers contributed: Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), Beth Goodfellow and Kyle Crane. Sebastian Steinberg added the bass lines. Other guests included Beam’s daughter Arden, and I’m With Her members Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins, all of whom provided vocal contributions.

Like LIGHT VERSE, this album is chilled, laid back, and listenable. Beam admits to being influenced by Van Morrison’s ASTRAL WEEKS during recording, and the arrangements and instrumentation from that seminal album often shape the sound of HEN’S TEETH.

A standout inclusion, Robin’s Egg features call and response vocals between Beam and the I’m With Her trio in a delightful ‘Laurel Canyon meets Brit-Folk’ affair; that union also surfaces on the dreamlike Wait Up. Grace Notes finds Beam harmonising with daughter Arden over stunning violin and mandolin. In Your Ocean is classic Iron & Wine, radio-friendly and instantly catchy, while Roses, the album opener, includes a dizzying string arrangement that recalls Al Stewart's PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE era.

Beam is in splendid voice throughout here, giving the players free rein to add their expertise to the recordings, resulting in exactly what you want and expect from an artist who continues to delight after two and a half decades.

Declan Culliton

Steph Strings Feel Alive Self Release

After three EPs since 2018, FEEL ALIVE is the debut album from Melbourne singer-songwriter Steph Strings.

Working with producer and fellow artist, and founding member of Australian band Boy & Bear, Tim Hart, the twelve-track album is a genre-hopping affair that dips into folk, country, rock, and pop. The title track embodies Strings’ emotional state at the time of writing and recording the material (‘So sing loud to the birds in the treetops and be proud of where you′ve come’). That positivity reappears throughout the tracks, with the overriding theme of joy and thankfulness.

A virtuoso fingerstyle guitarist, Steph sets her stall out on the opening track, Gratefully. Balancing a career that demands constant travelling far from her home, she happily acknowledges the downtime afforded to recharge her batteries (‘Seasons come and go, my time is gonna leave. I know to be strong, I live gratefully’).

Recorded live and a tribute to her home city, Melbourne Blue is a grand piano-led ballad that references The London Tavern, Hope St. Radio, and the Route 109 tram line, aspects of Melbourne close to the writer’s heart. On a more ‘poppy’ spectrum, Three Wishes was recorded with fellow Australian and electronic musician Alice Ivy. On the rockier side and ditching the more personal writing temporarily are the full-bodied Devil Woman and Rockstar/Gypsy.

An artist with a reputation for spirited live shows on her frequent travels, FEEL ALIVE is a further positive step up in the music industry, with the artist living up to the promise of her earlier work.

Declan Culliton

Pert Near Sandstone Side By Side Self Release

SIDE BY SIDE, co-produced by Pert Near Sandstone founding member Ryan Young (now of Trampled By Turtles), showcases the four-piece stringband’s modern bluegrass style.

Shared lead vocals and songwriting could have resulted in a disjointed end product, but the ten tracks flow well, and the instrumentation is top-notch. The opener Pipe Dream speaks of the band’s life as they plan to return to touring and the excitement and anticipation of performing (‘It seems the old life is here again, sweating it out in the van for an hour or ten. Can I muster up the excitement? Can I find the groove?’). Elsewhere, they skip from the Irish ballad-influenced Side By Side to traditional bluegrass in Shooting Star and old time in Sonnyboy. Chuck Will’s Widow is a mandolin-led instrumental, and Last Call Man is a barstool country twanger.

As witnessed by this writer at the Static Roots Festival in Germany last year, Pert Near Sandstone are at their most fluent in a live setting, a quality that SIDE BY SIDE captures, recreating the same dynamic and highlighting the easy chemistry between players who have perfected their sound over a two-decade period.

Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Brit Taylor Land Of The Forgotten Cut A Shine/Thirty Tigers

Any fear of Kentucky-born Brit Taylor abandoning her bluegrass schooling and heading down a more mainstream musical path was firmly knocked on the head when she released KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS in 2024. That album, which featured hardcore bluegrass reworkings of eight tracks from KENTUCKY BLUE, her breakthrough album from the previous year. Her latest recording, produced by her husband Adam Chaffins, who is also credited as co-writer on seven of the eleven tracks and plays a variety of instruments, continues in a similar vein to her 2023 record, seamlessly fusing classic country with bluegrass overtones.

Expressed in her everyday accent, Taylor’s vocals are pure and unapologetically Appalachian, crystal clear and perfectly placed in the mix. She is ably supported by crack musicians whose fiddle, pedal steel, guitars, mandolin and banjo underpin her vocals. Like her peers Kelsey Waldon and S.G.Goodman, Taylor is staunchly proud of her small-town Kentucky roots, and the album’s sublime title track is a testament to that reverence (‘In the lonesome of a fiddler cry, a river runs dry, I close my eyes and I see blue, I will remember you’).

For several years Taylor financed her artistic career with her self-employed contract cleaning business and the lively opening track, Broke No More, may be a ‘thumbs up’ to a newfound full-time more stable calling (‘I’ve been workin’ and a wishin’since I don’t know when, for luck to knock on my door. Well, I don’t know when I don’t know how. But I ain’t gonna be broke no more’). On the opposite side of the fence, Done Pretending is hardly autobiographical as the exhausted protagonist attempts to negotiate all life’s chores without the support of her two-timing partner. More fact-based is Bird of Prey, which bookends the record. A heartfelt mid-paced gospel-tinged song, the impetus developed from Taylor’s frequent encounters with owls, which she believed were prompts to make various life decisions (‘I once was afraid but I’m ain’t anymore, ’cause my angel is watching over me’).

Opening with breezy mandolin, All For Sale uses clever wordplay to tell of a wife gleefully selling all their possessions while her husband is away (‘Hell, when he gets home you can have him too’). Warning You Whiskey channels classic Loretta Lynn, portraying a Kentucky wife battling to keep her man sober. Every country album needs an unrequited love song, and the ballad Queen Of Fools fills that role. The straight-talking Around and Around tackles the rat race that wears many down.

After eighteen years living in Nashville, Taylor confesses to still being homesick for small-town Kentucky and describes LAND OF THE FORGOTTEN as ‘An album that feels like driving home to me.’ You’re well advised to join her in that journey and get on board with this excellent album from an artist who goes from strength to strength with each subsequent recording.

Declan Culliton

Norma Country Catering Die With Your Boots On

The common denominator in the music Lonesome Highway receives to review from Scandinavia, particularly Norway, is the quality of the musicianship and vocals. The Nordicana genre, as it was christened a number of years ago, describes the roots-based country/pop crossover that appears to be thriving in Norway, and this album is yet another example of the local talent.

Norma is a four-piece band featuring Jørgen Nilsen (vocals, guitar), Thor Andreas Murtnes-Hatlestad (guitar, backing vocals), Levi Sponvik (bass, backing vocals) and Oskar Rølling (drums and percussion). Simen Følstad produced COUNTRY CATERING and contributed pedal steel to the album. The album follows their Spellman-nominated (Norwegian Grammy) and Fjording-winning debut EP.

Highlights are the high-energy inclusions Train Track, Who’s To Blame and opener Rabbit Feet. They are equally at home shifting gears with the mid-tempo tracks Left Hand of Art and In the Breeze, both underpinned by top drawer playing and three-part harmonies.

Living up to the promise of their debut EP, COUNTRY CATERING is likely to introduce the band to a wider audience beyond their native Norway, alongside further recognition closer to home.

Declan Culliton

The Blank Tapes Lost Weekend Self-Release

THE LOST WEEKEND initially started as an eighteen-track recording in a makeshift studio in Flamingo Heights, California, back in 2015, by Joshua Tree-based band The Blank Tapes. For the recordings, multi-instrumentalist and band leader Matt Adams was joined by Will Halsey on drums, Joe Lewis on bass, and Connor ‘Catfish’ Gallagher on pedal steel. Adams fleshed out those basic tracks over an eight-year period, adding strings, lush harmonies and more, to complete the recordings.

Joshua Tree resident Adams juggles his time between a parallel career as an illustrator for acts like the Grateful Dead, Chris Robinson, and Langhorn Slim, alongside his sometimes-psychedelic, sometimes-surf-rock, and other times cosmic country outfit, The Blank Tapes. THE LOST WEEKEND falls into the latter category, a return to the band's more countryfied and folk earlier albums LANDFAIR (2005) and SLOW EASY DEATH (2013), the exception being the addition of pedal steel on the new release.  

Dumped, one of several inclusions that explore heartbreak and loneliness, opens the album. It’s a trademark cosmic country/classic pop song, and that trajectory is repeated in what follows. The inclusion of layered harmonies and swathes of pedal steel in California heightens the song's sun-kissed and hallucinatory sensibility.

Returning to the love lost thread, Adams pours his heart out in Seems Like We’re Always Saying Goodbye before the track breaks into a glorious guitar-led Grateful Dead-like jam mid-song. Things aren’t any more upbeat in the slow-paced ballad Number 2. Less solemn and more tongue-in-cheek are Waiting For The Van and LA Don’t Love Me, which touch on the perils of touring and the sometimes emotionless life in the City of Angels. Water complements the definitive ‘Brit-pop meets late 60s California’ sound that The Jayhawks accomplished in their 1992 record RAINY DAY MUSIC.

The title track, inspired by the John Lennon song, is the album's final track. Combining melancholy with reassurance, the song addresses a bleak theme and closes with an extended guitar break. Over twenty albums into their career, The Blank Tapes continue their personal psychedelic musical voyage with this impressive excursion into cosmic country, a genre that never sounds dated when handled as masterfully as it is here. The result is a resounding success.

Declan Culliton

Joshua Josué Broadcast To The Surf Ballroom Self Release

Following his well received album BENEATH THE SAND, Joshua Josué returns with a fitting tribute that plays on his love of early melodic rock ’n’ roll as well as, to a degree, his own heritage. This album is a tribute to two icons of that era: the 22 year old Buddy Holly, as well as his touring companion 17 year old Richie Valens, both of whom died (as did JP Richardson Jr - better know as The Big Bopper) together in that light aircraft crash in February 1959.

Josué has chosen to record some of the pair’s better know songs, as well as seeking out some posthumously released tracks and demos, giving them all a new interpretation that is true to their original spirit, while simultaneously giving them a contemporary sheen. This also shows how good these songs were when they were written.

A band of fellow travellers, including guitarist Ben Rice, worked together on recording the ten tracks. Some are well known, such as Wishing (a song written for, and a hit by, the Everly Brothers), La Bamba ( Valens' most well know song) and also the title of the movie biopic of the same name. Well Alright is a certified Holly classic and has been recorded by a large number of artists, not least the Eric Clapton led supergroup Blind Faith  - perhaps an inspiration to the more psychedelic guitar workout of the take delivered here.

The opening song Restless Heart is a Valens song, as is Now That You’re Gone, taken from an album released after his death that put together some material sourced from demos and similar. The track Paddiwack Song was inspired by that Valens life story movie listed above and is based around the well known children’s rhyme.

As for the lesser known Holly songs, What To Do is from a demo, which was also the starting point for the version of Learning The Game here. The same is true of That Makes It Tough, all proving the quality and talent that Buddy Holly had and the loss of the undoubted artist he would have become in later years.

Oh, Selena is a Josué co-write, written as a tribute to both icons who are the feature of the album. Throughout, the obvious love for the source material is apparent, as is the need to bring this material to what could very well be a totally new audience. They have the opportunity to hear these songs and to experience the buzz of that early and influential rock sound, something that makes this album a pleasure in its own right.

Stephen Rapid

The Kruse Brothers Heartbreak And Honky-Tonk Self Release

An exciting addition the list of those newer acts whose hearts are squarely aiming to make music that can clearly identify itself as based on traditional country music mores, and not some hybrid mishmash of styles trying to cover all bases aiming for maximum mainstream acceptance. This though is not an album that is delivered in homage to a previous era, as welcome as that approach can be at times, but rather acknowledges elements of more recent essences that underscore not just traditional influences but those broader aspects that fit with the aim of taking the music to its place with today’s exponents who know the real thing from any ersatz label concoction. The Kruse Brothers come from Phoenix, Arizona and obviously grew up hearing a variety of influences, one of which was undoubtedly classic country music, as well as, it is mentioned, some classical music too.

Brothers Chandler and Miles are the central characters here, writing all the material either together or, on occasion, solo and with other co-writers such as producer Trent Willmon. They are also both exceptional vocalists and here concentrate on that, allowing others to provide the effective and accomplished musical settings. Given the list of players, the album was recorded with a couple different sets of musicians in terms of the rhythm sections, with two pedal steel players and six guitarists involved. However the album is constant and compelling throughout, held together by Willmon’s deft production.

Another factor is that the brothers' writing allows for a number of different approaches across the board, that means they never rely on one sound but rather let each song finds its home. For instance Hummingbird would be easy to imagine appearing on some classic countrypolition late 60s album. It is an immediate standout because of this. Contrast that with the opening tracks that kick up dust and get the beat driving. Both A Cowboy Gets The Blues and Cowboy Killer are full of keyboard fills, guitar riffs and lifestyle references that let you know where these boys are coming from. Where this might get you is outlined in the next song Tulsa Country Jail. The protagonists here would rather go to heaven or to hell rather than spend another night in the titular jail.

Talking ‘Bout Tonight has an immediate appeal with its hook laded guitar refrain - a song of different expectations wherein he’s talkin’ about forever while she was taking ‘bout tonight. The next song Making Mama Cry is a shuffle that again has a reflection on a man who is only good at breaking hearts and upsetting mother’s misplaced perceptions. Slower is Give Me Some Whiskey where the alcohol is a anaesthetic against the pain of loneliness.

They expand the cowboy analogy with the excellent White On The Ground, which is a cinematic story of the life and tribulations of those who spend the most of their lives on horseback, while otherwise sleeping on the ground. Cry Cowboy Cry further expands the pros and cons of an associated relationship to the enduring nature of the cowboy as a reality or myth. In a way, Saguaro Sunrise is also about the nature of wandering and seeking, it is a ballad with steel and guitar to the fore that contrasts with the more uptempo nature of the opening songs. So does the heartfelt If You’re Gonna Love Her, another strong song that is understated and persuasive in its message. The closing song returns to the second part of the album’s title with its affirmation of the pursuits of the honky-tonk and neon illuminated lifestyle pertinent to parts of Nashville’s Lower Broadway these days.

The Kruse boys are not redefining country music nor pushing its boundaries, they are simply reaffirming its strengths with a set of songs and performances that underscore why many are drawn to this music, past and present, and why it has a relevance today that is beginning to become more obvious again.

Stephen Rapid

Tyler Halverson Broadcast In Defense of Drinking CMDSHFT

Sitting somewhere between a sense of Nashville outlaw country and dance floor ready honky tonk, this album is both personal with a broad personality, and songs that look both inward as much as they do outward. Following a number of singles and EPs leading up to this release, Halverson has been honing his sound and the end result shows that he's shaping up to be a writer and performer of some personality. His voice has an enthusiasm that is often present in an artist making his early statements of intent.

The writing largely sees Halverson co-credited with from one to three other partners and he also shares the production duties. This may well be a way to allow him to find out where he wants his music to go, but it also allows him explore where he is right now. The title track is the only solo writing credit, and that is for Jon Decious, the remaining ten cuts are all ones Halverson had a hand in the writing, with Decious joining again there for three other songs.

The results of this method have produced some memorable songs that feature Haverson’s vocal well upfront but supported with backing vocals throughout. The production is contemporary, with something of a rock edge from the rhythm section and guitars, but it is still embedded in the world of country. The opening song More Heart Than Horses illustrates this well and outlines a man who broke more hearts than horses in his life. It has some well placed steel guitar and a theme that is on brand. He is joined on lead vocals for Beer Garden by fellow artist Parker McCollum who trades verses, it uses a harmonica refrain that is effective on another tale that revolves around good times and good company. That sense of detailing a more particular lifestyle is at the heart of 8 Second High, with its rodeo related lyric.

One of the album highlights is Ft. Worth Losing, with Halverson giving an inflamed vocal that realises that the town wasn’t worth the losing a partner in another town for to try to achieve a cowboy’s dream. The title song reflects on the negative results on a relationship by particular lifestyle choices - it has a nice sense of regret that seems to allow for some change. We are then back to the question could someone ever love him like the way she loves the rodeo in Like The Rodeo, again this is a memorable song with Halverson delivering a strong vocal.

There is a slightly different approach in The Dreamer, that considers both that and the opposite view in a largely spoken delivery that has a nice semi-acoustic feel, it underscores how you might approach that while theorising that you’re never too old or too young to really love someone. It is one of three standout songs that close the album. He notes in Old Men Younger Women that everything he has learned in life to date he has gained by listening to the aforementioned old men and by loving younger women. In Son Brother Beliver he makes his case for being all three and how they helped shape his life.

Tyler Halverson has made an album that offers much and points to a singer and songwriter who has a lot of potential and who has made an album that is both a statement of intent for the future, as well as one that has strong attestation in the here and now.

Stephen Rapid

James Deely The Nashville Sessions New Shot

Ten songs of real quality from the guitar and the pen of this troubadour of the musical highway. James was born in Washington DC and was raised in New Jersey, where he spent his early years developing his music as a founding member of the popular local band The Valiants. They released three albums and played many gigs in legendary venues like the Green Parrot and the Stone Pony, while their reputation spread beyond their home base.

James also spent time living in Los Angeles, where he played with The Palisades, and his travels also took him to Florida and then back to California, where he settled for a number of years. Music has always been a big part of his life and in more recent times James has released a number of albums that are available via Bandcamp or Big America Records. This latest album was recorded in Nashville with producer Doc Holiday at Sony Recording Studios and at Owen Bradley's Barn, and it has been released on New Shot Records.

The album opens with Try My Luck and a fine example of the roots rock sound that threads the whole project. James sings of trying his luck one more time with a girl and, if he had any success, then it’s probably down to the great players backing him up. We are treated to the talents of Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, (Steve Earle/Del Lords) on guitar, Garry W. Tallent (Springsteen/Delevantes) on bass, Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes) on B3 organ, Bruce Tunkel on piano, and Ron Krasinski on drums.

The title track is another run at love and this time the rich melody builds into a great work out complete with pedal steel and the girl walking in right through the front door. When It Rains is a great rocker with biting electric lines and a honky-tonk piano in the mix. There are backing singers on many of the tracks that add great character to the song arrangements and we can place ourselves anywhere along a straight line that runs from the Stones ‘exile on main street’ vibe, all the way to Bruce Springsteen and his e-street band workouts. If my information is accurate, then the harmonies are courtesy of  PK Lavengood, Judy Tint, and Layonne Holmes.

Soul Desire has a slower tempo on a love song that professes ‘I wanna get close to you, Hey there’s nothin’ else I want to do.’ The soulful sound is very appealing as the backing singers harmonise with the guitar melody. The song Even Cowgirls Get the Blues reminds me of that great novel by Tom Robbins and here, James is consoling a girl about the commitment and the price paid in finding your dreams. On Custom Made we have a mid-tempo rocker that extols the virtues of a classic car and the joys of driving the open roads with a vision of the horizon, and perhaps a girl by your side who is also custom made.

Running Back 56 is pure no-nonsense rockabilly with great guitar and piano lines as the beat insists upon a twirl on the nearest dancefloor. The slow melody on Much Too Young tells of a broken heart as a relationship closes and James sings ‘ My cards are on the table, with no aces in the hole, And I’m much too young to be feeling this damn old.’ Great fiddle playing on this track washes over the warm keyboard sounds, and some fine guitar brings everything home.  As we wind down proceedings Maria comes along and is a love song straight out of a Springsteen playbook with impassioned vocals, a promise of devotion, a house outside of town, and some great ensemble playing from the musicians.

The final song is The Ballad Of Kvitz, a story song about drinking on a road trip from Tijuana and trying to forget about the girl that got away. When it comes to highways, broken hearts and the hope that tomorrow will bring brighter skies, look no further than James Deely and his atmospheric songs that are straight from the tried and trusted paths he has walked over his musical career. Great stuff!

Paul McGee

The Lone Bellow What A Time To Be Alive Self Release

In the press release for this new album, the Lone Bellow declare that “We invited more people into the process than ever before. It became less about three of us and more about a little community making something together.”

Well, one abiding thing that the trio of Zach Williams, Kanene Pipkin and Brian Elmquist has always been renowned for is their sense of community in the vibrant music they create. This is their sixth official album release in a career that dates back to 2013 and their standards continue to climb in the wonderful sound that emanates when they gather together around a communal microphone.

An abiding personal memory of this boundless spirit was captured at AmericanaFest 2018 when they played a sold-out show at the Station Inn in Nashville. With the queue outside snaking well down the street, and no real hope of entry to the gig, the trio appeared with acoustic guitars and sung three songs on the sidewalk to the delighted and grateful crowd. It was a real classy move and really highlighted for me the generosity of spirit that defines the Lone Bellow.

There is a real edge to this new release from the opening track, and After the Rain is an electric power surge wrapped in a soulful blues, as the message of survival rings clear ‘Whatever gets you through the night.’ The proclamation on I Did It For Love is in celebration of a life spent in following your passions and there is cathartic release in the joyous chorus. I can see this song being a firm favourite at future live performances as the audience sing out ‘I did it for love, I did it for the thrill of it all…We’re not strangers anymore.’

Another gem is Common Folk with a sing-along lines that recognise the commitment, the compromise, and the pleasure to be found in living a meaningful life with real purpose.  Kanene Pipkin takes lead vocal on No Getting Over You and it’s something of a highlight among these superbly delivered songs. Her soulful tone has always brought great decoration to the ensemble singing and here she really shines with the rueful delivery of love unrequited ‘Flick of the wrist if you insist, I'm back at the start, break my own heart, There's no getting over you.’

Say arrives at the half-way point of the album and it’s the longest song included, with the shortest lyric at just a few lines, repeated over a lovely floating melody, augmented by pedal steel, trumpet and Hammond organ – it’s lush and filled with a longing – ‘Say, let's leave this place we know so well, I'm bound to lose this fight.’ Other relationship challenges are tackled on the songs You Were Leaving and Staring At the Sun, both from different perspectives – whether moving on from something that has run aground, or whether resolving to look beyond the faults in order to commit forward.

Night Goes Black can be taken as either another relationship song or indeed a political stance on the state of the nation. The disappointment of something that has gone sour is captured in the words - ‘It's getting so hard to believe you, Everything we've been through, So hard not to let it all go dark, And every thought and every notion, Is like a ship lost on the ocean, I close my eyes to the time we won't get back, And the night goes black.’ Powerful imagery to fuel the passionate delivery.

Honeysuckle brings light relief in the form of a relationship gone bad when the travelling husband arrives home to discover  ‘As I pull up to the drive see her shadow's got a twin, Ain't heard a word from her since Friday, May not hear from her again’ – it’s something of an intermezzo between the main courses, but packed with charm in the performance.

The inclusion of a Bee Gees song is quite a surprise and Islands In the Stream is something that may be a live favourite with audiences, but here it doesn’t really add greatly to the flavour of the album. The harmonies are up to the usual standard of the trio, but unless I take it as a testament to their musical bond, it feels somewhat weak in the choice made.  The commitment expressed on the track I’m Here For You captures the essence of attraction and true love ‘I can't believe it, I shouldn't think of you all day, I could just spend all my time, Doin' anything that you say.’

It’s both cinematic and heartfelt, recorded at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, something of a spiritual destination for the gospel-tinged, soulful songs. Additional players on the songs include Julian Dorio (drums, percussion), Tyler James Geertsma (bass, piano, guitar, trumpet, Wurlitzer), Nate Leath (violin), Matt Pynn (pedal steel), Bennet Lewis (pedal steel), Bryan Dawley (banjo, bass, piano), David Crutcher (Hammond organ), Daniel MacKenzie (tack piano, synths, mellotron), John Truman (drums, percussion, engineering). The main trio also contribute outside their stirring vocal powers, and Zach Williams (acoustic guitar), Kanene Pipkin (mandolin, bass), and Brian Elmquist (bass, guitars, piano) bring so much to the party.   

The final song is also the album title and it’s a statement of quiet resolve to continue on; both in our relationships and in our fight to make a life that can have lasting reverberance ‘I thought it through and test the odds, That we could be, that we could walk, The same big world, but chances are, One in a million… Oh what a time, To be alive.’ Despite our differences, it’s a call to find common ground despite the odds. Yet another fine album and a real tribute to the ongoing climb in this band’s career.

Paul McGee

John Smith Gatherings Commoner

This album was released at the back end of 2025 and it marked an anniversary for John Smith in his 20th year as a professional musician. To celebrate such a feat of commitment and pure will to endure, John decided to revisit his first three albums that started him on the road to world domination in the Folk and Roots community, where today he’s held in the highest esteem.

His vocal prowess has a resonance and a reverential quality that combines so seamlessly with his finger-style and flat-picking guitar talents, which focus on alternate, open tunings. To watch him perform live is something of a hypnotic experience and you are lulled into a quiet sense of reverie as the songs unfold. One of his early influences was Kelly Joe Phelps, and his admiration of John Martyn is also well documented, as John Smith learned his craft over previous years of absorbing the great music of his heroes and of constant touring..

He played recently in my home town of Dublin with his favoured Fylde electro-acoustic and Mule Resophonic guitars as trusted allies. The textures and tones that he achieves are far beyond my comprehension as a willing listener, but whatever the technical qualities of his pedal board, the results are not only mesmerising, but also laced with sorcery in the delivery.

These qualities are now evident on this look back at ten earlier song versions that John has now painted in new colours, as he re-interprets the original arrangements, and produces an album of lasting quality. The three albums that feature are THE FOX AND THE MONK (2010) with Winter, To Have So Many, and Something Terrible; MAP OR DIRECTION (2009) with Another Country and A Long Way For A Woman, and GREAT LAKES (2013) with Great Lakes, Freezing Winds Of Change, Salty and Sweet, Town To Town, and Forever To the End given a new lease of life.

Included in the booklet is the tuning for each song, should you want to practice at the feet of the master, and things kick off with the lovely harmonies of The Staves joining John and a beautiful string arrangement on Great Lakes, a song of the challenges that love demands. A Long Way For A Woman has wonderful layering on both acoustic and electric guitars, alongside the rich vocal of John and his magic box of tricks, including foot percussion sounds. On Freezing Winds Of Change we have strings (David Shaw, Gorwyn Linnell) mixing with low whistle (Mike McGoldrick), and harmony vocals from Siobhan Miller. The skills of Nick Pinl (double bass) and Sebastian Brice (percussion, vocals) are also featured across the songs.

Something Terrible is a highlight with the slow rhythm and guitar slap, against the electric guitar of Adam Levy and a love song of devotion for our times ‘I can’t get up, My legs are good as gone, Oh I love her something terrible.’ Lisa Hannigan joins with John on lead vocals and the jaunty sound of Salty and Sweet is a simple song about the varying attractions of the ocean deep. To Have So Many is the longest song included here and both Lisa Hannigan and The Staves join together on harmony vocals, with the tenor saxophone and trumpet playing of Iain and Charlie Ballamy a nice compliment to the fiddle of John McCusker.

Town To Town is a gentle song about searching for a connection, missing the girl, and wanting something of substance. On Another Country there is a commitment to stay and watch love grow, even with the pull and tug of wanting to travel away for new adventure. Winter is a real tour de force of guitar histrionics with John bringing off-the-charts technique to his instrument in a harmonic dance of melody and rhythm. It’s always beguiling to watch this song performed in a live setting and the atmospherics created make it a stand out moment.

The final song Forever To the End features Don Mangan on piano and vocals while John sings of our human condition ‘We are one, Nothing could be clearer under the sun, There’s none you should hold dearer than the ones, Who will race forever at your side, As we run forever to the end.’

It’s a timely reminder of the huge talent that John Smith brings to everything that he undertakes, and whether playing on his array of acoustic, electric or 12-string guitars, piano, electric bass or percussion, he shines brightly throughout. This is such an enjoyable album and a perfect introduction should you be unaware of the music that John Smith has created across the seven albums that define his career progress to date. An essential purchase.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Mason Via Self-Titled  Mountain Fever

Mason Via has finally arrived. At least, that should be the unwritten subtitle of his eponymous latest solo album. Not yet 30, Via has been bubbling under in the roots/bluegrass world since his teens. Brought up around the summer campfires of Appalachian music festivals by his professional songwriter father, David Via, and his Deadhead mother, it isn’t a surprise that he has become an impressive guitar picker, heavily exposed as he was to the traditional music of North Carolina and Virginia. After stints in various local bands, time as a sideman, and releasing a debut critically acclaimed solo album NEW HORIZONS in 2015, he was invited to join Old Crow Medicine Show. After three years touring the world with them, and contributing several songs to their Grammy nominated album JUBILEE, Via developed a renewed appreciation of his musical roots and that influence is all over this record. This is pure roots music - described by Via himself as grassicana, it’s a wild fusion of folk, country, bluegrass and Americana.

All ten original songs were co-written by Via during his time in Nashville with OCMS. There isn’t a weak song among them, opening with the acoustic country rock of Wide Open, his story telling ability and deft lyrics expressing the pain of heartache that has ‘cut him wide open’ and even ‘white lighting can’t fix what’s left behind’. Fireball is another co-write with rising country star Zach John King, this time a real country slow burning love song, presumably inspired by his wife (they got married last year and are now based in Florida) There’s a bit of a psychedelic feel to Melt in The Sun, another love song, but this time there’s no holding back with the pace. The interplay between Aaron Ramsey’s manic mandolin and Jeff Partin’s dobro during the instrumental break is breathtaking.

As well as the aforementioned musicians, the line up is completed by Jason Davis on banjo (Grasstowne, Dan Tyminski), Jim Van Cleve on fiddle (Mountain Heart, Appalachian Roadshow) and Kyser George on guitar. Aaron Ramsey, who co-produced with Via, is also an alumnus of Mountain Heart and Volume Five, and is the resident producer and engineer for Amanda Cook’s Mountain Fever label.

Further examples of Via’s lyrically mature and captivating songwriting are the progressive bluegrass of Falling (another ear worm with funky bluesy breaks), the country flavoured Til I Don’t love You Anymore and Hey Don’t Go, a yearning for things to stay the same, even though he knows that’s not how life rolls.

Via remembers the traditional roots of bluegrass and he is joined on the gospel-sounding Oh Lordy Me by veterans Ronnie Bowman and Junior Sisk. Ostensibly a gospel song, it’s actually a pro-environment plea as well as an anti-war song, where Via wishes that soldiers would ‘put down their rifles and pick up a fiddle to play’. Rhonda Vincent duets on the other nod to tradition, the lovely Mountain Lullaby.

My two personal favourites remain: There Goes Another One is a bluegrass barnstormer (co-written with Christian Ward, who plays fiddle with Del McCoury) where the protagonist is trying to outrun the law, and Running With You is another lovesong, inspired by days on the road, ’that white line fever called me like a Holy Ghost’ but ‘you were there to change my point of view’.

One of the standout artists at IBMA in Chattanooga last September, Mason Via has 'all growed up’ and this album is highly recommended.

Eilis Boland

Bo DePeña Rather Move Up Self Release

Laredo, Texas-born and currently residing in Colorado, Bo DePeña’s fourth studio album includes contributions by a host of celebrated country players. Pedal steel and dobro were played by Zachary Moulton; Ronny Allen was on bass guitar and backing vocals; drums and percussion were credited to Josh Rogers; Ellen Melissa Story played fiddle; Bukka Allen was on accordion; and harmonica parts were added by Kevin Garinger. All guitar work was by DePeña, and the recording took place at Yellow Dog Studios in San Marcos, Texas, with Casey Johns at the controls.

Included are songs with a wide personal reach, like the confessional Bobby Houck, Radney Foster-written opener Half Of My Mistakes, alongside the simple nostalgia of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Pickup Truck Song. Other covers include Charlie Stout’s I See Stars and Tim Hus's Sasquatch Hunter but the standout tracks are DePeña’s self-writes. These include Old Bull Hunter, a swampy tale of tracking and hunting inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and the simple but splendid two-stepper Wood and Nails.

Sonically and lyrically, DePeña is Western through and through, with nods to artists from earlier decades like Jerry Reed and Marty Robbins, as well as to modern-day players like Corb Lund and Colter Wall. RATHER MOVE UP pays homage to these players that continue to fuel DePeña’s creative juices, alongside his own sharp songwriting.

Declan Culliton

The Sky Chiefs Self-Titled Self Release

The band’s name may be new to readers, but the duo who recorded The Sky Chiefs' debut album should be familiar to most. Incredibly, Virginia-born Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders, The Jayhawks) and Kevin Pittman (The Dads, The Wit Lincolns) laid down over two dozen tracks in the early 1990’s over a one-year period, only for the recordings to go missing until last year. The recordings were rescued when a friend of theirs found them in his attic, and fourteen tracks were selected for this self-titled record.

The recordings took place in the former home of a World War 1 pilot, a century-old bungalow that doubled as a makeshift recording studio. Vocals and electric guitars were played by McCarthy and Pittman, who also added bass guitar. A host of guests contributed, including Greg Perry, Johnny Holt, and Soupy Sessa on drums; Clark Bell on bass; Mike McAdam on guitar; Charles Arthur on lap steel; and Gary Fralin on piano.

The album opens with House Full Of Company, one of the first songs they wrote and a pointer towards the hook-laden, twangy, harmony-driven songs that follow. The foreboding Knocking Out The Daylights cautions of a changing world, not for the better, and how factual that premonition turned out to be. The banjo-led, played by McCarthy, Where I Wanna Be is a statement of undying love and rapture, and it’s followed by the mournful My Last Goodbye, the latter enhanced by baritone guitar breaks that emphasise the storyline's anguish. No Happiness For Sale and All Broke Down transport the listener back to London’s Swinging 60’s when pop music was brimming with cleverly written and catchy songs. Closer to home for McCarthy and Pittman, Walk All Over Me, complete with double harmony, calls to mind the magical simplicity of Buddy Holly.

The Sky Chiefs have resurrected something quite special here. Recalling vintage early career Jayhawks and seamlessly welding together country twang and 60s Brit pop, it’s an album that is easy to get totally immersed in after a couple of spins.

Declan Culliton

Jeremy Ivey It’s Shape Will Reveal Itself Soggy Anvil

Recorded at his Nashville home on a reel-to-reel Tascam 388 tape machine, IT’S SHAPE WILL REVEAL ITSELF is the fourth album from Jeremy Ivey and his first since 2022’s INVISIBLE PICTURES. That album was heavily influenced by the pandemic when Ivey, suffering from underlying health issues, was seriously ill, having been struck down with Covid and incapacitated for several months.

What started as a series of reflective home recordings, with Ivey playing all the instruments except drums by Dom Billett, eventually gave him the material for a fully-fledged nine-track record. The tracks were mastered by Drew Carroll at The Bomb Shelter Studios in Nashville.

INVISIBLE PICTURES included the song Keep Me High, a ‘loved up’ duet between Ivey and his wife, Margo Price. They join forces again on this record’s opener, Edge Of Darkness. Recorded live to mic, the song delves into the raw reality of present-day America (‘Looking for the blood of America, the footprints of the USA. And it only happens in America, God bless the USA’). Shifting tone, Ivey reveals a chirpier side with tracks like Love Is Traveler and Walk With Me, both possibly with his wife in mind, which emphasise the power of love over negativity and chaos.

Modern World considers the struggle to maintain sanity in a universe where possessions and affluence outweigh empathy and compassion. Don’t Sleep On Your Dreams reminds us that our time is limited and so, to quote Warren Zevon, 'enjoy every sandwich.'

There’s an enchanting simplicity about Ivey’s latest record, which recalls Paul McCartney’s self-titled debut album. Landing somewhere between classic pop and indie folk, and spurred on by real life and personal issues, it’s an impressive batch of tunes that, thankfully, was shared rather than remaining unreleased.

Declan Culliton

Willie Nelson Country Music Craft/High Tone

“They’re all really good songs that I grew up singing” explains Willie Nelson, who returned to Nashville from Texas to record his Grammy-nominated album COUNTRY MUSIC back in 2010. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the fifteen-track record features country standards delivered in Nelson’s distinctive soulful Texan timbre.

Fifty years after Nelson arrived in Nashville in 1960 as a songwriter with a Pamper Music publishing contract, and after recording over sixty albums, COUNTRY MUSIC was his first record to cover classic country songs written by others.

T Bone Burnett's production does justice to the selections. Keeping the instrumentation stripped back with the emphasis on Nelson’s vocals, Burnett called on a collection of Nashville’s top players to contribute. Buddy Miller played guitar, Ronnie McCoury played mandolin, Stuart Duncan played fiddle, and Russell Pahl played pedal steel.

The album opens with one of Nelson’s own songs, Man With The Blues, an early recording by him dating back to 1959. It’s fair to say that there isn’t a weak track on the album, but highlights are Ernest Tubb’s Seaman’s Blues, the traditional gospel song Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down, Hank Williams’ House of Gold and Hazel Houser’s My Baby’s Gone.

It’s incredible to think that Nelson, now ninety-two, has recorded four albums in the past two years and continues performing live. The title of his last studio album, WORKIN’ MAN, aptly describes an artist who has covered numerous genres throughout his career. This album explores his earliest musical influences and honours the artists who inspired his creativity.

Originally released on Rounder Records, Nelson’s first album on that label, this two-album set from Craft Recordings and High Tone Records is housed in a gatefold sleeve. This is a ‘must have’ for Willie Nelson fans who may not have a copy of the original CD or want to replace it with this vinyl gem.

Declan Culliton

Emily Scott Robinson Appalachia Oh Boy

Prior to the release of this new album, Emily has been working hard at building a momentum in a career that came to wide media attention after the appearance of her AMERICAN SIREN album back in 2021. The praise for that album put her on the map to a whole new audience and her strong work ethic has seen her regularly touring across America and Europe in search of further recognition.

An EP appeared in 2022 that was based around an interpretation of Macbeth and the three witches of the dark tale. It was titled Built On Bones and the six songs were a nice reminder of the talent that lay behind the well-structured arrangements and the insightful lyrics. It was on the back of a prior single The Time For Flowers (2020) that Emily secured a recording contract at Oh Boy Records and the artist-supported label has had her back ever since.

She was born in North Carolina and her heart is as big as the state in her outpouring of fellowship, kindness, and love, in all that she leans towards. In giving gratitude, Emily really opens herself to the world and embraces all the influences that brought her to this place and time. The songs on the new album are among the best she has written and she begins with a prayer on Appalachia for the folks who suffered terrible loss in Hurricane Helene back in 2025, causing widespread flooding. Emily takes the voice of a mother who has watched the devastation and who tries to place everything into a perspective of where her ancestors came from, what they endured, and how the human spirit will survive challenging times ‘ My people came from pain and famine, One hundred days on a dark sea, You think I’d let some wind and water, Tear the roots from me.’ It plugs me right into Irish history and the emigrants who left the Emerald Isle during the Great Hunger, aiming for a new beginning as they landed upon East American shores.

What follows is Bless It All and it is a hope sent out to the universe to embrace gratitude for all that this tapestry of life puts in our collective pathways ‘And bless the year you learned that everything you learned was wrong, The year that God was quiet, And in his absence you were strong.’ She writes with such insight and perception into the humanity and the soul that beats within us all.

Cast Iron Heart is a co-write with Lizzy Ross and it’s a song that Emily has jokingly said she hopes will become a favourite at second marriage ceremonies. It speaks to finding new dreams and to never letting life define you by earlier mistakes made. The song is sung with Paul Jones on dual lead vocals, and the lyrics hit the bullseye ‘We’re beaten up and broken in, We’ve tasted our own medicine, Maybe we’re a vestige of the past, Or maybe we’re just built to last.’

Dirtbag Saloon is in waltz-time and is a cutting criticism of the new rich taking over desirable little American towns in order to gentrify the locations for their summer homes. The gap between the “haves and the have-nots” is captured perfectly in the lines ‘I wish we could live here in sweet harmony, But they tore down the rentals and clear-cut the trees, To build their ten thousand square foot second homes, Ah but who’s gonna serve them, Their champagne and snow.’ A song of lost hope to try and keep the developers and land grabbers away at all costs.

Hymn For the Unholy reflects upon renewal and the need for balance in some lives that can spin out of control ‘Here’s a hymn for the unholy, For the savage and the true, You have only got one life, dear, Heed that voice that calls to you.’ The purity of Emily’s vocal is never more apparent that on this song and it is heartbreaking, both in its sincerity and its sorrow.

Sea Of Ghosts deals with grief and the loss of someone close. It is beautifully poignant in describing that thin veil that often dances in the breeze between the living and the dead ‘If you’re searching in a sea of ghosts, I’m the girl who’s wearing red.’ Such a simple yet complex description of what pain looks like. Emily is a songwriter of maturity and wisdom, and she can appreciate the challenges in life that bring hard times in order for real growth to break through. The Fairest View is another co-write with Emily’s friend Lizzy Ross and it captures a nostalgic look back at younger years, growing up in North Carolina. It also was written in tribute to a dear friend who sadly passed away at a young age by taking their own life. It’s emotional and uplifting in the chorus and reminds me in part of the gifted songwriter Krista Detor singing her beautiful Clock Of the World.

A Time For Flowers is included also, as a timely reminder that hard times and dark days will pass, and that new beginnings can open up for us all ‘The storms will rage, And the winds will blow, And you will find out, That you’re stronger than you know.’ It’s presence is a healing balm to all who feel weighed down by the burdens of life’s challenges today.

The only cover song on the record is the traditional Folk anthem The Water Is Wide and the decision to include it is down to Emily’s personal preference. It’s essentially a love song for the ages and although there have been many versions over the years, the lyrics speak of young love that eventually, with the passage of time, grows cold. Given the number of covers that exist of the song, hearing it can sometimes lose some of the original potency. Emily sings the song with Duncan Wikel as a duet, and the harmonica and violin accompaniment enhance the melody.

The strongest song is the final track Time Traveller and written in memory of Emily’s grandmother. It’s a tale of decline and dementia as the years unfold and the melody is really beautiful. That lovely tone in Emily’s clear vocal has never sounded so potent, or poignant  ‘You held me on the day that I came into this world, Now I hold your hand like you’re the little girl.’

The album was recorded by Josh Kaufman at Dreamland Studios in New York over a short 5-day burst. The musicians included are Lizzy Ross who sings harmony vocals, with Duncan Wickel on fiddle, cello, and vocals. Harmonica Jerry is credited with some atmospheric mouth organ, and Annie Nero plays bass, with Otto Hauser on drums. This album is a fine testament to the growing sophistication of Emily as a songwriter of great insight and sensitivity, both in the lyrics she creates and the superb vocals that highlight her powerful artistry. As she continues her upward trajectory, the sky is really the limit.

Paul McGee

Tim Easton FireHorse Campfire Propaganda

It is said that all life imitates art. Whether this saying is strictly true or whether it also works the other way around is really of no consequence in that one certainly influences the other. There is also that eternal crossroads where art and music meet, given that music is often referred to as an artistic reflection of human experience.

For many decades now Tim Easton has walked on the invisible line that separates the two, regularly drawing inspiration from his life encounters and honing his songwriting craft as a result of greater insight and the space created for deeper expression. This is album number fourteen in the storied career of this roving troubadour. It is said that there is a good book in everyone and for sure, the life experiences and stories of Tim Easton contain a novel that would be more than worth the read.

His sister is a visual artist and her painting is the source of inspiration here, specifically a particular painting titled Red-Horse. It is used as the cover of the new album and the songs included are reflections of time spent negotiating the multiple tasks of daily living, being fully in the present, and grasping every moment. In Chinese society, 2026 is the year of the fIREHORSE and is marked by the symbol of burning fire. Those who are born under this sign are noted for their independence, confidence and a strong urge for movement and change. Sounds exactly like Tim Easton, and the life of a singing bard is certainly bound up in such colour and extremes.

Producer Kevin Nolan created the superb sound on this album and his multi-instrumental talents are used to great effect throughout. A number of songs feature the rhythm section from Lainey Wilson's band, with Matt Nolan on drums and Tommy Scifres on bass. Rosa Pullman, Jeremy Lister, and Nikki Barber provide backing vocals across the project and the sound is really bright and exciting in the song arrangements and the dynamic playing. The musicianship is of the highest quality and proof that Tim Easton is currently experiencing a purple patch in both his writing and his creative output.

Halelujah is a song that celebrates the freedom that love can bring ‘I’m not concerned with prophesy nor who believes in time, The greatest story ever told is your body pressed to mine.’ Indeed, the main theme that binds the ten songs together is one of love. The enduring message on Heaven and Hell is wrapped in a love song to family and friends ‘You hold me, and I’ll hold you, We’ll hold each other, Until this mess is through.’ A comforting blanket for these uncertain times. Another song that resonates is Don’t Let Your Mind Grow Dark which urges a positive attitude in times of trouble. It has a superb blues shuffle and the call to care for each other is delivered with an addictive groove ‘When you know something is wrong, You have to shout it out loud.’

Equally, on the paean to old mother nature, Hwy 62 Love Song, the joy of open spaces is highlighted and the presence of snow covered mountains, stars, moon and sun looking down on you. The lovely melody is capped with a superb guitar sound that stirred memories for me of old Bob Seger albums. Son Of A Tyrant strikes me as a personal song and hints at the influence of family on growing up. It perhaps captures just moments in the memory, but it’s something of a love song to a time gone by.

Elsewhere we get the wonderful, rhythmic River on the slow blues opener that jumps out of the speakers at you. The ensemble playing throughout is just superb, with a great rhythm section anchoring the beat and allowing the other players to create around the melodies. The deep groove on Heartbreaker 615 captures another memorable moment in a tale of a woman best avoided in the Tennessee area. Another Good Man Down is a song that has a focus on cocaine addiction and the price that families have to pay for dancing with the devil. There is a great New Orleans vibe to the song and I can almost see the ghost of Dr John hovering in the background.

For me the standout song is Never Punch the Clock Again which is a look at the life of the hobo, balancing boxcars and freight trains with the need to keep safe and mobile. It’s like Tim has Little Feat in the studio creating the sublime rhythm, with piano and organ riffs mixing into the irrepressible beat. Cottonfields is advice for the weary traveller and hard won experience from the road. The lonesome lines of the highway are interspersed with intermittent moments of joy ‘In Lafayette I met a Cajun Queen, She walked me through the meadow and taught me how to dream.’

Tim Easton has always been a dreamer. It’s what has fuelled his creative spirit over decades of perspiration, perseverance, and inspiration. His journey has been full of riches and we are privileged to be able to share part of his experiences with him, albeit vicariously, through the wonderful songs that he writes. This album is another stardust-sprinkled gem.

Paul McGee

The Paper Kites If You Go There, I Hope You Find It Sony

A new album from Australian quintet The Paper Kites is always something to look forward to. They create beautiful music together and their melodic soundscapes are threaded with the most soothing arrangements and serene harmonies. There is a sense of tranquillity when listening to the songs that The Paper Kites create.

The band formed in Melbourne back in 2009 and the members are Sam Bentley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, accordion, harmonica), Christina Lacy (guitars, keyboards, organ, piano, Wurlitzer, vocals), David Powys (guitars, banjo, lap steel, vocals), Sam Rasmussen (bass, synthesizers), and Josh Bentley (drums, percussion). This is album number seven, and it was recorded at the Sing Sing studios in Melbourne. Sam Bentley wrote all ten songs, including two co-writes with the band members.

If there is an observation to be levied at their overall sound, it’s perhaps that they never really change up the gears and the tempo remains firmly in the gentle tones of a quiet calm. My personal view is that the band’s sound is both a natural and organic extension of their development and a refinement of the superb ensemble playing that has reached an intuitive level in quality at this stage. It’s very much a case that ‘less is more’ in the song arrangements.

The last album At the Roadhouse proved to be a turning point regarding the band profile into European markets and the presence of extra players as part of the recording was an interesting  factor, with three additional musicians drafted in to colour the overall song arrangements and the sound. This time around the skills of Matt Dixon are retained on superb pedal steel on three tracks. In looking at the ongoing band development, pedal steel fits so perfectly into the sound that it should really be a consistent instrument in all of the music output. On other tracks we have the melodic rise of cello, violin and viola to embellish the song arrangements, beautifully delivered by both Meg Cohen and Charlotte Jacke.

Paper Kites take their time, in quiet contemplation, they create a mood, a sweet sadness at the centre of these songs. Perhaps a lingering sense of something lost, a longing, coupled with a quiet yearning. And that is enough in itself. Self-reflective, intimate, a feeling, an emotion caught.

No extended solo breaks on guitar, more a sense of capturing the essence of an inner melancholia. A sense of nostalgia runs through these  songs, like a river getting back to a source, sometime in the past where everything changed, a pivotal moment that was missed, as if we could ever get back to that place.

Although we are all hot-wired to move continuously forward is what life demands, these songs of regret, of perspective, of yearning, of unrequited love, of unresolved pain, are always an ever-present in the memories that we take with us. You could say that that the pace of the album stays too-predictable, but that would be missing the point… This is mood music that you surrender to; the rise and fall of the harmonies and the melodies, the brief turn of an instrument in adding colour to the mix of the sound, as if to heighten an emotion already recognised.

The gentle acoustic melody on A Word I Needed More sums up a lot of the joy on this new album, with the lines ‘Where you’ve been is not the place you’re in, Where you go is nothing sure, But every road needs direction, And I can’t find a word I needed more’ hinting firmly at that universal word – Love. Reassurance against the weight of the world and the troubles that arise, is the context of songs Morning Gum and Change Of the Wind, where the message is one of trying to impact what you can and not letting everything else stop you from living your day with some hope of optimism.

Shake Off the Rain is another song of good council about moving forward and letting the blues find their own hiding place in a dark corner, away from the light. On Every Town we are given a perspective of life away from home, travelling on the road to make a living and missing the little things ‘Tell me why I'm wide awake and dreaming you, In every town You come around, To me.’

The fear of losing connection and the risk inherent in second chances are part of Stormwall ‘With the turning of time, Could I give so much more than I find? Could you turn back these hands of mine? Come on, say that you'll try’ – and on Strongly In Your Arms ‘If you leave, I won't grieve, I could understand, Carry me tenderly, Like I know you can.’

When the Lavender Blooms has both acceptance and gratitude running through the message that letting love in can be the greatest gift ‘Running, I know I keep running, From the good love, I was given.’ There is a loyal devotion expressed on Deep (In the Plans We Made), another simple acoustic strum and a declaration of the bond and commitment between two people.  The final song is Borne By You and it is another expression of love and the dedication needed to endure. Quite a statement then from a band who find their rise to prominence continuing to grow, that love will conquer all and our fears need to be held within our own sense of control. Worthy of your investment.

Paul McGee

Courtney Marie Andrews Valentine Thirty Tigers

This new release represents the tenth official album from a singer-songwriter who has continued to shine over a career that has pivoted around the wide media awareness that the HONEST LIFE release generated back in 2016. Interestingly, it’s been ten years since that album arrived and now, on the anniversary, we are given a new release and ten new songs to absorb.

Her creative spirit keeps expanding into new spaces. The use of keyboards, synthesizers, computer-aided sonics and layered sound, lead to exploration beyond her previous parameters and the creative output reveals a rich tapestry for the listener to enjoy. The album was recorded in just ten days at Valentine Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. The freedom unlocked across these songs is an obvious example of an increasing confidence in the studio and Courtney Marie Andrews co-produced with Jerry Bernhardt, both musicians playing almost every instrument on the recording. Also featured on drums and percussion is Chris Bear of the band, Grizzly Bear.

There is an exploration of the arc of love, falling into the early stages of attraction, trusting the growing commitment, only to find the pendulum swing to the other side and a cooling of the initial belief and passion towards a sense of regret. Little Picture Of A Butterfly captures the essence of this failing romance in the lines ‘Guess I'm morally impure, Guess your love is not a cure, Guess I should've known better, Guess I'm throwing out that sweater’  - the lingering coda to the song containing flute and ethereal synth sounds as her belief floats away into the ether.

Indeed, the album cover depicts a distracted Courtney Marie looking into the distance and gesturing towards an unknown figure of a man who is staring out to sea close to a cliff edge. It’s a striking imagery and one that lends itself to guessing that the stranger could well be unrequited love, just beyond the grasp of Courtney Marie as she struggles to find connection. Two songs are like a statement of her conflicted resolve and on Keeper we have the lines ‘Cause I'm a keeper of your heart, I'm a keeper of your secrets, I'm a keeper in the dark, I keep it all together until it falls apart.’ There is then the reflection on Only the Best For Baby and the regret expressed ‘I'm a masochist, I'm a marionette, I'm a mess making moves on you, You will take what I give, I am proudly wounded, I am falling too fast for you, I am showing my cards, Wondering if I'm a fool.’

The loneliness of isolation is captured on the most revealing song here and on Best Friend we have the admission that ‘Best friend, Wish I had a best friend, Someone to talk to, To tell my deepest thoughts to.’ Living essentially on the road over all these years of travel in building a career can leave little time for the simple pleasures that many of us take for granted in life. The troubadour always moves on, along in thought, meeting new people on an endless loop and trying out new experiences. Perhaps a time spent grounded is what the soul craves.

On the song Outsider we are given another glimpse of this fragile world with the lyric ‘I wanna be an outsider, It's too painful looking in, How could I be an insider, When I don't fit in?’ There is no doubting the sincerity in these songs, written from the heart and exploring both personal change and the pain endured. It’s a very brave album, within the musical landscape that is painted and with the vulnerability expressed in the words that populate the lovely melodies created.

The final song is Hangman and reference to a game we have all played as children. In the lyric there is a search for some kind of solace, some sense of certainty, so that the seeking can be put to rest - ‘Don't wanna live playing hangman, Always asking for vowels, On the edge of death, Without the truth spelled out, So tell me now… I've loved you from the beginning.’ It’s like Courtney Marie Andrews is contemplating elements of grief and mortality, the passing of time, and the inevitable march towards answering our own questions as to how we negotiate this mortal coil. Two questions to ask might be “Is love itself ever enough” and if so, “How do you make love stay?”

This is a very accomplished album, beautifully created and performed. Over the last ten years the strides made by this gifted artist are there for all to witness and I get the sense that much greater riches lie ahead in the arc of what Courtney Marie Andrews will deliver for our ongoing pleasure.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Natalie Del Carmen Pastures Torrez

From piano and vocal lessons as a child to a bachelor’s degree in music from Berklee College in Boston and recording two full-length albums and an EP, Los Angeles-born Natalie Del Carmen has packed a lot into her first twenty-four years.

PASTURES follows on from Del Carmen’s 2023 album BLOODLINE, and while not deviating dramatically from the folk-pop leanings of that debut record, finds her steering towards a more traditional country/folk sound. Although a city dweller, Del Carmen’s music suggests otherwise, with characteristics related more to wide open spaces than a bustling city landscape.

Her grandfather’s 1930 banjo, which she inherited, plays a leading part in some of the more countryfied inclusions on the album. Paired with spirited fiddle playing and timely handclaps, it works its magic in the jaunty track El Cortez, a song written for her father following a gambling session with him at the El Cortez Hotel in Las Vegas. That fiddle/banjo pairing also works well alongside slick vocals in June, You’re On My Mind. Others that impress are the pedal-steel-rich Heyday and the love ballad Good Morning From Magnolia. The autobiographical Plans Upon Plans speaks of breaking free and following your dream while navigating the inevitable drawbacks and glitches encountered along the way.

Written in her childhood bedroom in Los Angeles, the album was recorded in Nashville over eight days. Del Carmen was reunited with several former classmates from Berklee College of Music, who have formed a Tennessee-based musical collective at Brunjo Music Studios, where the album was recorded.

PASTURES should prove to be another step up the industry ladder for Del Carmen. Combining perfectly paced vocals with well-crafted songs, her rising star status is well earned and, on the strength of this album, most likely to continue snowballing.

Declan Culliton

Ole Kirkeng Cowboy Lie Detector Machine Die With Your Boots On

Continuing our support for the impressive music coming from Scandinavia under the Nordicana banner, here is the latest record by Norwegian artist Ole Kirkeng. In another life, Kirkeng plays bass guitar in Courtney Marie Andrews’ touring band, and he made quite an impression on us at Lonesome Highway when he performed at Static Roots Festival in Oberhausen in 2024. A Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy) award-winning artist, COWBOY LIE DETECTOR MACHINE follows on from Kirkeng’s debut album, STILL NOT LOST, from 2023.

Recorded at Rockbondon Studio, the analog studio of Swedish singer-songwriter Amanda Bergman, Kirkeng co-produced with Nashville-based Dominic Billett (Andrew Combs, Erin Rae, Caitlin Rose) and Norwegian producer Bendik Braenne. The result is impressive: Kirkeng’s crystal-clear vocals take the lead, with dreamy pedal steel, smooth guitars, and a laid-back rhythm section layered over melodic songs.

Over ten tracks, the album draws on several roots’ music subgenres. Bare Minimum delivers hook-laden country rock. Foreign Country Singer Blues is a playful Hayes Carll-type affair. The string-laden Work in Progress is a modern-day play on Countrypolitan. The title track ('She saw it in my steps, it was my first pair of boots. She knew I bought the jacket, pre-stained the gasoline. She’s a cowboy lie detector machine') offers a veiled and truthful statement that Kirkeng is essentially a city boy writing country songs. Gap Year, with a riff borrowed from Sweet Home Alabama, explores wild thoughts of taking time out and living dangerously ('I need to almost die on a scooter in Vietnam, sleep in a hostel after tripping in Amsterdam’).

While much of American country crossover music is simply rehashed pop masquerading as something else, Scandinavian artists are blending country with mainstream to perfection. COWBOY LIE DETECTOR MACHINE exemplifies this, offering a hugely enjoyable, slow-burning listen.

Declan Culliton

Tylor & The Train Robbers Live Self-Release

If you’re not familiar with Boise, Idaho-based band Tylor & The Train Robbers, this twenty-three-track live album is the perfect introduction. Recorded over two nights at Treefort Music Hall in their hometown, the band is fronted by Tylor Ketchum along with brothers Jason and Tommy Bushman, Antonio Vazquez, and Rider Soran, and their core sound is no-nonsense Red Dirt rock and outlaw country.

Included are selections from GRAVEL, their debut album from 2017, their two subsequent records NON-TYPICAL FIND (2021), and, given their hectic touring schedule, their appropriately named HUM OF THE ROAD (2024). Acknowledging a few of the artists who shaped their musical direction, the album also includes Gene Clark’s Feel A Whole Lot Better, The Doobie Brothers’ Listen To The Music, No Sweat, co-written by Pinto Bennett, Chris Wall, and Mark Webb, and Steve Young’s Lonesome, On’ry and Mean.

Expressed in a semi-spoken fashion by Ketchum, The Ballad Of Jack Ketchum tells the tale of his namesake, the 19th-century Texan outlaw. It’s a standout inclusion that runs over the seven-minute mark. One minute shorter but no less ear-friendly is Custer County. Breakneck tracks like The Way We Learn, I Got You, and Workin’ Hands sit snugly alongside the few occasions that things tone down a few notches in Lost And Lonely Miles and Place Like This.

To support the album, the band heads out on a national tour, kicking off in Denver on 4th March. This album, at one hour and forty-five minutes long, is a tour de force in gritty outlaw country and embodies the chemistry of a band at the top of its game.

Declan Culliton

Memphis Kee Dark Skies Edgewater

The title of the sophomore album from Austin-based five-piece band Memphis Kee is a matter-of-fact description of the troubled times currently playing out worldwide. It follows the band’s 2022 album WIMBERLEY and, like that debut record, mixes country and hard-edged rock in a way that Texan bands excel at. The band is Memphis Kee (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Spencer Carlson (lead guitar, harp, vocals), Paul Pinon (drums), Joey Sisk (bass), Chris Loyd (keys, guitar, vocals) and Jake Waylon (guitar, keys, organ, harmonica, mandolin, and harmony vocals).

They’re out of the blocks in fine style with the opener I’ll Come Running’, Waylon’s harmonica intro leading into a full-blown toe-tapper pledging unconditional devotion to a lover. Despite the album’s title, there’s a softness and comfort to much of the songs. Much admired at Lonesome Highway, Texan singer-songwriter Jamie Lin Wilson, whose 2018 album JUMPING OVER ROCKS featured in our favourite albums of that year, adds her gorgeous vocals on Bewitched. Also speaking of desire and passion is Hummingbird, but in this case, illicit love.

It’s not all sweet sentiment and starry-eyed either. The bluesy All The Rest speaks of a relationship broken beyond repair (‘I wish you the best, I’m thankful for the good times, I’m so sorry for all the rest’) and bad choices, being stuck in a dead-end job and a relationship gone south surface in With None, a fully charged cry for help that wouldn’t have been out of place on an early career Drive By Truckers record.  Ramping up the sound even further is the thumping album closer Twenty Dollar Chain about a young guy ready to let rip with his first paycheck -Friday night, feeling no pain, thousand-dollar boots, twenty-dollar chain’.

Produced by Grammy award winner Adam Odor (Mike and The Moonpies, Colter Wall, Willie Nelson, James Hand) and recorded at Yellow Dog Studios in San Marcos, Texas, DARK SKIES is everything you’d hope for from an Austin band. Deep, gritty vocals telling compelling stories, combined with slow rolling grooves in places and driving guitars and keys elsewhere. No doubt these guys would be killers in a live setting.

Declan Culliton

Rick Shea Smoke Tree Road Tres Pescadores

Having listened to Rick Shea through the years, I have long been an admirer of his ability to tell a story as well as acknowledging his musical talent and production prowess. He now is about to release his eight solo album (alongside two others he shared the credits with, namely Patty Booker and Brantley Kearns). He has also made numerous guest appearances on releases by the likes of Dave Alvin’s Guilty Men. He is a seasoned pro with a warm and welcoming voice that feels like that of an old friend.

For this new recording, he gathered around him a group of players who are like-minded and who further expanded on the delivery of this set of songs, including the foundation of a variety of rhythm sections. Due to the nature of recording these days, recording was carried out in a number of different studios. Then each track adds such accompaniment as required, by the likes of Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle, Tony Gilkyson on acoustic guitar, David Livingston on pedal steel, the accordion of Robert Rodriguez, the Hammond B3 of Skip Edwards, Danny McGough on Wurlitzer, while Jeff Turmes added saxophones; plus some further individual contributions like Celia Chavez on vocals. Even though many added their parts via an online platform, the album has a coherence and clarity that belies that fact and is testament to how such endeavours can now be realised.

The majority of the songs are written by Shea and, as such, it is never difficult to interpret what is the essence of the story being told. The opening song A Week In Winnamucca is a fondly remember time playing in a small casino in that town, a role that Shea rarely takes on due to creative restrictions but, thankfully something not enforced there.  Shea was something of a wanderer in his youth and he recounts some of that in Guardian Angel. He sought music as he travelled but felt that he was being watched over to come to the place he is in now. His family history and ethos is the subject of An Irishman’s a Laborer at Heart. There is a nod to the music influences of Memphis and New Orleans in Georgia Bride.

The first of the covers is up next in the song Midnight Shift, previously recorded by Buddy Holly amongst others. The next song is a co-write between Jennie Moyeda and Shea, it tells of, amongst other things, a famous Mexican film star Maria Felix and is given a suitable musical setting wherein he is joined by Celia Chavez vocally. Some parts are sung in Spanish, which only add to the overall feeling of the song. That feel, with some effective Spanish guitar and accordion, is continued in El Diablo Manda. A more forceful comment on current times than perhaps elsewhere, translates as “the devil rules the roost.”

The other cover song is a version of the much loved and often covered Long Black Veil, included because it’s a song that Shea loves. He does a worthy reading and it features some fine guitar and saxophone playing as well. Delia is about losing someone close to you, a person who perhaps was capable of understanding another’s depth. It echoes musically with that quiet melancholy sentiment. A track first recorded for his debut cassette album and co-written by Wyman Reese is given a new lease of life here. One More Night is a song that looks to a future with some hope but recognising that it is something that may not be achieved. In a more Western inspired theme we have the instrumental twang closing track, Trailrider. It conjures up its title with ease and evocation.

There is one further unlisted track as a coda to the album in Juniper Tree, an unaccompanied vocal with ambient bird, dog and children sounds in the background. It’s a song he sometimes sings to his granddaughter, its inclusion underscoring the overall sense of a person who is at ease with his life and career, simply making music for the love of it and working with friends to create that which can comfortably exist in such a simple location.

Stephen Rapid

George Mann and Mick Coates Ghosts Of the Old West Running Scared

From New York, America to Victoria, Australia is a long distance to travel and the presence of these two Folk musicians at the Maldon Festival developed into a friendship that spanned the miles and offered the opportunity to unite as fellow-artists from opposite sides of the world. George Mann is known for his work as an activist and union organiser. Over the years he has released a number of albums that focus upon the topics of social injustice, the futility of war, and the support of veterans, along with the marginalised in our societies. Mick Coates writes songs about the plight of the Aborigine peoples and the abuse of power by corporate and political interests. Both musicians share a lot in common and come together across eleven songs to explore their mutual craft.

Mick Coates has a rich baritone vocal and his delivery is very much akin to a Johnny Cash styled cadence. He contributes three of the eleven songs included here and on the self-penned That Sweet Plaintalkin’ Country Girl, he sets the template for the album as he delivers a lyric that reminisces over an old flame that slipped away over the time. The life of a cowboy on the trail is another song that Mick performs and it was written by his friend Charlotte Buckton with him in mind; Lonesome Plains has atmospheric violin by Tim Ball and the sense of being alone on the prairie is superbly captured.   In Irons From Limerick City is a co-write, with Mick delivering an Irish Folk ballad that echoes the traditional air of At the Rising Of the Moon (John Keegan Casey) in the melody. It’s a tale of being transported across the ocean as a criminal to form part of Australia’s colonisation programme.

George Mann contributes lead vocals on songs like They Call Her Dolly Parton which details the story of visiting a relative in a nursing home, where her diminished faculties don’t allow recognition or communication to take place.  George also sings on For the West to open the album and it is an atmospheric country arrangement with prominent violin and electric guitar on a song about leaving home to experience new adventures. The protest song Anymore (Harry Stamper) dates back some forty years but is as relevant today as ever ‘We pay for prosperity with the slaughter of the poor.’

Another vocal that is shared by both George and Mick is a cover song, The Reverend Mr. Black (Billy Edd Wheeler, Mike Stoller, and Jerry Leiber), and sung in a Gospel themed style. The presence at that Folk Festival in Australia is perhaps the genesis of the song ‘Till the Cows and ‘Roos Come Home’ with a drinking session around Mick’s kitchen table bringing the inspiration. Ira Hayes unfolds a story of the hypocrisy in American society where a war hero is reduced to a state of alcoholism upon returning home and finding no recognition for his deeds, just hostility. The song was written by Peter La Farge and covered many times by the likes of Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt as an anti-war song, more commonly known as "The Ballad of Ira Hayes."

The title track is a song that appears twice on the album, with each song written separately by both George and Mick. One details a love tale that ends in the murder of an innocent man, the other tracks a classic cowboy western theme to border towns, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and drinking in Cantinas. It’s all a lot of fun with the assembled musicians doing real justice to these songs. Colourful and a fine collaboration.

Paul McGee

Sam Lewis Everything’s Fine Loversity

Stripped down, intimate songs from a musician who has been creating excellent albums since his debut back in 2012. This latest project was recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed by Joe V. McMahan at Wow and Flutter Studio in Nashville, which is home to Lewis since he moved there in 2009. McMahan contributes on an array of instruments across the eleven songs and his prowess on acoustic and electric guitar, dulcimer, pedal steel, bass, keyboards, organ, piano, synthesiser, percussion, is a real benefit to the tone and character on these song arrangements.

There is a charmingly simple atmosphere that informs the arrangements and the easy groove is reminiscent of a late night session where the assembled players quietly follow and interpret the acoustic lead lines with creative input. The instrumental Lischey’s Retreat is a short and perfectly rounded example of this approach.  There is an addictive groove on Making It Up and the combination of drum shuffle and upright bass is a real joy. Judy Blank guests on The Light to great effect, her co-vocal offering a perfect mirror to the soft delivery of Lewis on a song about frustrated love ‘If I can’t be who you want me to be, Don’t leave the light on.’

Elsewhere we have the country lilt of Chase the Moon and the atmospheric pedal steel of Joe McMahan complimenting the understated acoustic and electric guitars. Old Love sounds like a throwback to the crooner days and the presence of a Tony Bennett lingers in the soft, intimate style. On My Life Living Me there is a creative rhythm that fuels the song and a sense of almost a Buddy Holly song trying to break out.

The sad realisation that love has run its course is wrapped up in I’ll Never Be Enough For You and the inner conflict of ‘I’m somewhere in between, the windowsill and the windowpane’ is echoed in the gentle acoustic playing. The opposite emotion is expressed on Nothing Could Break Us Apart where the bond of love is the glue that keeps a belief in happy endings. The title track has the feeling that no matter how things may look, the best perspective to apply to inner and outer struggles with life, is the mantra that Everything’s Fine.      

Another song I Know reflects upon the fact that ‘There will always be more to learn than I’ll ever know’ and again the pedal steel of Joe McMahan is prominent in the melody. The final track is a cover of the Indigo Girls song Three County Highway and there is a sense of longing in the reflections of wanting to repair the past ‘One day I'm gonna make it up to you, one day we're gonna laugh instead of cry, One day I'm coming home to stay, it's true, and baby, that's the last ticket I'm ever gonna buy.’

The album cover gives no sense of the style of music that awaits within, and the image of a frog perched on a man’s head is somewhat disarming. The presence of welding glasses on the figure lead me to the saying “there are none so blind than those who will not see.“ Then again, in certain cultures the frog is revered as a symbol of renewal and transformation. I guess it’s up to us all to decode this subjectively, and the willingness of Sam Lewis to explore new soundscapes in his music is certainly to be admired. A very interesting collection.

Paul McGee

Cousins and Willoughby The Bridge Witchwood

Hidden treasure can be found in the strangest of places and at points in time when the furthest thing from your mind is the discovery of something that has been there, under the surface, for all this time. It was serendipity which brought this collection of songs to my attention and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to reacquaint myself with a time in my youth when English folk rock was not only a big influence in my growing appreciation of music, but it was also a time when the genre itself was making great strides.

Prior to the punk meltdown in the late 1970s, there existed such a rich heritage of terrific music in albums that appeared from bands such as Audience, Curved Air, It’s A Beautiful Day, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, Lindisfarne and so many more. We were spoilt for choice, and one of those bands that always stood out for me was The Strawbs. Founded in the 1960s as a Bluegrass group, they became one of the darlings of the new Folk movement, gradually moving into a more Rock based arena as their popularity grew and new members joined the ever-changing line-up over the years.

This album is something of an heirloom that has been patiently awaiting the moment when it could be finally introduced to the world. Dave Cousins was a founding member in the Strawbs and he remained at the central creative core of the band for their entire journey over the decades. In the 1970s he invited Brian Willoughby to join the band and the duo often played outside the main group in different formats together. There is such a synchronicity in the fluid guitar of Brian Willoughby and the plaintive, wistful vocal delivery of Dave Cousins; a unique voice that can at times remind one of a Roger Chapman or Gary Brooker in the intonation.

This recording was originally conceived as ten songs with essentially a full membership of Strawbs players, either past or present at the time. They were joined by the beautiful vocals of Mary Hopkin on four of the tracks, and she was one of the first artists signed to the Beatles Apple Record Label back in 1968. The songs remind me of the immense talent possessed by Dave Cousins, in his ability to capture a mood or a moment in song, and in his convincing vocal delivery that accompanied his fine guitar playing. He had the perfect foil in Brian Willoughby who displays an inspiring dexterity and colour in his guitar technique, which is laced with emotional expression and impressive skill.

The songs vary from big sounding arrangements  to quiet acoustic melodies, starting out with the excellent groove of You Never Needed Water which sets a high bar in terms of performance, with Brian Willoughby dazzling on lead acoustic and a song that recounts a tale of female doggedness in pursuit of her goals ‘You sparkled like a diamond with a smile that you could trust, Until you found yourself a sucker and you ground him into dust.’

The classic Strawbs sound is captured on the poignant Further Down the Road with Blue Weaver on rich keyboards, Chas Cronk on bass, and Tony Fernandez on drums adding to the lovely harmony vocals of Dave Cousins and Mary Hopkin, as Brian Willoughby raises the dynamic with some fine guitar ‘Strike the fiddle, start the hoedown, rid me of my heavy load, I can see those bright lights shining a little way further down the road.’

Heat Of the Street is a fine rocker that captures the energy of going out for a good time and letting your hair down.  Another song celebrates the meeting of two lovers and the giddy thrill of first discovery, and Do You Remember? brings back memories of youth ‘Do you remember the day we met, How we kissed the way they do in France?’ The rocking beat on Oh So Sleepy is a song that sees stinging guitar phrases from Brian Willoughby lift the arrangement, and the rhythm section of Rod Demick (bass), and Richard Hudson (drums) make an appearance.

Morning Glory is a love song that captures that feeling of closeness that transcends words ‘We will climb the mountainside, a multitude of dreams.’ The other side of love is captured on Cry No More and a sense of regret for the changes that can visit any couple in a relationship ‘Never trust a girl who takes it all for granted, Never mind the rain when it’s pouring down.’ A highlight is the atmospheric The Plain and a song about journeying forth in search of new adventures ‘Throughout my endless journey I’ve been searching  for paradise lost, I now retract my footsteps with the burden of infinite cost.’ The gentle melody on Song For Alex is perfectly delivered on acoustic guitars and showcases the special dynamic shared by Dave Cousins and Brian Willoughby in the rise and fall.

There are four bonus tracks included on the album and also a recording of Dave Cousins recalling his initial meeting with Sandy Denny, who played with the Strawbs for a very brief period before she went on to join Fairport Convention. Dave relates the story surrounding his receipt of the news about her shock passing at the age of just thirty-one. It is very heart-felt and captures a moment in time when the Folk world went into mourning for one of its greatest-ever singers. Ringing Down the Years is performed in her memory and it’s the longest track included here. Both Cousins and Willoughby excel on the performance as if they were compelled to honour Sandy’s greatness with their own creative gifts.

Desert Song together with Ways and Means are fine songs and contain that great spark between Cousins and Willoughby as the acoustic guitars blend into the melody. The final song is Beat the Retreat and the stoic acceptance in the vocals is an indication of the nostalgia Cousins felt as he looks back at a life lived ‘The last post is sounding, Now it's time to be gone, There's no further reason, For singing this song.’ It’s an appropriate way to end an album that stands as a special memory of Dave Cousins who died in Canterbury, in July 2025, at the age of eighty-five. As a bridge to the past, this album is priceless.

Paul McGee

Jeffrey Martin Alive July 25, 2025 Loose

This live album was recorded in Portland, Oregon at The Showdown venue and is an absolute cracker. It features Jeffrey Martin on lead vocal and guitar, joined by Sam Weber on guitar and backing vocals. Those who already know of the great attraction that is manifest in the songs of Jeffrey Martin will know exactly what to expect, and newcomers to his creative talents will be suitably impressed.

Across seventeen songs we are treated to the deep humanity and insight contained in the words of Jeffrey Martin and the joy of live performance is captured perfectly on the night. Having the foil of Sam Weber adds richly to the dynamic of the night and his contribution in adding nuance to the songs is very marked. There are five songs from the most recent album Thank God We Left The Garden (2023), four songs are included from Dogs In The Daylight (2014), and two songs from One Go Around (2017). In 2012 Jeffrey Martin released a six-track EP titled Build A Home, and there are two songs included from this project, in addition to a few songs that have yet to feature on an official album, plus a cover of the Neil Young classic Out On the Weekend.

The unique nature of live performance is where Jeffrey Martin really excels and his heartfelt words really hit home like an arrow when placed into an intimate setting where the audience is locked into the knowledge that they are witnessing something that will never be repeated or captured again in the moment. The show begins with a performance of the single I Know What I Know and the song protagonist is sticking rigidly to a particularly narrow self-created view of what he finds in daily living ‘I read the news, I watch the speeches on tv, The only thing true, Is nobody is who they’re claiming to be.’ He includes a section of the Woody Guthrie song This Land Is Your Land at the song end.

Keeping with the sense of fragility and doubt of these divided times, Jeffrey follows with a performance of Paper Crown and the reassurance that none of us really know where to find our place in the overall scheme of things. The sense of not having control is something that we don’t like to admit of course, but we can take comfort from everyman ‘Get up and go to work in the darkness, Come home and try to hold onto something, It’s a wheel that goes around.’

Our moral compass is the question that we all have to align with when it comes to looking in the mirror and on the song Dogs In the Daylight Jeffrey sings that ‘The wolves in the dark, they’re only dogs in the daylight.’ Another older song is Thief and A Liar and Jeffrey reveals the kind of men who major in deception as a means for negotiating their world, never caring for the misery they wreak. The subtle superb guitar lines from Sam Weber are a joy.

Quiet Man is a highlight with the life lessons rolled out for all to debate; whether kindness is enough in our passing of time, or whether love and understanding house a deeper knowledge, waiting to be unlocked ‘ There's an angry man on the mountain just like there's always been, And there's a quiet man in the valley standing taller than him, And there's a child with a secret that she doesn't know she holds, And the fact that I can see it means that I am growing old.’

One Go Around speaks of making the best of what we have on this planet and that, perhaps we do only get one chance in the way we choose to live out our days. Galveston is a song about moving on and trying to leave a relationship in your rear view mirror, and the unrecorded song 1519 is a flight of fantasy that places a young boy in the armada of Hernán Cortéz as he chases the adventures of a life on the ocean wave instead of that as a farmer. The Middle is a song that speaks of balance and of not judging others ‘Don't go running your mouth on me, About the light and the dark and nothing in-between, I see a right and a wrong and a line in the middle.’

Billy Burroughs is about the poet and writer who shot his lover in a Mexican bar while drunkenly trying a trick shot. The cost of excess and the price of apparent freedom from choices. Wellspring comes along  as a parable that the sins of the father are foisted on the children. A drunk and a gambler who tries to outrun his demons but ends up having them visit in a way that tears the family apart. The cover of the Neil Young song Out On the Weekend is one that fits nicely into the performance dynamic and that search for connection is central to the song.

Another standout moment is the performance of Red Station Wagon and the insight gained from witnessing bigotry and homophobia in our society ‘The church was a boot on your neck since the day you were born, They didn’t like the way that you talk or how you move in the world, How you glide like a leaf on the water all gentle and kind, The world wants a man who is hard - not hard to define.’ The song is full of grace and understanding in the sentiment, and delivered with real emotion.

Gold In the Water dates back to 2009 and is a gentle song about dreaming big and being patient, while The Garden is a more recent song penned by Jeffrey and there is a false start to the song caused by a catch in his throat, which he plays off brilliantly by riffing a lyric about it. The words ‘I want to know the secrеts, I want to peek behind the curtain, I want to find out for certain, If I’m here on purpose’ show that within us lies the beauty we seek and the answers to our own truth.

The show concludes with a performance of There Is A Treasure the most precious of songs and one that expresses a deep compassion that underlines the message of human fragility in all of its guises ‘There’s a treasure that we all know, but we can’t have it, It’s a place beyond the measure of our minds, It is where we go when we forget we’re living, It is where we go when we forget we die.’ We come and we go and it is within each of us to live with both humility and gratitude while we are visitors here. Jeffrey Martin is very special and I am certainly grateful for his presence among us as an artist of the highest quality. This album is an essential purchase.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

The Foreign Landers Made To Wonder Tin Foil Studio

The transatlantic romantic and professional partnership of Northern Ireland’s Tabitha Benedict Agnew and South Carolinian David Benedict continues to flourish, as evidenced by this, their second full length album. Tabitha, originally from Co Armagh, is known as an accomplished banjo player, and her prowess on guitar is now equally evident. David is one of the foremost bluegrass mandolin players among the newer generation, having been a prominent member of Mile Twelve for several years. MADE TO WONDER is heavily informed by the arrival of the couples’ first child last year, and explores themes of time (and lack thereof!), transience, faith and hope.

When The Morning Comes was prompted by the trepidation and other emotions felt during Tabitha’s pregnancy. ’There’ll be sleepless nights/ but the light will come’ and ’there'll be joy, crying out through the pain’. The band also comprises the amazing fiddle player Julian Pinelli (a Berklee graduate and a former member of Front Country) and his presence is felt in every track. Nate Sabat on bass ably completes the line up. The ephemeral nature of life is explored in Smell The Rose and Tabitha, who takes lead vocals on most of the songs, reminds us to appreciate the little fleeting things before they disappear. There’s liberal use of layers of backing vocals and lush musical arrangements throughout the album, all of which was impressively recorded and self-produced in their home studio, Tin Foil Studio, in Traveler’s Rest, S Carolina.

They cover beautifully the ‘traditional’ folk song, I Am a Youth Inclined to Ramble, first recorded in the Sam Henry Collection in Northern Ireland and probably best known nowadays from Paul Brady’s rendition on his 1978 folk album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger. Scottish folk artist Kris Drever adds harmony vocals here, contrasting with Tabitha’s soft vocals, and Armagh’s Brian Finnegan (Flook) enhances it with his mellifluous whistle playing, lending the whole affair a decidedly Celtic feel. Another standout track is the title song, which recounts the frustration at how days go by in a flash, suitably soundtracked by a persistent frenetic banjo contribution from Tabitha, and augmented by equally frantic fiddle from Julian. Resolution comes, however, from their Christian faith, a prominent theme throughout the recording.

Uncertainty about the future features again in The Walking Song, while the amusing Shoes Off lays out their mutual frustration with each others’ foibles, a normal part of living in the same space. Tabitha switches to frailing banjo in a lovely cover of Ola Belle Reed’s Wildflowers, with David’s octave mandolin playing complementing superbly. The album closes with Is It a Dream?, a fitting love song to their daughter.

MADE TO WONDER marks another step towards a more folky feel for this progressive bluegrass ensemble, with another personal collection. There should be more than enough here to satisfy both the faithful and the faithless!

Eilís Boland

Brule County Bad Boys  Burden Lake (Cold As Life) Ya-Ya! Ent

This band of Troy, New York-based bad boys (and a couple of lawless ladies too) have a number of previous albums and singles to their credit. They are something of a roughneck take on old school country and outlaw ethos energy. The band is fronted by the lead vocalist, songwriter and instrumentalist Josh Coletto and he is joined by Sean “Tex” Secor on bass, Steve Golding on pedal steel, Benny Wessels on drums, keyboardist Sam Wessels and fiddler Lucy Nelligan. They are augmented by co-producer Steve Hammond, who was joined in the task by Coletto. The former also added some steel and guitar. He was joined in the latter capacity by Graham Tichy and Kieran Robbins. Kevin Maul played dobro and they were accompanied by vocalists Jen Maco, Yarrow Denny-Colettop and Miles McNally. Hammond himself received a favourable review here for his last album too.

There is a gamut of tracks on offer that, on first listen, almost sound like two different bands, one a countrified twang band and the other a fiddle-led outfit. However, on further listening, it begins to blend together as a more cohesive offering, yet one that still has the rough edges intact. The slow paced Switchblade Knife builds with some abrasive guitar and swirling keyboards, while Susanna Gal Interlude is a short fiddle stomp that sounds as if it was recorded live. So does the later Bucking Mule Interlude, which again sounds like a beer-infused singalong. Somewhere between the two directions Truckin’ is a familiar tale of white line fever that is full of truck stop twang - with piano and guitar featured at a tempo to match the need to move on down the current highway. It has a large show-stye chorus tacked on at the end that is slightly incongruous but fun. That sense of random sound extends to the inclusion of ambient voice overs that feature ahead of a number of the tracks. As before, the opening Cold As Life (with its gunshots and shouts) itself offers a fairly comprehensive introduction to the band and to Coletto’s fulsome vocal. It has some complementary backing vocals over its raucous country rendering with steel, fiddle and guitar all in the mix. It sets you up for what is to follow.

Aside from the aforementioned tracks, there are songs like Diggin’ Deep that is prefaced by a rant about how the rich rule by way of the work of those who aren’t. It is again a strong song that further illuminates the sentiment of the intro. There is a sweetness to the fiddle intro to Expectation that says “ain’t nothing wrong, ain’t nothing wrong.” Throughout, the songs tend to favour the plight of those who struggle and work for a living. Cornbread takes a rockier route in a similar theme. Being lonesome is the question set before Wet Brain, a slower song that asks “which side are you on when the daylight is gone?” Perhaps a suitable choice for a vampire film or similar.

Towards the end of the album, the 'live in a tavern' feel is again achieved in Little Soul, a song with steel, piano and fiddle and some vocal accompaniment that sounds pretty much how you could imagine this being the way the band might sound live. The album closes off with The Lantern, a ‘border’ feel is alluded with the accordion sound and the lead vocal joined in the choruses to provide the album with a satisfying conclusion, even when that ending is prolonged with some vibrant drumming beyond the song’s finish.

This is another release from a band who play for their audience and for themselves with an upfront and unabated attitude and outlaw instincts, that make for a interesting and enjoyable album from the edges of the country music landscape. Suitable for bad boys and mischievous gals everywhere.

Stephen Rapid

Greazy Alice As Time Goes By Loose

Two EPs, JUST ANOTHER ONE and CIRCLES, released in late 2025, gave listeners a taste of what to expect from the New Orleans-based band, Greazy Alice. The band was formed by Alex Pianowich, originally from Pennsylvania, who teamed up with vocalist and now wife, Jo Morris. Together, they have created a modern boy/girl country project, blending the playful style of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra with the lo-fi elements of David Berman’s Silver Jews. Pianowich relocated to New Orleans fifteen years ago and established himself as a ‘go-to’ session player in the city's alternative, indie, and Americana scenes. 

Greazy Alice’s debut full-length album features eleven tracks, combining material from both previously released EPs with newer songs. Much of the material emerged during Pianowich’s daily marathon walks around New Orleans, often structured around the city's capacity to confront the many challenges it has faced and overcome over the decades. As a result, death and rebirth regularly surface in the songwriting, alongside closer-to-the-heart issues like romantic commitment. The latter emerges in Just Another One (‘Don’t get too close, it makes me wanna run, yeah, I’m afraid I’m just another one’). Opening with Pianowich’s spoken vocals and soon to be joined by Morris’ high-pitched trilling, it’s a heavy-hearted and edgy delight.  

More conventional are the country ballad Circles, written after the tragic passing of a friend, and the smooth, joyful country swing of Turn. Equally easy-going and no less intoxicating is Stop Asking Why, highlighting the fluency of the couple’s combined vocals. Conceived during one of Pianowich’s daily rambles, the slow-burning and self-counselling Glen Echo Cardinals (‘Don’t you let those thoughts turn black or you’ll start slipping back’) strives for positive thought patterns.

With the help of a close friend and fellow songwriter, Morgan Orion, Pianowich recorded the material on a Tascam MS16 tape machine. The songs range from conservative to experimental, following a basic traditional honky tonk formula punctuated by sonic oddities. This approach brings Pianowich’s expressive songwriting to life, resulting in a deeply satisfying and interesting listen.

Declan Culliton

Sophie Gault Unhinged Torrez

We’ve been on Nashville-based Sophie Gault’s musical journey at Lonesome Highway since discovering DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR, the debut full-length album by the then-named Sophie & The Broken Things in 2022. Released in her own name, BALTIC STREET HOTEL followed two years later. Her latest ten-track offering, UNHINGED, follows her trajectory of raising the bar with each of her subsequent recordings.

Often positioned in the overflowing Americana genre, that classification does not do Gault justice. Instead, cast your mind back to the early 1970s and the emergence of cowpunk or two decades later when alt-country was in full swing, and you’re getting closer to Gault’s sound. Playing out like Gault had been tuning into Lucinda Williams’ Changed The Locks and Righteously on repeat, that rawness and snarling guitar-led sound behind her gritty vocals in UNHINGED amounts to her most ambitious project to date.

The opening track is a remodelling of Buck Owens’ Loves Gonna Live Here.  Screaming guitars, thumping drums and bass lines transform Owens’ mid-paced honky tonker into a fully blissed-out rocker. It’s also a statement for what is to follow, with Gault seldom shifting gear from that ‘in your face’ stance. Matching that dynamic is Stowaway, conceived while Gault enjoyed some downtime on the Outlaw Music Cruise, and the Mando Saenz-written Pocket Change which, in keeping with the original version, and despite its placid opening, explodes thirty seconds later into a fully charged blowout.

Gault has spoken openly about her struggles with mental illness and how songwriting, particularly in her early work, has been a therapeutic medium to document the challenges of bipolar disorder. The inclusion of the Robert Johnson-penned Stop Breaking Down may or may not be a note to herself; either way, it’s a blistering reworking of the song.  Tracks with equally sharp teeth include the extremely muscular bluesy rocker Whiskey Would Help, and Last Call Rock and Roll is a ‘tears in your beer’ barroom standard.

It's not entirely a firm foot down on the gas either. Taken at a gentler tempo, the bluesy Merlot Dodge Dart tells of a spurned lover exacting revenge by keying her ex’s beloved automobile. The mid-paced Chestnut St., written about a less-than-committed boyfriend, harks back to Gault’s earlier career days playing in upstate New York bars. Stripped back to vocals and guitar, Is Anyone Out There bookends the album, with Gurf Morlix, who wrote the song, adding his voice to the gentle, questioning song.

Produced by Alex Torrez and David Dorn and recorded at Farmland Studios in Nashville, Gault has turned the heat up several notches with UNHINGED, resulting in her most impressive album to date.

Declan Culliton

Slow Motion Cowboys Wolf Of St.Elmo Arkam

Late to the party with this one, but thankfully not overlooked. Released in 2025, Slow Motion Cowboys is a New Orleans-based band led by the self-christened ‘Buzzard Prince of San Francisco in Exile’, Pete Fields. Originally from San Francisco, Fields relocated to New Orleans via Las Cruces in New Mexico and WOLF OF ST. ELMO’s laid-back and gloriously loose tones tap into the roots of all three regions.

Fields set the wheels in motion for the band in his student days, over 20 years ago, originally naming the project One Eyed Spectacle, which was later rechristened Slow Motion Cowboys. Four albums followed: BUZZARD SONGS (2013), EXILE/ON THE MESA (2016), SUNBURNT FEATHERS (2019), and SHORE BIRD (2021) before he moved to New Orleans and joined the burgeoning roots music scene there.  Hooking up with like-minded players from that area, and close friend Shawn Wyman, who also moved to the city, presented Fields with the means to flesh out the ten songs that made the cut for this album.

Self-produced by Fields, he played guitar and sang, with Wyman on bass, percussion, and backing vocals. The other band members included Denton Hatcher (guitar, bass, backup Vocals) and Will McMains (drums, percussion). A host of other locals also contributed, adding pedal steel, mandolin, melodica, organ, and backing vocals. These included Greazy Alice band leader Alex Pianovich, who is credited as playing piano, guitar, and harmonica on this record.

There’s so much to like about the album’s ten tracks. Textured stories about survival and love-torn relationships are at the heart of Field’s writing. Delicate pedal steel and tingling piano are twinned with Fields’ heartsick vocals in Catch and Release, which recalls Neil Young pouring his heart out in Mellow My Mind from his darkest record, TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT. There’s also anguish in the backstories contained in Invisible Stars and Damned If You Do, with the writer mulling over romantic tie-ups hanging on by a thread. Running From Regrets (‘Heading down that lonesome highway, probably late at night, running from regrets’) speaks of one of those past liaisons, and Drive These Streets Blind echoes the narratives and musicianship on Richmond Fontaine’s breakthrough record, POST TO WIRE.  The album is bookended with the title track. Taking its name after a dive bar in Bisbee, Arizona, it’s a moody and cryptic border-influenced gem.

Lovers of the late 20th-century alt-country genre should lap this up. What may be bleak themes are handled with delicacy and unhurried melodies on a record that offers the listener many memorable songs, making it a truly rewarding listen from start to finish.

Declan Culliton

Charles Wesley Godwin Live from the Steel City Self Release

Pittsburgh, Pa is the location for this impressive live album from Virginia native Charles Wesley Godwin. Across twenty-three songs his craft is highlighted in the stirring performance and the dynamic that is served up by his band, The Allegheny High.

Included are covers of Whitehouse Road (Tyler Childers), The Jealous Kind (Chris Knight), Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver), and the majority of the setlist is taken from three previous albums, Family Ties (eleven songs), How the Mighty Fall (three songs), and Seneca (four songs). There is also an old Merle Haggard song Ramblin’ Fever, together with a rendition of Jamie, a song that Godwin performed with Zach Bryan previously on an EP released in 2022.  We find Charles Wesley Godwin at the very top of his creative power here, his rich vocal tone resonating across the audience and a fervent celebration that confirms the giant steps taken in his career thus far.

Allegheny County includes the city of Pittsburgh, the second largest in the state of Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, and it’s the meeting point of three rivers: the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio. The musicians that support Charles Wesley Godwin as The Allegheny High and are mainly from the Beaver County area of Pennsylvania and include Max Somerville (keyboards, piano), Al Torrence (lead guitar), Nate Catanzarite (bass), Joe Pinchotti (drums), Eric Dull (guitars), and Amico “Meex” Demuzio (pedal steel, lap steel, banjo). On this live performance Eric James is introduced as a guitarist in the band, in place of Eric Dull.

In just a short number of years, Godwin has shot to fame like a rocket with a career trajectory that is really gathering pace these days. His popularity lies in a humble, down-home persona and coming across like the kind of guy you’d just enjoy sharing a beer with down at your local watering hole. His songwriting is very much taken from experiences in growing up in the heartland of Virginia, home to Bluegrass, String Band and Old Time music traditions, and acts such as the Carter Family and the Stanley Brothers. Godwin sings of local issues in songs like The Flood, and Sorry For the Wait, his father on Miner Imperfections, his daughter on Dance In Rain,  and his grandfather on Seneca Creek.

Stage AE is a multi-purpose entertainment complex in Pittsburgh and this was the concert venue for the live recording, part of a 2025 USA tour that included performances at the AmericanaFest in Nashville, where I was lucky enough to catch his incendiary performance at the Skydeck. The band is so finely tuned and impressively sharpened through intuitive playing across songs that they know intimately from regular performance together. When the rhythm section is locked-in, and the pedal steel, banjo and lead guitar are dove-tailing around the melody; it’s all very addictive, compelling, and vibrant. The between-song dialogue from Godwin feeds perfectly into the enthusiastic crowd who respond with plenty of positive cheering and chanting.

Songs like Hardwood Floors, Cue Country Roads, Shrinks and Pills, and Another Leaf give the musicians plenty of room to stretch out and fire from the hip, with more reflective songs like Family Ties, All Again, Willing and Able and Jesse showing a softer side to proceedings. Overall, this is a great example of live music played in the perfect setting, making you feel part of the experience and wishing you could be plug into this energy every night. Stirring stuff.

Paul McGee

The Boy the Earth Sings To The Quiet Voice Of God Self Release

Twelve songs and forty minutes of beautiful, fragile, soft-focus dreamscapes that come and go, almost like a sweet summer scent on the breeze. This is gentle melody and ensemble playing of the highest quality from a selection of musicians that are very much aligned and expressing great simpático. Joshua Britt is the creative source behind The Boy the Earth Sings To and he is indeed plugged directly into the great mystery, as he honours the spectral quality of nature in the everyday. Taking time to slow down and celebrate all that we have surrounding us, both within and without, this is the joy to be found on this special project.

In a career spent looking for the magical, Joshua Britt has been blessed in seeking out like-minded souls along the journey. From a childhood in Kentucky, immersed in family tradition, learning to play the mandolin, steeped in the waters of old church Gospel harmony singing, and founding his own musical project, The Orphan Brigade. Along with co-founder Nielsen Hubbard he branched out into film and video work by forming Neighborhoods Apart Productions, and now the spirit has moved Joshua to return once again to his first love of music.

Suitably inspired by the Spanish genius that was Gaudí we are given a quote that says “ The creation continues incessantly through the media of man. But man does not create … he discovers.” Perfectly expressed, and in this new project, Joshua Britt discovers the essence and joy of his creative muse. He joins with others, such as Matt 'The Banjo Player' Menefee (Mumford & Sons), the lovely  harmonies of Lady Moon (Eva Holbrook of SHEL), Neilson Hubbard (drums), Good Day Dean (guitars), Gaijin Yujin (upright bass, strings), Matt Menefee (Ebow, banjo), Dean Marold, (bass, strings), Jason Miller (piano), and his children, Quincy and Colter, (who contribute harmony vocals, drums, percussion). Sarah Drake (harmony vocals) also appears, along with cameos from Zach Bevill and Carey Ott on individual tracks. However, it’s the multi-instrumental skills of Joshua Britt that take the central role and whether performing on mandolins, banjos, Op-1, electric guitars, piano, mandola, or other stringed instruments, he displays craftmanship of the highest order.

The lead vocals are mixed down in the overall song arrangements, lending them a ghostly quality and an ‘otherness,’ as if they’re being sourced from another point in the ether. Songs that resonate seamlessly blend into a comprehensive listening experience and produce a hushed quality. The concept of time passing and life unfolding informs tracks like Burn the Daylight There, and Every Single Moment, with the power of enduring love present in songs such as Easy To Fall In Love, together with Walter and Vera. The past is ever with us, whether in fleeting memory or a sense of emotion lost, and songs like Small Town Dreams, Picture Frames and Too Late Too Soon address nostalgia, dreams and time gone by.

Constant change and the strength to be found in personal resilience and spirit, thread into Eyes Of God and Rain Washes In, while dealing with complex inner feelings are reflections on The Wolf Is Dead and Spirit Machine. Joshua Britt sings that ‘I want to live like a watch unwinding’ and elsewhere ‘Searching for the truth, The quiet voice of God in every moment,’ and in his search for real connection he has found a precious source of creativity to inspire all who come into his orbit.

Paul McGee

Mark Sebastian A Trick Of the Light Self Release

It is sometimes said that “less is more,” and that quality is always more important than quantity. And, indeed, if absence does make the heart grow fonder, then the return of Mark Sebastian is very welcome to those who enjoy music that is both commercial and appealing to a wide cohort.

There is something to suit everyone across these nine songs of contemporary folk and easy r’n’b rhythms. Mark rose to fame on the back of the song “Summer In the City” which he wrote with his brother John B. Sebastian, and it became a classic 60s Summer hit when recorded by John’s band, The Lovin’ Spoonful. Mark has collaborated over his years in the music business with the talents of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, in addition to writing for publishing houses and devoting time to an acting career.

On this third album Mark has included some real talent on the songs, with James Gadson (Smokey Robinson, BB King, Marvyn Gave) playing drums on eight tracks, and Bob Glaub (Bob Dylan, CSN, Jackson Browne) contributing bass and guitars on eight tracks also. Outside of this engine room we have guest slots from both Freddie Washington, and Motown Funk Brother, guitarist, Wah Wah Watson. Don Randi of the original Wrecking Crew turns up on piano, while string arrangements by Van Dyke Parks join with cameos from Bill Payne (Little Feat), Johnnie Lee Schell (Bonnie Raitt), with Billy Nicholls and Leah Kunkel on background vocals.

There are elements of smooth jazz on the love song A Voice In the Forest and the lines ‘This time, let it be easier, This time, there’ll be room to run’ sum up the feeling of freedom highlighted. The opposite applies in the song You Made A Monkey Out Of Me with a great groove masking the failure of a relationship, while the players create a Steely Dan feel on the arrangement. Trying to reconcile with the girl is something that Roll With Me addresses ‘All my old mates ask me, What’s the status on you.’ The message is similar on The Way Back Home with the parties to the potential relationship both slipping off track ‘I must have been away far too long, Show me where it is I turned wrong.’

Riverrun has superb harmony and melody on a song that mirrors a Beach Boys sound, while the title track is a regret on love gone wrong with a plea to try again ‘Rusty bridges, broken roads, Surround this dirty old town, Can we rescue our lofty dreams, From these bits on the ground.’ The contemporary sound of Beneath the Sheets warns that external beauty is not enough to sustain a meaningful liaison beyond the bedroom, and Hard-Hearted deals with regret in living for yourself. The final track is a funky work-out and Get-Up and Move continues the abiding theme of relationships and their complexities. So, lots to colour this album and one that will find favour with admirers of great melody and layered arrangements.

Paul McGee

Sigvard and the Bone Whispers In the Land Of the Midnight Sun HepTown

This Swedish band release a second album that comes with much to recommend it. There are nine tracks across forty minutes of what I would call “Swedicana.’ Well, creative licence is a good thing when you are a reviewer, and the overall sound dynamic here is very close to the traditional Americana sound of so many bands Stateside.

The opening song In the Land Of the Midnight Sun is in reference to the name given to Norway, mainly due to the fact that a natural phenomenon occurs there where proximity to the Arctic Circle can result in the sun shining over 24-hours. There may be strange behaviour as a result and drinking all day long can lead to all manner of trouble. The song Call My Name seeks a deep connection with another where a lack of self-identity is replaced by the belief shown from someone near. Deep Water is about bouncing back in life and not staying down on the bottom of the ladder. Breathe is another song about looking for connection, where self-doubt and inner demons can be dispelled by the comforting hand of another.

When I Die is a giddy old-time country manifesto on how to live your life completely free from routine encumbrance, leave nothing behind, and enjoy the days we are given. On Bang Your Drum, (Go To War) the old traditions handed down are questioned on this anti-war protest ‘And you fight for someone else's power, Not your freedom like they say, And when you think you've won the battle, You end up losing anyway.’

The blues groove on Mama Your Boy Is Hurting is a fine band work-out with harmonica taking some nice moments in the song arrangement, along with cool electric guitar. Better Than Me is a song about the over-confidence of youth when everything seems possible in life. Suddenly you are left with the realisation that the limits on your potential are all self-inflicted. The final song is Harbour and it’s a sanctuary for the tired and lonely ‘I'll be your haven, When you're tired of the storms, I'll keep your fire, bright and warm, I'll be the rock we build upon, I'll be wherever you call home.’ Harmonica and pedal steel lift the melody and bring everything to a satisfactory conclusion.

Jonas Hellerup (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Mats Brandström (drums, percussion, banjo, backing vocals), Olof Broberg (double, electric bass), Lars Brandström (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro, mandolin, bouzouki, pedal steel, backing vocals), Lars Nilsson (organ, piano), Samuel Lundström (violin), Goran Petrovski (violin), Hedvig Wieslander (cello), and Martin Poblete (harmonica) come together to provide the magic dust. It’s a fine album with lots to recommend it.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Michael Prewitt Something He Can Handle Common Loon

The second album from Eastern Kentuckian Michael Prewitt reveals him to be way more than just a prodigious bluegrass mandolin player, and introduces his mature songwriting and tenor vocals. A graduate of the Greg Cahill school of touring (he spent over three years with Greg’s Special Consensus band, playing all over the US, as well as Ireland, the UK and Australia), he has come off the road for now and is concentrating on his own music with his band, Crunchgrass. An English major from the University of N Dakota, where he also taught until derailed by the pandemic, his way with words is evident in this record, where he wrote seven of the ten songs. For this reviewer there are shades of Norman Blake and even John Hartford in his folk leaning self-compositions. Producing the album himself, his choices of clean, uncluttered arrangements and ‘less is more’ instrumentation only enhance the superbly written songs.

Prewitt is joined here by his former Special Consensus colleague, Dan Eubank, on bass, fellow Kentucky bluegrass powerhouse Aaron Bibelhauser on guitar, dobro and harmonies, Brady Wallen (Clay Hess, Amanda Cook) on banjo and Jeff Guernsey (Vince Gill, Michael Cleveland) on fiddle.

Son Of 2AM transports the listener straight into the bleak world of the blue collar worker struggling to forget a lost love. Boulevard of Regret is another gem where, in two short minutes and with just two guitars, Prewitt communicates the intense loneliness of the despondent protagonist, looking back on life through the metaphor of the never-ending white line on the ‘long wide avenue’ with no off-ramp. One wonders was this composed during the never ending miles on the road with the Special C? By contrast, the melancholy Last Loon on the Lake clocks in at almost six minutes, but your attention is held throughout, as he chronicles the pondering of the hapless bird, who missed the window for migrating south. Will he survive? You’ll have to listen to the end to find out, after the lovely instrumental dobro break from Aaron Bibelhauser. There’s a respite from loneliness in the amusing Put the Bottle Down, which teeters towards alcoholism, complete with an impressive jazzy upright bass break from Dan Eubank.

More bluegrassy are the covers of the coal mining song Dark Clouds on the Cumberland, and a version of What’s The Matter With The Mill, whose exact origins are indistinct. There’s a swing version of Kristofferson’s Just The Other Side of Nowhere - that recurring theme of loneliness and travelling again. Another original, Winnipeg, is a ballad featuring just Prewitt’s vocals and acoustic guitar, where he demonstrates his flat picking prowess and he manages to damn 'Canadian mid-sized prairie towns' with faint praise.

Prewitt is capable of writing exquisite love songs too: in the deliciously slow paced If I Had a Horse (and with just dobro and guitar accompaniment again) he speculates to his love what they could do if he had horse (he’d take her to 'a land with no fool’) or a spaceship (he’d take her to infinity with him) but, as he only has his ‘big old dumb self’  he asks her to take him as he is, because she 'won’t need much else’. Far Gone From Here finds him philosophising (in ‘some cheap hotel room' - I blame Greg again) about how concepts like ‘forever don’t mean much in the moment' but they take on far more significance with the passage of time.

This record was one of my favourites from late last year - don’t miss it.

Eilís Boland

Diane Coll Strangely In Tune Happy Fish

The fifth studio album from Atlanta-based singer-songwriter and professional mental therapist, Diane Coll, follows on from her impressive 2024 record, OLD GHOSTS. In our review of that album, we described the writing as ‘a meditation on life’s problems and an album filled with personal insight.’

Coll’s writing on STRANGELY IN TUNE follows a similar path to that of the last record, exploring rehabilitation and rebirth in the face of unforeseen life challenges. The arrangements, instrumentation, and delivery of Coll’s latest album, however, differ significantly from those of its predecessor. Co-produced with local musician and engineer Jonny Daly, who shared most of the instrumentation with Coll, the result is an altogether more sonically aggressive approach to the songs. For example, the punchy Double Feature, which introduces distorted guitars, driving beats, and a sharp vocal style, lands somewhere between Debbie Harry and Patti Smith.

Not quite as raucous but equally striking are Better Fly Me Right and Caroline Wren. The former ebbs and flows with swirling guitars and keyboards, while the latter rejoices in the unambiguous healing virtues of Mother Nature. Meanwhile, Disappear addresses the imperative of leaving a controlling relationship, and Porcupine was inspired by the Japanese art form Kintsugi, which transforms brokenness into a work of reconstructed beauty.

The album signs off with the hymn-like Dream Away. With only piano, vocal, and backing vocals, it’s a fitting and moving farewell to a loved one whose life journey has come to an end.

Coll is in fine vocal form throughout and once more demonstrates her ability to absorb the relentless oscillations between life and death and channel them into her writing and music. A more-than-impressive listen to kick off 2026.

Declan Culliton

Glass Cabin Emmylou Self-Release

 The third album from Glass Cabin continues the rootsy country-rock sound of their 2021 self-titled debut and GLASS CABIN 2, released in 2024. The band is the brainchild of New York-born, now Nashville-resident, Jess Brown and David Flint, both of whom have enjoyed considerable success in the music industry prior to joining forces as a recording band. Brown has written country hits for Lee Ann Womack, Sara Evans, Trisha Yearwood, and numerous others, while Flint, a founding member of country rock band Billy Montana and The Longshots, has worked as a hired-hand touring guitarist and handled production duties for similarly minded artists.

Brown’s ‘on demand’ songwriting showcased his capacity to compose material suitable for a mainstream and commercial market. His writing for Glass Cabin and the soundscapes he and Flint create are altogether more hard-hitting and daring, no doubt a reflection of a duo creating art without any outside interference.

Continuing the country noir essence of their previous work, there is an underlying menace to I Don’t Know, which could be interpreted as a love ballad or equally a murder ballad. Possibly drawn from the same story, that track is preceded by the guitar-driven That’s What Love Can Do. Full-blooded tracks include the racy opener Nightcap and Broken Heart, the latter tipping its hat to Tom Petty. Musing over times gone by and the passage of time are the less frenetic title track and As The Years Roll By.

Laced with textured stories, earthy vocals, catchy hooks, and ripping guitars, the creative partnership of Brown and Flint continues to shine.

Declan Culliton

Joshua Singleton The Promised Land Self Release

This singer songwriter is currently based in Nashville, having spent his early years growing up in Asheville, North Carolina. He has been involved in the music industry from an early age and his songs are very much centred in the Roots Rock arena. Having released a self-titled debut back in 2009, he followed with an EP (KING OF HEARTS) in 2011 and now, some fourteen years later, comes a third offering. There is an impressive quality across the songs included and the twelve tracks deliver a very enjoyable listening experience.

Opener Heart With An Arrow Tattoo  has a nice Tom Petty feel in the rhythm and is a song about proving your love by getting some ink on your body to honour the lady in your life. The sound on Still Yours has a contemporary Country feel with a fine melody and understated guitars rolling the arrangement along. What We Made takes a slower route and looks at youthful love, the bond that develops into real commitment in building a life together.

She’s On Fire is a slice of slow burn Americana that warns against tangling with the wrong woman, ‘She’ll take everything and burn it on down behind her, No survivors.’  With Give In To the Night the song arrangement has a nice balance and restrained tempo, as the vocal hints at an inevitable passionate outcome. Southern Child looks to childhood memories and the roots laid down in learning family values, the celebratory guitar sounds lifting the track. On Why Lie the slow melody reveals a tale of unrequited love and forever missing the girl. Kiss Me Back is a radio-friendly slice of fun that could sit comfortably on any number of favourite playlists, with a rhythmic beat, and great vocals.   

Title track The Promised Land is a slow ballad that reflects upon chasing dreams to guitar town and leaving a relationship behind ‘It’s always a beautiful day in the promised land.’ Sunday Morning Smile has a similar mid-tempo feel and a different perspective; the song celebrating that special feeling of waking up with the one that you love. Finding forgiveness is not always easy and on Now and Then the guy reflects on lessons learned over time ’I had everything I never knew I needed, And I know now just what I’d do to keep it.’   

Every song is a co-write, and the album was recorded across three different studios in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. There is an array of musicians used on the songs with the rhythm section of William Coats (drums) and Andy Dixon (bas), anchoring the creative flights taken on electric guitars (Trevor McKay and David Duncan), with organ and piano highlighting the talents of Al Gamble and David Duncan on different tracks. Joshua Singleton plays acoustic guitar and handles all lead vocals with a confidence and a swagger. Background vocals are provided by family members Ciara, Elisa, and Jonathan Singleton, together with Dee Foster, and both Nadine and Justin Dudley - who also contributes on banjo and mandolin.

The blues groove of Wish I Was Lying is a nice closer and highlights the fine vocal prowess of Joshua Singleton as he reflects upon losing the girl to another lover ‘I wish I wasn’t sitting here with a cold beer thinking about you and him all alone.’  Plenty of quality to enjoy on this very welcome return.

Paul McGee

Vi Wickam The Thanksgiving Album Self Release

Colorado is home to this lauded musician who is a four-time state fiddling champion and a respected artist, dating back to the 1980s, when he first played as a member of his family’s Folk band. He has released a number of solo projects, guested on other albums, and his “fiddle tune a day” project propelled him to fame in the fiddle and bluegrass community when he recorded and published a different fiddle tune every day for an entire year.  Vi Wickam comes from a long line of family musicians and he also founded the online music school myTalentForge.com where students can access many different fiddle lessons.

This album release is very timely as we face into a New Year in that it is very much focused upon the old traditions and values that bring us together as integral members of both community and family. The origins of Thanksgiving in America date back to the 17th Century when both native Americans and pilgrims would sit together at the harvest feast. It has evolved now into the cultural event for celebration and reflection as friends and family come together in gratitude for each other.

And indeed, gratitude is the abiding message that threads through the nine songs that are featured on this very enjoyable album. The musicians assembled highlight the huge talent that lies beneath the social media focus throughout our cities and populations, and I doubt if anyone apart from local players have knowledge of any of the ensemble gathered here. We are treated to the talents of Dave Beegle (guitar, bass, organ), Luke Bulla (guitar, fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (guitar, fiddle, mandolin), Joe O’Keefe (piano, vocals),  Daniel Whittington (guitar, vocals), Dick Gimble (bass), and Christian Teele (drums, percussion). The combined results are both engaging and superbly delivered, and there are additional musicians who contribute on singular tracks also.

We have the input of Matt Bell (violin, vocals), Cole Sipe (guitar), and Todd Howard (bass), who play seamlessly on the impressive Welcome To the Table, a song that invites both strangers and family alike to join in the celebration of all that we share in common. Another notable song is the opener Another Fine Day For Thanksgiving where Nathan Townley (Irish flute), and Max Francis (bodhran) are featured and add to the celebratory sound.

My Kind Of November is a more reflective song and features the excellent vocals of Zee Crain, contemplating upon the different perspectives that can be brought to the acknowledgement of family at key moments. The freedom to live your own life is mirrored in the sentiment and the song is a highlight. Elsewhere we have a light jazz swing to I’m At Home with Jessie Andra Smith sounding like she has been transported back to the times when the great Beryl Davis sang with the legendary Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Jessie also plays resonator guitar on the song, joined by Nathan Rivera, who also contributes on accordion, bass, piano, and vocals.

Of course, throughout, we have the superb fiddle of Vi Wickam as he colours the song arrangements with soaring melody lines or joining with the rhythm as on the traditional Folk instrumental Turkey In the Straw which has close ties to Irish tunes in the reels and jigs of that great heritage. This is a terrific collection of songs, lifted by the harmony vocals and the impressive ensemble playing that knits together and makes this an album filled with many delights.

There is an old Italian saying that “At the table, no-one grows old” and this is the perfect antidote to dispel the poisonous times that we find ourselves embroiled in as a New Year unfolds. Let the music keep your spirits high.

Paul McGee

Patty and Craig Look To the Moon Self Release

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is home to a duo that came together both in their love of music and also in their love for each other. They previously pursued solo careers, releasing albums and touring America, before their paths merged, having met a folk music festival.

The source of inspiration for this new album was a photograph of a blood moon, which holds a deep significance in many aspects. It is seen as a symbol for change and transformation, spiritual rebirth and growth across many societies. Many of the songs incorporate images of the moon and nature in their creation and indeed five of the song titles include the ‘moon’ word. Love is in the air on tracks like Once In A Blue Moon and You’re the River. The title track is a look to nature for companionship and inspiration, with the sea and the sky featured in the lyrics.

The peace to be found in nature, and the unfolding earth cycles permeate There’s A Shadow On the Snow Tonight and the natural rhythm of the earth and it’s gravitational pull inform Agave Moon. There is a genuine care and kindness in the lyric on You Are Not Alone, and the enduring power of love is at the heart of Love Surround Me.

Craig Siemsen contributes vocals, and acoustic guitar, with all his solos taken in impressive style and he is joined by Patty Stevenson on vocals, acoustic guitar, and piano. The songwriting is split between the husband and wife duo, with Siemsen penning seven songs and Stevenson the remaining four tracks included. They are joined on this third album together by the assorted talents of guest musicians Peter Roller (dobro, electric guitar tremolo, electric slide guitar), Marc Edelstein (double bass), Frogwater; featuring John Nicholson (banjo), and Susan Nicholson (fiddle, mandolin), Reggie Bordeaux (drums, bongo, conga, shaker), and co-producer David Vartanian.

On Bad Moon Rising we are asked to take a stand and make a difference in the fight against hate and racism, and Night Full Of Promise deals with the fears and pressures that society can bring to bear on those who are on the margins. Another song spins a tale of the rise to fame of a star, and Bobby Can’t Bop could well be a reference to Mr Dylan as the source behind the song meaning. All in all, a very enjoyable album with tight harmonies and folk-based song arrangements that have plenty to offer.

Paul McGee

Dave Burn Medium Dave and Friends Self Release

London is home to musician Dave Burn and this solo album is a follow-up to his 2017 release, Arizona. Between these two projects, Burn was involved in other ventures, mainly as an active member of the band Orphan Colours. He was previously a member of Ahab, a UK-based band who last released an album back in 2016.

On this new solo offering Burn includes a generous fourteen tracks, a number of which were prior singles, and the overall sound is influenced by shades to be found in English Folk, with his vocal tone bordering on Nick Drake in the delivery. The abiding feeling is one of looking for a place in the world that feels like home. Songs channel self-doubt and alienation, and are fed by the insecurities that can arise with over-thinking everything. You can become frozen by a fear of daily living where the means to cope seems to face insurmountable odds.

John Lennon said that  “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” In many of the songs included here the self-analysis borders on pessimism, captured on Universe by the lyrics ‘I’m in love with giving up, Running like a thief to the night, Spending all my money on getting fucked up, To forget my miserable life.’ Elsewhere, the search for balance in the middle-years of life results in messages of daily fears and isolation on songs World In My Way, In Real Life and Friend Of Mine, the latter reflecting that ‘never had a job, never had children, never found god, never had nothing to fight for.’

The know-alls in life and the bullies that revel in their sense of self-importance appear on Down From the Mountain and are a concern in our daily routine, also expressed on Stop Panicking in the words ‘Freaking out right now, Tell myself it’s not gonna stay like this forever, Stop panicking, Everything will be fine.’ The apparent comfort in company expressed in Always New is more aimed at the joys of alcohol than towards a woman, and the sense of disconnect with another is apparent on Violent Animals which hints at resentment ‘Take the piss, I couldn’t resist, Now he’s screaming at me like a child.’

Procrastination runs through Sun Sometimes and also Like A Flower has the choice to stay home as preferable to meaningful engagement  ‘I’m just sitting in a place that I call home, Watching tv shows through weeks of summer sun, Things get better every moment I’m alone, When there’s not a single victory to be won.’ Two Steps Behind is the same song as Sun Sometimes with the lyric ‘Been meaning to put up that picture, So long, but I can’t find the time.’

I’m reminded of a Jackson Browne lyric that says ‘No matter where I am, I can't help thinking I'm just a day away, From where I want to be,’ and the feeling that Dave Burn, in seeking a balance to living, is simply magnifying the need for an adequate coping mechanism in a mid-life crisis.

Paul McGee

Robert Deitch Legacy Self Release

As a music row staff writer in Nashville, Robert Deitch was involved in the creation of hundreds of songs. And while a number made it through the arduous selection process, there remained a frustration that quite a few were not getting the attention that they deserved. The creative process is often inspiring to be part of, but more often than not, it can prove to be a source of disenchantment.

When you are a songwriter, essentially for others, there comes a point where you must decide to try it for yourself. As an outlet for his songs, Deitch released two solo albums, in 2018 and 2022, in the hope of establishing himself as an artist in his own right. Ultimately he has taken a decision to stay in his native Iowa and curb regular writing weeks by commuting to Nashville, and in doing so, found the focus and perspective needed in releasing this new album.

Whatever the legacy that remains from the Nashville years, Deitch brings all his talents to the fore on the twelve songs featured here. Three of the tracks were written some years ago and appeared on his debut release, while the others are more recent additions. They all point to the undoubted artistry that Robert Deitch possesses. His vocal tone is very compelling, full of emotion, with a nice element of grit, and a strong sense of authenticity in the delivery. This is music from the heart and from the heartland. When you do it from with an honesty of spirit there is a corner that gets turned and every journey ends with a new beginning.

These are songs of empathy and contain plenty of lived experience in the details. The characters that inhabit the stories are believable and convincing in their portrayal. Leaving the Nashville scene in your rearview mirror is the topic on the opening song Leaving Nashville and is a personal reflection. Three other tracks revolve around the Father/Son dynamic, with memories of what the relationships meant in different scenarios, and Truck Stop Souvenirs, One Night In A Cadillac and My Old Man all look to the lessons learned, the dedication shown in parenthood, the cost of bad breaks and the fortitude shown in perseverance. The love songs, Dyin’ Day and The Right One are genuine and heartfelt, and a different love song is the remembrance of growing up in a small rural setting on 3 Church, 2 Tavern Town.

The studio used was Golden Bear in Des Moines, Iowa and the producer Bryan Vanderpool also contributes on guitar, bass, drums/percussion, and backing vocals. The production is very clean and clear in the listening experience and Robert Deitch plays guitar across all tracks, in addition to his impressive lead vocals. A number of musicians play on the majority of the songs and Tanner Taylor plays piano/keyboards on eight tracks, Eric Haywood plays pedal steel on seven tracks, Ben Mars plays bass on six songs, Dace Ducharm-Jones contributes guitar on three songs, with Katherine Severing Fox providing strings on three tracks also. Other players are featured on individual songs and a particular highlight is the co-vocal of Emilee Johnson on the excellent Trailer Park Romance.

Scars On This Guitar speaks to the price that experience charges for the perspectives gained in following youthful dreams, and the very strong writing on Bullet Holes is another standout moment. A song about addiction and lost faith, it has been released as a single that includes a harmony vocal from Mary Gauthier no less; quite a testament to the power of the song. There is real connection in this music and I look forward to the next steps that Robert Deitch takes in his blossoming solo career. Proof positive that it’s never too late to make a fresh start.

Paul McGee

Jim Krause and Anne Hurley Madeleine Bay / Crossing the Inland Sea

Every once in a while the gift of music comes calling from unexpected sources and enriches the moment. We have all experienced such joys from a random song that appears on the radio, or that particular melody that stops us in our tracks. The source of such musical magic is something we all hope to capture, but more often than not, we have to just let the moment disappear into the ether and simply rest in the wonder of the emotion that was fleetingly created.

On a recent trip to America, my good friend, and musical innovator, Krista Detor, took my wife and I to visit some of her neighbours and musical contemporaries. We spent time in conversation and laughter at the ways of the world and our individual journeys undertaken, all culminating in sharing companionship, a glass of wine and some home canapés. On leaving, I was gifted two CDs of instrumental music that was composed and created by our hosts, Jim Krause and Anne Hurley, simply for my private listening pleasure, and to acknowledge the unstated bond that is shared between extended family who hold music as something sacred in our lives.

When I finally got the chance to enjoy this music I was completely consumed by the beautiful playing and the synergy created between guitar and cello. Such a natural fit, between the deep, reflective and rich sound of cello, and the bright, harmonious, melodic tone of acoustic guitar. In addition, on many of the fifteen tracks featured on the first CD, Madeleine Bay, there are guest musicians that combine their talents in a way that add more layers of colour to the already elegant tunes. The contour and pitch of the melodies is so beautifully played within the range and rhythm of the music that it becomes an immersive, meditative experience, as both Anne and Jim dove-tail and weave together across their instruments.

The music simply floats out of the speakers and brings many emotions with the delivery, and there is a timeless quality in the sense of calm that is generated. From the reflective beauty of Achill Island, including Fred Lacey on dulcimer, to the bright energy of Samba, featuring Dave Gulyas (guitar), Steve Mascari (bass), and Jamey Reid (percussion), the arrangements inspire. Other noted tracks are Wind River and Seventh Heaven with guitar and cello joined in sound as one. The cello is very close to the human voice in expression and tone, the yearning quality of the resonance a perfect foil for the sweetly crisp and clear acoustic guitar played either as lead instrument or as part of the accompaniment. The phrasing between the instruments gives a sense of movement and flow, particularly highlighted on the superb Sand Bay.

The second CD, Crossing the Inland Sea,  is released a few years later and the journey is no less compelling. This release has eleven instrumental tunes and in addition to the skills of Jim and Anne, we are treated to contributions from Grey Larsen (flute), and Dave Bruker (bass) on selected tracks. Percussion courtesy of Dave Weber and Tim Moore is also featured and whether it’s the cello of Anne taking the lead, or the bright guitar of Jim in the ascendancy, the intuitive blending of instruments creates goosebump moments of pleasure. The floating flute on Rose Hill, or perhaps the rhythmic Shadow Canyon; possibly the subtle percussion on Gabriola, or the sense of sailing away on the winds of North Channel Lullaby. No matter the individual moments, this is another textured album that is very much greater than the sum of its individual tracks.

Both albums were lovingly produced by Jim Krause and Dave Weber at Airtime Studios and Tabletop Studios, both located in Bloomington, Indiana. Creating the appropriate space to inspire is crucial in any process, and the sense of spirituality evoked by these instrumental melodies cannot be overstated. There is both a deep connection and kindred synergy at play.

Both Anne and Dave explore the possibilities that lie beyond the sometimes sepia tone of modern daily living. They both add rich colour in their compositions and creative playing. Having met at Indiana University's School of Music, Anne and Dave have performed on a number of fellow musician's projects, in addition to other interests that include lecturing at local university Media School, photography, digital production and providing residential real estate appraisals for property owners, and real estate professionals. The true entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Bloomington!

So often we discover that real gold is hidden just a few degrees of separation from all that we take for granted. Music is a healing balm in our lives and something that we hold close. I recommend this enduring and engaging music, whether you find it on your own platform preferences or directly at the contact information on http://jimkrausemusic.com/index.html

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Mark Schatz & Bryan McDowell Grit & Polish Patuxent

Mark Schatz barely needs any introduction to Americana followers - he has been a mainstay as a bass player with the likes of Nickel Creek, Claire Lynch, Bela Fleck and many more, and is a two-time IBMA Bass Player winner. It’s not as well known, though, that he is also a banjoist, clogger and ham boner, as well as a guitar and mandolin player.

His friend and collaborator on this album, Bryan McDowell, is not quite a household name yet, but that is just a matter of time (at least in Americana circles). He has been a Nashville session player and sideman for several years, always with innovative bluegrass and adjacent roots artists, and has toured with Claire Lynch and Molly Tuttle, among others. His instrumental chops are without question, having won multiple prestigious and National Championship titles in flat picking guitar, mandolin and fiddle.

All of Mark Schatz’ solo projects convey his enthusiasm and contagious zest for life, elements that are hinted at in his work as a band member with others, and this album is no different. Here, Bryan McDowell gets a chance to showcase his vocals for a change and also introduces his songwriting.

Written while in London, Mark’s old timey instrumental Kensington Station kickstarts the album in style, initially led by his clawhammer banjo playing, then we get a riot of flatfooting while Bryan takes up the tune on fiddle. They breathe new life and fun into Louis Jordan’s old chestnut, There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens, with Mark on vocals and Bryan on guitar. I defy you to listen without smiling. Bryan sings and fiddles on Doc Watson’s Muskrat, accompanied by Mark on jaw harp. Next, Bryan flat picks on the lovely slow Gardenia Waltz, which runs into the barnstormer Flop Eared Mule, which he learned from his banjo playing father. Cruso Flood is an original composition from Bryan, which he openly acknowledges is an homage to John Hartford, and he accompanies himself on mandolin on this one, with Mark on bass.

Mark wrote the sentimental ballad My East Tennessee Home many years ago, about his late wife Eileen Carson’s family home, and here he’s accompanied by their friend Claire Lynch on backing vocals. If The Girl I Love Don’t Pay Me No Mind sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a Flatt & Scruggs tune, here sung by Bryan, accompanying himself on fretless banjo and added percussion comes from Mark, the master ham boner! There’s a sublime rendition of Dylan’s classic, One Too Many Mornings, with Bryan singing and playing guitar and Mark on subtle bass. Bryan gets to impress with his flat picking again on a song called Italy (the North Carolina town!) which they got from Laura Boosinger, and Mark sings on West Virginia Reverie, written for Eileen after a particularly memorable party.

I should mention that this project was recorded at the start of the pandemic, so the duo have only had a chance to tour and promote it properly this year. I’m so glad that I discovered it and I urge you to do yourself a favour and check it out. Who among us doesn’t need a bit of joyousness to lift us in these troubled times?

Eilís Boland

The Soda Crackers Self-Titled Stay Play

The Bakersfield sound has variously been described as an influential sub-genre of country with a defined backbeat that was pioneered by Wynn Stewart, Buck Owens, and Merle Haggard, which was at odds with the more string-laden crossover sound that was prevalent in Nashville at the time. In recent times, it has, while remaining a persuasive sound, not retained its position and audience locally. Recently, Owen’s venue, The Crystal Place, had to shut its doors. Legendary honky-tonks like the infamous Blackboard are also long gone.

However, there are those who still love that sound, hail from the area, and are intent on reviving that sound from its base. The young band Soda Crackers are an example, and their debut album mixes original songs with some songs that are associated with the area’s heyday. They are fronted by singer, guitarist, and fiddler Zane Adamo, who is obviously not the only family member drawn to continuing that particular sound. He is joined by Cooper Adamo, also on fiddle, with another Adamo, Felix, credited with the photography. The band’s the rhythm section of Choy Holguin on big bass fiddle and Drummer Jeff Gerow. The lineup is completed by guitarist Benjamin McCarthy and pedal steel practitioner Benjamin Mathiews.

They have wisely picked to work with a man who knows what is required in Deke Dickerson, who co-produced the album with Zane. He was also involved with the album’s mixing. They get it right, as it sounds as though it could have been made a few decades ago. The playing and delivery are spot on, and while they may lack a little in terms of longevity, given they are a relatively new band, they can only progress and add depth in terms of songwriting skills and singing. They still, however, have that obvious love and energy that the music requires overall.

The best of their own material is Tomorrow’s Used To Be from Zane, but followed closely by McCarthy’s Don’t Start a Fire, who also wrote the instrumental Blackboard Boogie (a direct reference to the aforementioned venue, I would assume). Going Broke Livin’ Rich and Two Step Solution also show their potential as songsmiths as well as players.

The covers may be open to consideration in comparison to the better-known versions of the oft-covered Silver Wings, Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, It’s Such A Pretty World Today, as well as the auxiliary and welcome trucker song I’m A Truck Driven’ Pool Shootin’ Son-Of-A-Gun. Of course, depending on who you choose, these versions don’t have the luxury of a long-time acquaintance. They do, however, set the tone and are likely welcome inclusions in a live setting. The Soda Crackers have made an enjoyable album that sets out their remit, and the next time out with some more original songs, they are going to be a name worthy of adding to the list of the greats who came from and immortalised the Bakersfield Sound.

Stephen Rapid

Tony Poole Faith In Us Aurora

Few artists wait over fifty years to record their first solo album, but that is exactly what Tony Poole has done. He was a member of the 1970s rock band Starry Eyed and Laughing, and more recently played a key role in Bennett, Wilson, Poole, where he combined with Danny Wilson (Danny & The Champions of the World, Grand Drive) and Robin Bennett (Saint Etienne, The Dreaming Spires), to release two albums, both produced by Poole. If those albums touched on a collective admiration for 1960s pop music, FAITH IN US unapologetically revisits that musical era closest to Poole’s heart with this eleven-track collection.

That fascination began with Starry Eyed and Laughing, which was heavily influenced by the UK pop/rock scene of the Swinging 60s and the cross-pollination of music between England and America. The Byrds were primary influencers and, appropriately, the title track from FAITH IN US opens with a Rickenbacker riff saluting Roger McGuinn, whose jangly guitar sound on his twelve-string Rickenbacker inspired Poole to recreate that tone in Starry Eyed and Laughing. The song also includes bass and harmony vocals from Poole’s sidekick in that band, Ian Whitmore.

Self-produced by Poole, the album features guest musicians on a few tracks; Glenn Phillips (Hampton Grease Band) and Chris Bayliss (SIAM) contributed guitars, and Nick Holland (Barbara Dickson, Maddy Prior) contributed keyboards. Poole performed all other instruments, including vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums.

‘1965 - what a time to be alive, two years to the Summer of Love, four years till it all goes’ announces Poole nostalgically in Chelsea Girls (1965). Fusing power pop with a side of psychedelia, the song evokes memories of The Move and The Kinks, who shared similar sentiments in real time in the mid-60s. In a similar fashion, Broken Glass and This Slice of Time reproduce the charm and quality of songs that blossomed during that era.

We’re transported from London’s Swinging '60s to sun-kissed California in Chasing The Rain. That fascination with the West Coast also surfaces in Dreams of Life, with thoughts of the land of The Byrds, flashy cars, and cloudless skies, the primary mode of escapism for Poole during miserable teenage years spent at boarding school in Bedfordshire.

The shameful destruction of the Amazon rainforest to raise cattle for meat production is the subject matter in This Slice Of Time. The song evolved from a demo sent to Poole by Nelson Bragg (Brian Wilson, Stew), who is credited as a co-writer. Bookending the album Film Noir, at seven and a half minutes long, is an epic affair, ebbing and flowing, and showcasing pulsating guitar breaks from Glenn Phillips.

 For 60s music lovers, this album is a mesmerising journey. Poole taps into the hooks and intricate arrangements that launched his career and marries them with perfectly tailored songs that would qualify as classic jukebox material in a different era and decade.

Declan Culliton

Amy Speace The Blue Rock Session Windbone

A solo acoustic album is something that a lot of folks a drawn to on the basis that it offers a more intimate listening experience, together with the opportunity to feel close to the original source of the songs while in composition. If that is you, then you’re in for a treat on this new album from the prodigiously talented Nashville resident Amy Speace.

The entire record was recorded in just three hours at a songwriting session in Wimberley, Texas and taking a week away from her busy routine was clearly an inspired choice, leading to a studio session at the Blue Rock Artist Ranch. Amy certainly hit the fast lane, resulting in the delivery of eleven top class songs, but it also provided proof positive of the enduring quality and talents possessed by one of America’s outstanding singer songwriters.

Over forty-two minutes Amy ponders upon the vicissitudes of life, often reflecting that it takes courage to endure and to continue believing in some benevolent force that ultimately will deliver a means of redemption. How to reconcile the past with the present? Do we truly stay weighed down by memory, or is there the sense that our recollection of the past can never be fully trusted? With nothing more than her Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, Amy provides an intimacy along with a great rhythmic dexterity, highlighted by her superb fingerstyle technique.

The true cost of being a professional musician is captured so articulately in the words on the opening song On A Monday In London ‘I’ve travelled so much in my life, Hotel days and folk club nights, Packed my bags to travel light, Learned to sleep on many flights, I wake in different towns and beds, To worlds I make up in my head, Write down the things I wish I’d said, And slip away, On a Monday in London.’ Superbly observed and captured with a quiet eloquence.

The following two songs are very much driven by relationships, the first, God Came To Me, in terms of religion and the ghostly presence of a non-interventionalist God in Amy’s life, the second, In This Home, a contemplation on the aftermath of a divorce, where ‘Old pictures I took down, The shelves are half-filled with my paperbacks now, And all the furniture is mine, I’ve got time.’

One of the most lauded songs written by Amy dates back to the album How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat (2013), and the inclusion here of The Sea and the Shore is a welcome reminder of the finely honed sensibility that Amy brings to her craft. The metaphor of sea and shore is used to great effect in describing unfulfilled love and the random timing of reading the signs, and the momentum of attraction at the right moments ‘Said the shore to the sea, "You left me here too long, And I was promised to the moon while you were gone”… ‘So the sea took one last look and turned away, And the shore was more than strong enough to stay.’ We have all been there, standing on that shoreline.

The Dream Of the Hawk is nature placed in a metaphor of undying love and the frailty of expectation ‘Once I was a dreamer in the forest, Wanting you to notice me.’ Another song, that introduces piano for the first time, is Out Of the Blue and the influence of a Jim Morrison poem informs the words. In centuries past, it was known that ships could hit calm waters that rendered their sails redundant, sometimes for days without progress. During these voyages the sailors would throw any horses being transported overboard in attempts to conserve food and water. The regions where such calm seas occurred were called “horse latitudes” and in this song Amy references such horses as if their sacrifice could somehow allude to saving a failing relationship.

Weight Of the World was a hidden track on an early album, THE KILLER IN ME (2009), and it is given a new vibrancy here with the poignant tale of a brother killed overseas in the army, with the fallout on his sister and family captured so vividly. Her powerful vocal and the pain contained within, bursting forth with a heartfelt resonance.  I Found A Halo looks at acceptance of darker times and of not looking to judge others ‘Every ring of light hides an empty hole, With a darkness inside you can’t control.’ It is a song of introspective searching for a place where grace and self-acceptance can thrive.

Also included is Both Feet On the Ground, again, an older song that harks back to a time when Amy was recovering from addiction and looking to redefine her life goals. Playing a lovely melody on piano Amy also references her experiences as an expectant mother and all that comes with the responsibility of new life, both for her and her baby.   

The Texas floods of this recent summer are the subject of The Mother and the media images that Amy could not shake of the devastation caused. The frame of reference is captured by the words ‘Is there a God who decides who survives?’ Beautiful acoustic guitar plays along with the reflection that every mother feels the pain of the threat in losing her baby ‘A woman hanging on a tree with one arm, the other holding up a child.’ Chilling, and yet sensitively delivered.

The final track is a cover of the Ben Glover song Kindness and it’s a prayer to allow loving awareness pervade everything we hold dear ‘More than all, May this be true, May you know kindness, May kindness know you.’ It is the perfect sentiment on which to end this album of human yearning and spiritual compassion, which is the essence of what defines Amy. This album is a real joy and arrives in such an understated and unpretentious way. An essential purchase.

Paul McGee

Afton Wolfe Ophiuchus Grandiflora

Afton Wolfe is a dweller in the regions of magical symbolism  and he seeks out meaning where there appears to be none. The thirteen songs included here play out over an hour of eclectic music and different zodiac signs are represented on the tracks, with an additional song that speaks to the seeker within us all. If it all sounds very hippie-dippy, don’t be put-off, as the music created here is very much rooted in style and variety, with plenty to recommend it.

The opening song is the title of the album and it’s a big juggernaut of sound coming to claim your sense of calm ‘Oh God, From your view behind the stars, What were you thinking leaving us in charge?’ The thirteenth sign of the zodiac is “The Serpent Bearer” Ophiuchus, a large constellation that is located around the celestial equator. Although not officially recognised by Western Astrology, it is said to represent healing, resurrection, and the balance between life and death. Whatever relevance Astrology has in your daily life, Afton Wolfe has decided to base this entire album around the signs of the zodiac and the mythology conjured up in the believing.

There is angst, pain, passion, humanism, love, devotion, and deep connection in these songs. All genres of music are crossed over in the song arrangements and the track I Deserve To Be Forgiven (Scorpio) is a fine example of the rich talents on display.  It’s a country blues with clever lyrics in search of redemption for past mistakes made ‘I’ve lied and cheated and stolen and gambled, And showed up to formal events woefully underdressed, And on several occasions of utmost import, I must confess to not doing my best,’ with Smith Curry on atmospheric pedal steel leading the rich melody.

Afton Wolfe, was born in Mississippi and there is no doubt that being steeped in the spiritual resonance of the region has had a strong impact on his music. He now resides in the creative epicentre of East Nashville, and he wears his influences proudly, with Rules Of War (Libra) sounding right out of the Dr John songbook of creative groove, Zachary Douglas playing some mean trumpet. On the song Crooked Roads (Leo), we have a very personal insight that name-checks Dr Sarah Bick, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville and a date given for what appears to be a vital operation ‘We’re gonna see the other side of the sixth of December, Til then all power and guidance and wisdom to Dr. Sarah Bick, Take care of my baby’s head and send her back home to me quick.’ If my interpretation of this song is correct then I can only wish for every positive outcome possible and I send positive prayers for the healing process.

The calming tempo on Rushing Back (Taurus) follows the instrumental Sphere Shift (Gemini), with both trumpet and saxophone complimenting the lovely piano part as Afton repeats the line ‘Every little thing comes rushing back’ over the tune, as if memory cannot be stopped from imposing itself on the routine of daily living. One Million Children (Aries) is a standout moment with the righteous anger of Afton railing against the power-mongers who wage war irrespective of the consequences upon the innocent. In this song it’s the deceased children of conflict who are remembered in the words ‘ Attributes of God’s Mercy, Execution style point blank, Flood the tunnels and black out the sky, Now nothing can remain here, Under the tread of a tired tank, From the River to the Sea, we all will die.’

Last King Of the Blues (Pisces)  has an atmospheric blues arrangement that channels Tom Waits in the vocal delivery ‘And there's a false Prince up in Memphis, wearing Carl Perkins’ stolen shoes, but you gotta get off those paved roads if you wanna get time with The Last King of the Blues.’ Throughout the tracks, Afton calls upon a wide variety of talent to bring these songs to life and the song credits are many. Probably the best groove is on the jazz-fused Forgive Yourself (Aquarius) that slides between a Little Feat rhythm-meets Gospel, with Courtney Santana on vocals and the pumping bass line of Daniel Seymour real highlights.

The acoustic arrangement on Winter Comes For Mary (Capricorn) is dedicated to the memory of Mary Sack a much loved member of the music community in Nashville who assisted numerous artists over the years with her management skills. Everything comes full circle in the zodiac with Invocation (Sagittarius) and a mantra to keeping the creative essence of songcraft alive ‘Precious Vibrations, Don’t lift your foot off the pedal, I don’t want the Music to end,’ the longest track included on the album, and featuring Afton Wolfe (vocals, guitar, piano), with Doc Sarlo (guitar, percussion, bazouki), joined by Seth Fox (clarinet, saxophone) and Ryon Westover on tanpura, a beautiful drone instrument. All the colours of the rainbow are here, superbly illustrated across these engaging songs. An album that is of great resonance and lasting impact.

Paul McGee

Rachael Sage Canopy MPress

This new collection of songs represents album number sixteen in the colourful career of this New York native. Her debut appeared back in 1996 and over the years her ability to cross genres has become something of a calling card. Having studied dance, drama and voice, Rachael achieved a Master Of Fine Arts and has won independent music awards, including the John Lennon songwriting contest grand prize. She is also a visual artist and former ballet dancer who performed with the New York City Ballet.

The beauty of Belong To You with harmonica (Trina Hamlin), violin (Kelly Halloran), cello (Dave Eggar), piano (Rachael Sage) and upright bass (Kerry Brooks) is a tender love song that stays in the memory, and the equally impressive The Best Version is another string based vista into the creative mind of this songstress. A cover version of the Buddy Holly classic Everyday is a slowed down reflection on the words that perhaps get lost in the more up-tempo renditions of the song; subtle strings and glockenspiel to the fore ‘Love like yours will surely come my way.’ Another song Kill the Clock is a playful look at the pressure of expectation put on the biological ‘duty’ of women to bow at the feet of reproduction in service of prolonging the human species.

The song Nexus speaks of lifting each other up and was written after Rachael read about a nonbinary student Nex Benedict, and the tragic story of their death, after being violently beaten by their school peers. La Reve is an instrumental that has a Parisienne quality in the light jazz touch and the accordion (Rob Curto) and clarinet (David Krakauer) are subtly underpinned by upright bass.  The Irving Berlin classic God Bless America is  performed with a reverence and the understated piano and violin arrangement is suitably poignant, given all that is happening in the ‘disunited states’ these days. The final song Underneath is a gentle affair with cello, violin and acoustic guitar spinning a melody around thoughts of warfare and wanting to feel protected in our lives against outside fears ‘I wonder if the guns that guard us will ever cease to cause us grief.’

There are alternate versions of two earlier songs, with both Just Enough and Everyday getting a ‘chamber’ treatment at the mixing desk, the former song stripped of the original soulful tempo in favour of an acoustic focus, with the latter switching to a simple piano and violin treatment.

Since founding her own label MPress Records, Rachael has become known as a philanthropic advocate who has raised money for a wide range of causes, including Foundation For Women's Cancer, WHY Hunger, American Refugee Committee/Alight, and National Network For Youth (NN4Y). Rachael Sage continues to deliver brightly wrapped records of real quality and the consistency displayed in her writing and her musical craft and well worth your investigation. An excellent album.

Paul McGee

Various Artists I Will Swim To You (A Tribute to Jason Molina) Run For Cover

The bright burning star of this richly gifted songwriter sadly burned out in 2013 when he was taken from this world. Having grown up in Ohio, Jason Molina would go forward to create a body of work throughout his musical career that still resonates greatly among so many today. His legacy is to be found in his sixteen studio albums, eight EPs, and numerous singles. He blended elements of indie rock, Americana, and alternative country into his understated vocals and is remembered on this tribute album for all the gifts he brought.

However, it’s such a sad realisation to know that Jason fell victim of serious addiction issues that ended up taking his life at the tender age of only thirty-nine. What he could have gone on to achieve is there for anyone to surmise, but while he was among the troubles and strife’s of this world there is no doubting the brilliant talent that was on display. This tribute album is a gentle acknowledgement of that range of music across the various projects that Jason Molina gave himself to; whether the music created as Songs: Ohia, or with the band Magnolia Electric Co. and in many more collaborations bedsides.

I am brought to reflect upon the specific songs chosen here and the messages contained in the lyrics. The beautiful opening song Just Be Simple, covered here by the talented MJ Lenderman, with the chorus that repeats ‘Trying , trying, trying, to be simple again.’ It’s as if he was searching for something lost in younger days that could never be recaptured. Perhaps that sense of innocence before our illusions shatter? Blue Factory Flame is given due reverence by the band Horse Jumper Of Love and their gradual build on the lines ‘Paralysed by emptiness’ reflects another side of this dark genius and the ghosts that he wrestled with in his solitary hours.

Another song is The Dark Don’t Hide It, covered by Trace Mountains, with dreamy pedal steel drifting above the slow tempo and the opening lines that resonate ‘ Something held me down and made me make a promise, That I wouldn’t tell if the truth forgets about us.’ The band Sun June provide a real highlight with their rendition of the heartbreaking Leave This City, the ethereal vocals of Laura Colwell wringing everything from the lyrics ‘ Thought of all my great reasons for leaving, Now I can’t think of any, It’s true it was a hard time that I’ve come through, It’s made me thankful for the blues, Half my life spent on a highway, Half my life I didn’t choose.’

The individual musician credits are many on a compilation such as this, but they somehow seem to blend unobtrusively in the spirit of how each artist and band gave lovingly of their talents to this unique compilation. The country groove of Old Black Hen, covered here by Sadurn, is another highlight and will have the hairs on your arms tingling with delight in the sleepy build of the arrangement. Across twelve tracks, an hour of superb music unfolds gracefully, and the cover of Everything Should Try Again by Advance Base has an addictive quality in the arrangement with a vocal that reminds me of singer Mark Mulcahy (Miracle Legion). The album title is a lyric from the song Lioness and here it is covered by Hand Habits, a Los Angeles artist who provides a dreamscape for the restrained performance.

Whip Poor Will by Teen Suicide provides another lovely moment ‘I've got my window open in the southern cross hotel, It's been my longest night I can tell, By the way I'm not surprised, To see the desert cover over paradise.’ Perhaps the final reflection should be from the song Farewell Transmission and the words ‘The real truth about it is no one gets it right, The real truth about it is we're all supposed to try, There ain't no end to the sands I've been trying to cross, The real truth about it is my kind of life's no better off, If it's got the map or if it's lost.’

As tribute albums go, this is one of the most touching and will stay in the memory long after the contributing artists have returned to their own search for that great star of inspiration in the sky. Rest assured that they all did more than justice to the memory of Jason Molina here.

Paul McGee

Neal Casal No One Above You (The Early Years 1991-1998) Royal Potato Family

Thirteen tracks and one hour of sweet nostalgia are included on this very timely release of early songs penned by a greatly missed songwriter who left us back in 2019. Neal’s musical legacy runs deep with twelve solo albums released between 1995 and 2011; additional album releases as a member of bands such as Ryan Adams and the Cardinals; Chris Robinson Brotherhood; Beachwood Sparks; Circles Around the Sun; Hazy Malaze; Hard Working Americans, and GospelbeacH, plus numerous artist collaborations, and a series of compilation albums, culminating in the expansive Highway Butterfly, a 3-CD tribute of cover versions by various performers, and released through the Neal Casal Music Foundation.

The songs included here are from an earlier period of Neal’s life when he was still trying to establish himself as a solo artist. They are mostly unreleased early studio recordings and demos and there is a freshness in the music and a bright quality to the recordings that captures something of the West Coast optimism of the 1970s Californian music scene. Of course, the sweetly played guitar solos and rich melodies hide a message that is prevalent in his words; often masking an inner loneliness that must have taken a toll on the wish to find real connection in this life.

His voice had such a lovely tone and a smoothness in the delivery that brought both an empathy and a real warmth. The songs often contain references to leaving and last chances, a need to break away and feel free, and hopes for real connection. They hint at some of the inner pain that must have haunted Neal over his career and the demands placed upon a professional musician to adopt a nomadic lifestyle can hardly have helped.

The recordings were compiled and restored By Neal’s friend and manager Gary Waldman, Cardinals' bandmate Jon Graboff, and Grammy award-winning engineer Jim Scott. There are some cover versions included, and the harmony vocals of Angie McKenna are a real stand-out, with the overall production a very intoxicating offering.

Greatest Friend is a cover of the song written by The Incredible String Band, and Second Handed Flowers is a Tom T. Hall song about a road accident and the fate suffered by an old girlfriend. Another Tom T. Hall song is featured with Running Wild, giving insight into the influences on the early songwriting of Neal. Cora Jones is based on the true story and Neal recounts the awful events around Christmas-time that resulted in the kidnap and murder of the 12-year-old girl in Wisconsin. Songwriter Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman is featured with his song Quiet Desperation containing the words ‘I gotta leave, I can’t stay another day, There’s an emptiness inside of me, and I can’t bear the loneliness out here, There’s another place I’ve gotta be.’ Telling lines and an interesting song choice for Neal to want to cover.

Lost love is the subject on Valley Of the Fallen which contains some killer guitar and mandolin work and soars high in the melody. Other titles such as Silver Dollar and Someone Else’s Shoes look at the hope for better days and a new beginning. There is an optimism running through The Search For Silver Lake and the chance to start again in love is the inspiration for Indian Summer. The final song is Mellow Down Easy and is a mantra to a lifestyle of someone passing through, stealing time, and leaving no trace. In a way it sums up the impossible dreams of youth that never factored the cold reality that everywhere you go, you bring yourself along.

Gone, but never forgotten, the music of Neal Casal will always be with us. Such a shame that Neal was not in a place where the outpouring of love from others was sufficient to lift him up in his moments of real need. A true artist and a free spirit, these songs from the archives are a wonderful memento of the talent that has been lost. Great credit is due to the team that was inspired to bring this old memory of Neal to fruition with such care and guardianship.

Paul McGee

Woody Guthrie Woodie At Home : Vol 1 & 2 Seamus

There is little to be added to the enduring legacy of Woody Guthrie, the father of the protest song, the dust bowl troubadour who rode the railways of America in search of equality for all. His influence threads through the entire Folk movement of artists from Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, through to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and beyond.

A political activist who fought for worker’s rights, and against social injustice, his music has shone as a beacon for so many who became inspired by his iconic message, placed on his guitar "This machine kills fascists." Has there ever been a greater voice for the marginalised in society, and probably more apt now than at any other time, given the fragile state of the World.

And now, just like discovering hidden gems under your floorboards, we are treated to twenty-two tracks previously unreleased and thirteen songs that Woody never recorded elsewhere. This collection is taken from 1951-1952 home recordings that were discovered and restored using new music technology. It’s stripped back quality is perfect for the messages that resonate over time from the six strings of Woody’s acoustic guitar and for one hour plus it is absorbing to hear him play such iconic classics. Beginning with This Land Is Your Land there is the added inclusion of someone coughing in the background, adding an authenticity to what was a simple take, perhaps in his kitchen.

On the original tape we hear Woody chatting and justifying his decision to record these songs at home, in preference to the busy downtown environment of the music publisher Howie Richmond’s offices. The version of Deportee is very special in that it was never recorded by Woody, despite the multitude of artists who took the song as inspiration to highlight racist attitudes. The song details the plane crash that occurred in Los Gatos Canyon, California in 1948 and took the lives of 32 people - 4 Americans and 28 migrant farm workers who were being deported from California back to Mexico.

Woody also sings about the sinking of the Lusitania (Great Ship), migrant fruit pickers (Pastures Of Plenty), and Jesus ‘ When Jesus came to town, All the working folks around believed what he did say, It was these bankers and these preachers who nailed him on the cross, And laid Jesus Christ in his grave.’  He also sings of injustice on the song Innocent Man  and you can hear background noises on the recording, almost as if the authorities are getting ready to take Woody down. Elsewhere you hear knocking on a door and some hammering; other inclusions that go to the simple approach in capturing these songs in a raw format that is so apt.

Woody talks of being happy with his output on these tapes, including his kids in the background, and the song Peace Call is a testament to the enduring message that he imparted in all that he did; live life in an honest and simple way. He refers to Einstein in a chat about riding the box cars and an imaginary conversation that they had about developing a theory that did away with race hatred, and the divisions created by ‘other places’ – no North or South, East or West, but the freedom to ‘still go around and around.’ The theme of human communication is continued in the song One Little Thing An Atom Can’t Do and that’s the ability to hug and kiss someone close to you.

My Id and my Ego is a clever song that reflects upon the love felt by Woody for his beloved wife Marjorie, and You Better Git Ready brings the songs to a conclusion with a call to arms to be ready for the fight that may be about to happen and require your input into winning the battle against inequality, and injustice, and to deliver a more socialistic society. It’s a fascinating look back down the lightning rod of time into the simple songs of this lone troubadour who went on to change the world.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Melissa Carper A Very Carper Christmas Soundly

Christmas albums tend to fall into two categories: the many predictable throwaways and the occasional interesting and more compelling ones that the listener is likely to return to in future years. A VERY CARPER CHRISTMAS falls into the latter category.

Rather than a last-minute recording of over-exposed Christmas songs, Texan Melissa Carper kicked off the process for this record over a year ago. With the invitation to join JD McPherson on his annual ‘Socks: A Rock & Roll Christmas’ tour, which starts its fourteen-date tour on December 4th, Carper recorded this fifteen-track album at Andrija Tokic’s The Bomb Shelter Studio in Nashville last January.

Tokic carried out the production duties, and a testament to Carper's dedication to creating a quality product was the calibre of players who contributed. Chris Scruggs (guitars & pedal steel), Chris Gelb (drums), Dennis Crouch (upright bass), Doug Corcoran (trumpet, saxophone), Katie Shore (fiddle and vocals), Emily Gimble (piano, organ), Tim Crouch (fiddle), Grey Harkins (guitars), Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano), all featured. It’s fair to say that the host of talented players and Carper’s note-bending vocal timbre and unrushed delivery have created something quite lovely here.

Included are several co-writes with regular collaborator Gina Gallina, one co-write with both Brennen Leigh and Katie Shore, three solo compositions by Carper and two classic covers. Following the model that has gained Carper a growing audience in recent years, the album is a fusion of Western Swing (Made With Love), traditional country (Christmas In New Orleans) and bluesy jazz crossovers (Plug In The Tree, Crusin’ In Santa’s Sleigh). Seasonal easy listening is also covered with Christmas Memories and Cats In The Christmas Tree, before the album is appropriately bookended by the slow-burning The Day After Christmas.

More of an album that you’d be happy to listen to at Christmas rather than a throwaway and rehash of standard Christmas cover tunes, A VERY CARPER CHRISTMAS embodies the ‘easy to listen to’ and good-humoured identity ideally suited to the season it characterises.

 Declan Culliton

Waylon Hanel When Waylon Came To Nashville CDX

Christened after Outlaw Country legend Waylon Jennings, twenty-three-year-old Millington, Michigan native Waylon Hanel is continuing in the style of Jennings, writing and recording his own material alongside covering some classic outlaw country songs. Despite his young age, Waylon’s earthy vocals and impressive stage presence have earned him support slots for Ashley McBryde, Travis Tritt, Ward Davis, Josh Turner and Jo Dee Messina.

This self-produced album offers eight songs and was recorded at Dark Horse Recording Studios in Franklin, Tennessee, and Omni Sound Studio in Nashville. Some of Nashville's finest players featured on the recordings, including Steve Hinson (steel guitar), Carl Miner (electric and acoustic guitar), Mike Durham (electric guitar), Spence Peppard (acoustic guitar), Dennis Holt (drums) and Luis Espaillat and Craig Young (bass), Walter Killius (drums).

Given Billy Don Burns' outlaw output and close friendship with Waylon Jennings, it's no coincidence that three of Burns' songs are covered, including the album’s title track, which is borrowed from a Waylon Jennings tribute song written by Burns. The other two Burns-written compositions are Talk About Crazy and Keith Whitley Blue. The two original compositions are the Hanel/Ethan Wynn co-writen, My Name and Hanel’s barroom romp, Thinkin’ About Drinkin.’ Also included is a live acoustic performance of The Red Bricks, written by Gibson, Sallis, and White.

Hanel is a self-taught singer-songwriter who, at the age of twenty-three, has already got three albums under his belt. With his voice and songs that tick all the boxes as another young man keeping the flag flying for genuine outlaw country, and the growing popularity of the genre among a younger audience, the future looks exceptionally bright for Waylon Hanel.

Declan Culliton

Geoffrey Miller Everything That Sparkles Self-Release

This time out for the Californian performer who makes no bones about his love of the country music that has emerged from that State over the decades and, on the evidence of this and several other recent releases, still does. There are Telecaster riffs aplenty; this is paired with solid, significant pedal steel, occasional fiddle, and an unshakeable rhythm section. However, while it pays homage to a particular past, it is, with its eleven original songs, marking its place with a new and appreciative growing audience that is being turned on by the authenticity of its sound.

I am well aware that many are looking for something with a higher octane permeating their vision of country music. This can often be found in some of the more recent bands from all over Texas and elsewhere. For those looking for that particular sound, there are many examples to choose from; Americana and Rock-Country highways await. But for those who see a direct lineage from Buck Owens to The Desert Rose Band through to Dwight Yoakam and want to hear more of that sense of roots, then Geoffrey Miller is here to give you that tap of the feet and appreciation of that sound..

The album was recorded in his home State and produced by Max Hurt, who has given the recording the right touch of the past and of the future. The album is not overplayed or flashy; rather, it is right on the money for what it set out to deliver. Miller is right up there at its centre as guitarist, vocalist and instigator. Behind him are some fine players, such as Bill Bergren, Travis Troy, and Max Hart, on pedal steel. Jim Frink has the drum stool throughout, while Mark Eagleton and Ian Worley are the bassists completing the rhythm section. Also, Joe Craven and Matt Combs add some fine fiddle to a couple of tracks. This suggests a number of sessions over a period of time, something that is not unusual for an independent artist when trying to complete a new album.

The tracks never outstay what is required of them, clocking in at just over 30 minutes for the eleven numbers. This means nothing is wasted and everything is concise and to the point. This includes one effective instrumental in On A Bender - likely a title with more than one reference. Other than that, the album opens with a number of dance floor-oriented outings, the first of which is the title track, a lively take on barroom banter. The next song, Heartbreak, Coming Soon, reminds me a little, because of its phasing on the chorus, of Jason Ringenberg. Exes And Os and Two Passed Two both show that Miller knows how to write a suitable set of words for the job at hand.

Next up, offering a tempo break, is the ballad Don’t Need Luck, in which the steel makes its presence, telling a man who may not need much or even luck as he has the person he wants. Foot back on the pedal for the following number, The Crow Flies, which shows how Miller understands how to make that Telecaster twang, and it is a standout. Crystal Bottle makes the comparison between a crystal ball telling his future and the bottle on the shelf, giving perhaps a different prediction. Honky Tonk Sin, In Pieces are next and further tell of how the search for love is often sought in the wrong places. We finish with Okie Road, a song that looks back to where a person came from and where they have ended up. It finishes the album on a higher note with the fiddle prominent.

This third album finds Miller refining his craft while continuing to do what he loves. While it could be said that he is not the most immediately distinctive of vocalists, he is well capable of making an overall impression with his combination of skills and his determination to make the music in the way he wants to, especially with the assembled team here to add that required honky-tonk sparkle to the proceedings.

Stephen Rapid

Johnny 99 Mr Lonely NCC

A Toronto-based guitarist, Johnny 99, had been a lover of some classic country sounds for a long time, from his love of Gram Parsons through to the more lyric-based work of John Prine. He, under his given name of John Sponarski, plays lead guitar and tours with the more alternative indie band City And Colour. He grew up in the UK, but his later discovery of acts like Blue Rodeo and especially Dwight Yoakam and his guitarist, Pete Anderson, made a big impression. This led to the creation of his alter ego, Johnny 99, to pursue his own take on that favoured twang-laden sound on his second album. Songs about the central themes of memory, friendship, love, heartbreak, and loss, often self-inflicted. These recount a lifestyle that encompasses frequently repeated mistakes and relationships that are not always in one’s best interest - but are pursued anyway.

Sponarski is joined in the studio by fellow City and Colour members, including multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly, bassist Erik Nielsen, and drummer Leon Power, all equally adept at delivering the required honky-tonk sound. They are also effectively joined by Georgia Harmer on backing vocals and fiddler Kendel Carson. This ensemble obviously enjoys playing together, and the songs are largely up-tempo and guaranteed to get feet moving. Sponarski has a voice that is placed in a higher register than the deeper baritone sometimes prevalent in the form. It is a voice that soon makes its way to the forefront of these tales effectively. Just Like You benefits from Harmer’s harmony vocals that fit with the lead delivery well, as it does on other songs throughout. Whilst another track is One More Memory, where the protagonist asks for just one more memory before he goes. Slower and gliding on a soft pedal steel base, the title track, which, in keeping with its topic, is introspective and inconsolable. In a more Bakersfield beat is the hope of finding a fitting end with the wish fulfilment of I Wanna Go With My Boots On.

There are brief references to some classic songs of the past in Two Step To Forget, a lively two-stepper itself. The sense of insecurity is apparent in You’re Not Even There. Yet again, it is a song that soon makes its presence felt, leading to the need to try to move on, which is harder than expected in Getting Over You. A life lived on the road, as is often the case for many a musician, and the need to be somewhere is white line leading to Lay Down The Hammer. A more restrained and thoughtful song closes out the album with a request for something of an intimate embrace in Hold Me Close.

The songs are, as one would expect, given their individual subject matter, easy to appraise, with a selection of strong riffs, some memorable choruses, and a solid rhythm section to drive them along. Johnny 99 has made his case to be considered alongside some contemporary performers who assimilate their songs with robust guitar delivery, accompanied by a band worthy of the task. There has been a worthy tradition of classic country performers from Canada making their own mark by expressing their love for the format that inspires them. Loneliness has, perhaps, its own rewards and its place in the annals of the barstool and beyond.

Stephen Rapid

Belles Self-Titled East Music Row

This is a debut EP release from an artist who states “It’s a mix of strength, vulnerability, and a little bit of sass, rooted in classic country storytelling but with my own edge.” And who am I to argue with the lady?

The six songs are very enjoyable and give a strong indication of the talent that is going to evolve into the future career of Belles. Porcelain is a love song that celebrates a dream lover who ticks all the boxes for this sweetly pampered woman ‘He reigns my wild heart and wild horses in.’ Broken In Boots follows and shows the opposite side of love and the aspiring young artist finds herself on Broadway, Nashville in the early hours, with no sense of what to do next. Following your musical dreams to the big city doesn’t always work out and the past will always be hard to get left behind.

Crazy As Me is traditional country and a co-vocal with Blake Wood on a song that sees a bar-room flirtation promising lots of fun, if not also filled with the potential for anti-climax. It’s a fun track and certainly made for radio play. Happy Hour introduces another drinking song and this time out the girl is drowning her sorrows in memories of a love that once was filled with promise, now replaced with the reality of disappointment ‘Now your eyes are getting dark, I tried and tried to light that spark, It seems like you hate every move I make.’

Forget To Remember You follows and is another song of missing the guy who no longer features, apart from in memories ‘I don’t want to think about missing you anymore.’ Maybe the problem with all these victim songs is that just once in a while you want to woman to fight back and show her inner resolve. The final song Ring On The Table is a highlight and it suggests the American dream and a perfect marriage, with hopes clouded by abuse and domestic violence once the image shatters ‘A cookie-cutter house with a For-Sale sign,’ leading to ‘The baby was born on an October night, While he was staying warm under neon lights’… The classic story of dreams shattered. Much more to come from this artist who has a striking vocal presence, but I would like to believe that the song choices might deepen and stretch to offer greater breadth in the content.

Paul McGee

Kim Edwards Vignettes Self Release

This is the third album that has been released from Pennsylvania singer songwriter Kim Edwards. She has been recording music for years and has found her songs featured across varied social media platforms in addition to fulfilling a childhood dream by playing support to The Beach Boys.

Opener Ashes To Ashes is a torch lit to a relationship that has run out of rope ‘And you could keep every promise, And I could give you all my hope, But if we’re really being honest, We can’t escape the smell of smoke.’ Beautifully arranged with soaring strings and reflective piano. Next track is The Seafarer’s Song and one that captures the pull of the sea and the rise of the tides towards having to call a day to one’s passion ‘I'm so tired of chasing my whale, Of losing my grip, Of fighting ghosts to no avail, Shall I hang up my hat and cut down my sail, And would you call me, call me home?’

The love song Tamed is performed on piano, with strings created by Rob Szabo, augmenting the lovely melody,. On Winter we have a tale of regret and a lost romance that stings in the memory. The lovely violin and cello accompaniment lifts the song to great emotional heights. Superbly crafted. The tale of Raised By Wolves is that of the loner who strikes against convention in preference for a life of singular vision, the pull of love not enough to tame a restless spirit. The Cure has very clever word play in the lyric and is a song of frustrated love that reaches a happy conclusion.

Please Let Me Go is a song of relationship endings where the sad reality of communication breakdown is unavoidable ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow, It lingers into tomorrow, You know you don’t love me, I know I don’t love you, Yet here we are.’ The story song of Steinbeck features Fletch Wiley on flugelhorn and trumpet and Phil Miller on trombone, lifting the atmosphere of dust-bowl days spent in struggle and the days of the Great Depression.

Perhaps the most intriguing song here is The Cowboy Philosopher and it strikes me as being something personal for Edwards – perhaps a close relative featured in the lyric ‘‘Cause there’s a man behind the curtain, I wonder who hurt him, Who taught him to run, When the past knocks at the door, Whether imposter or prophet, The bones in the closet, Are in tow with the ghosts, And they dance up a storm.’

The album ends with the soaring beauty of Far and a heartfelt plea for closure from Edwards ‘I've built walls and I have borders, For my protection as much as yours, That's what I tell myself, But when I'm by myself, I know that I am lying, 'Cause I have scars, I know how to bleed, From when my heart was wounded upon my sleeve.’ Cathartic release through the medium of music and song. It beats having to encounter other means of release and when the music is this uplifting then it’s pretty much a win-win situation for all concerned. This is an album that brings great riches.

Paul McGee

Red River Dialect Basic Country Mustard Hintergrounds

Album number six in the ongoing climb of David John Morris and his band of merry musicians. The band originally formed in Cornwall in 2008 and from their debut album in 2010, regular members have included Simon Drinkwater (guitars, harp, backing vocals), Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby (bass), Ed Sanders (fiddle, pipes), Robin Lane Roberts (keyboards), and Kiran Bhatt (drums). Their sound conjures up the spontaneity of the Waterboys, laced with the atmospherics of Tindersticks, in the arrangements and melodies. Others may hear an echo of Nick Cave in the ether, but whatever about name-checking, the overall experience of hearing an album from Red River Dialect is one of great enjoyment. Laura Loriga on backing vocals is a recent addition to the band and is a perfect foil for the ‘quaver’ in the vocal delivery of Morris.

It's their first recording as a band in six years and they played the songs in a live setting at Big Jelly Studios, Ramsgate, England. It’s a seaside town located in Kent and I can just imagine the musicians gathered together in such creative and relaxed surroundings, making music again, while their long-time friend Jimmy Robertson returned on production and recording activities. It’s a generous listen with the twelve tracks stretching over fifty minutes of interesting variety, from the opening dynamic of This Restlessness, all the way through to the final bonus tracks Hole In My Doughnut and Burn The Clutch.

Morris (guitars, cuatro, lead vocals), previously spent time as a Buddhist monk in a Canadian monastery, with a solo album (2021), Monastic Love Songs, that captured this time in his life. There are references to his spiritual influences throughout this new album and the longest track Again, Again references old prayers recited in order to make sense of the passage of time and the fleeting memories of youth, the impermanence of everything captured in viewing life as akin to a candle flame or a dew drop. The easy country flow of Sheep’s Clothing masks a lyric that echoes sadness and leaving, with mention of self-searching, pain, and dogmatic faith ‘I have a stone in my belly.’

The album title track Basic Country Mustard has a nice drum shuffle, together with sweetly smooth piano, and looks at the attraction of English mustard, perhaps tongue in cheek; almost as a paean to all of life’s suffering. Curse Is Broken is a highlight and the slow build of the melody lingers in the aftermath, while the superb fiddle playing on Black and Blue echoes the pain of relationships and trying to find a formula that works. Equally, with Ghost River 29 we have a reference to change and the insecurities grown from unsuitable relationships that scar ‘ I know how Ghost River in me flows, I also know the suffering I chose’ – an I Ching study reference to the entry of souls into this world.

Fire BB (Frocks Of the Parson) has references to pregnancy, arson and fire; quite an abstract lyric and perhaps reflecting on the pull between family commitment and the duties to wider community. The lyrical content can be somewhat inscrutable with hidden meanings no doubt present just below the surface. However, it all stands the test of repeated playing, with new interpretations unfolding, always a good sign of challenging music that at the same time soothes the spirit.

Paul McGee

KB Bayley East Side Confessions Self Release

A third release in the evolving career of this very interesting singer-songwriter, who previously released two excellent albums in FLATLANDS (2021), and LITTLE THUNDERSTORMS (2022), both of which were reviewed previously by Lonesome Highway.

The fingerstyle guitar technique across these ten songs is quite compelling and invites you into a world of quiet contemplation and sweet reverie, as in ‘pull a chair and pour the wine.’ KB Bayley exists in the space of what we refer to as contemporary folk music, his story songs mixed with personal reflection.

He plays Weisenborn guitar, dobro, and acoustic guitar in such impressive style. It’s like being invited into the back room at a particularly rabid party where all you crave is some moments of quiet contemplation. He is joined by a variety of musicians across the ten tracks that support and uplift his reflections. The Light Through the Trees is a timeless piece about the trick of nature that pushes emotional urges forward in a search for immediate satiation, when really, all that is required is a moment of calm.

The decision to include four cover songs is something that is open to question. Whereas I agree with the choice to celebrate an influence in a building career, so many inclusions can dilute the unique qualities of the artist. In this case we are given songs as diverse as Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (The Korgis), Love and Texaco (Gretchen Peters), Whie House Blues (Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers), and That Kind Of Lonely (Patty Griffin), and whereas all are performed with integrity, there is a sense that other original songs would fit more snugly into the project.

It's more the lyricism in songs like Until Today that resonate and the insight of ‘we’ve got to travel blind, between the shadows and the knowing, there’s a peace that we can find’ Superb imagery and augmented by the lovely female backing vocals. Equally on the song Somewhere East Of Moscow the atmosphere created is quite superb with harmonica and acoustic instrumentation setting a reflective mood ‘I set my dreams of western coasts for the gulf of Mexico, somewhere east of Moscow with no place left to go.’

The beautiful ensemble playing on The Flowers Outside the Church delivers the album highlight, with a plea for understanding in what binds us all as a species on the planet – a common humanity. This musician is quite a talent and his musical abilities offer great succour to both the weary and the worldly wise.

Paul McGee

The General Store The Great Indoors Unified Feels

The influence of The Beatles shines clearly on the opening song Airport Breakfast and the guitar twang of The Byrds is also present as the lyric speaks of being ‘Thirty thousand feet out of my mind’ with echoes of 30-miles high, and the chorus and rhythm building to a take-off climax. Stirring stuff.

We slow down somewhat for Pretty Eyes, and the sense of Tom Petty meets ELO is very prevalent in the soaring melody and the chorus hook ‘Don’t you ever change, I want to see your love light shining through.’ Both tracks are from the album Local Honey (2002). We then step into a different vibe, with the country influenced sound of Desert Weathered Hiway and a relaxed tempo on a song about ‘You won’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone,’ it sounds like the Eagles have transported back in time to their early days. All very pleasant and bursting with great melody. The following song is Over Here and the up-tempo sound is pure 90s pop-rock with soaring choruses juxtaposing with sunny guitar lines. These two songs are taken from the Mountain Rescue album (2008).

We then enter into five previously unreleased tracks, and at this point I should point out that we are in the presence of The General Store, a “melodic alt-country pop project fronted by multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Tam Johnstone.” Whether you want to shop here is purely down to taste but there is certainly plenty of choice and variety on the shelves. The acoustic drift on Sailing Away is followed by the dance-floor groove of Makes No Difference and a workout that would have found a home on an early Billy Joel album.   

Leave Your Loving (At the Door) is very country-influenced, and a song about moving on, before we encounter the interesting Fading Like A Star and a mix of power-pop meets rocker sensibilities in the song arrangement. Anything is the final song in this section of the compilation and it stands as the most arresting song featured with the stripped-down approach, acoustic guitar and understated percussion-build, on a profession of undying love ‘I would do anything for you.’

The last song on the album is Long Road and the similarly acoustic approach is very appealing in the sincerity of the feeling generated; another love song for the generations ‘There’s nothing in the world that I would rather do, Than drive along a long, long road that leads to you.’ There are so many different influences that permeate this album, over the years represented, and there is no doubting the likeability factor across the project, but for me the final songs are pointing to the optimal direction forward for this talented musician.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Rebecca Porter Roll With The Punches Self Release

The short prelude to Rebecca Porter’s striking debut album opens with the chilling lines ‘God blessed the men who did me wrong/Too many times’. That might get your attention alright. What follows is an eleven song autobiographical concept album, loosely based on the spaghetti westerns that she watched as a child, with music that is steeped in the honky tonks of the South. Born in Guam (a Pacific Island and US Territory), Porter’s parents divorced when she was a child and she was raised in the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia, mainly by her grandmother. Rightly proud of her Chamorro heritage, it wasn’t easy growing up brown in the Appalachians but, as well as racism, she also suffered domestic abuse and sexual abuse as a child. 

The anger and pain of her formative years are explored here, and Porter doesn’t hold back. Opening with the slow, mournful ballad Memories, she is found searching endlessly for memories that were either ‘erased or never there at all’.  Payday Loans was fuelled by the financial instability that she, and countless others, experienced growing up. The spiral of debt was never ending, and she found herself in the same position in adulthood, ‘into the ocean of debt/ you’re swimming against the tide’. The Laundry Pile is another honky tonk ballad on a related theme, the familiar never ending pile being an obvious metaphor for life’s perennial obstacles. 

Recording in Harrisonburg with Danny Gibney in the producer’s chair (he also notably produced Palmyra’s debut album) was an inspired choice. As well as Porter herself on acoustic guitar throughout, she is accompanied by Ben Bailey (guitars), Perry Blosser (mandolin, fiddle), Ross Wright (keys) and the rhythm section of Ben Schlabach (bass), Joseph Harder (drums) and Jacob Briggs (percussion). The standout musical contribution (for this reviewer) is the presence of Jason Summer on pedal steel guitar, whose playing is to the fore on every song. 

In The Devil, Porter comes to the conclusion that ‘the devil you know… ’, which isn’t really much of a choice. Shadow Of Doubt, opening with Ben Bailey’s searing electric guitar riffs, continues that theme, detailing the harrowing abuse she suffered, when ‘my bruises became my only armour/ sometimes one could save me from more’. Porter’s powerful vocals express her pain in no uncertain manner, there’s a rawness here which cannot be ignored. Then there’s the theme of abandonment which fuels the sad, mid-paced ballad Let Me Go, where she’s struggling to forgive the (unspecified) person who let her down badly in the past. Erin Lunsford’s banjo drives along the heavy rock backdrop of another chilling song, No Evil, where Porter reacts to the racial abuse that she experiences, even within her own family and network. At last, however, we’re starting to feel her perseverance and her resilience beginning to appear. In The Mountain, she calls out BS with ‘Don’t promise me the mountain/with no dirt on your hands’.

The closing track, which is also the title track, chillingly recounts all the abuses she suffered, ‘I rolled with the punches/and I almost died’. But she closes out defiantly with ‘but I never gave up the fight’. 

Rebecca Porter has found the strength to come through her life experiences and acknowledges that it still isn’t easy and that therapy has been helpful. She wants this album to ‘help others to feel seen, to know that everything’s going to be ok, and for them to see their worth’. She has achieved that, and a lot more. ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES will be included in my Favourite Albums of 2025, and I’m looking forward to discovering what she does next.

Eilis Boland

Foggy Mountain Spaceship Galaxy Tracks Volume One Self Release

They look conventional enough at first glance ... three bearded and besuited men with instrument cases. What could possibly go wrong? Then the lights go down and you become aware that they are sporting cyberpunk illuminated LED glasses (and, worryingly, no neck ties). The music starts … and you are immediately transported to a galaxy far, far away. Your senses become overwhelmed by psychedelia, even though you could have sworn you didn’t partake of any substances …

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the cosmic kingdom of Colorado’s Foggy Mountain Spaceship. Formed only two years ago by the three Denver based musicians, their first album comprises seventeen tracks, at an average of five minutes each, and I guarantee you will never have heard anything quite like them. They each play banjo, but mostly not your average 5 string acoustic version. Kyle Ussery plays his own 2024 invention, the ‘Banjo Synth Model 1’, which he built as a means to play both bass and keyboard sounds without sitting at a keyboard. He also plays (though not at the same time) a Gold Tone Banjo Bass. Much earlier, in 2005, percussionist Chris Sheldon developed his ‘Banjotron Acoustikit 2000’. It uses a banjo head as a snare drum, but it still has a neck, and his armoury is completed by a castanet, a mini washboard, a kazoo, a mini cymbal and a foot operated bass drum. Chris Elliott, who is an award winning banjo player (winning Telluride and Rockgrass competitions) and teacher, plays a Gold Tone electric banjo as well as a conventional acoustic banjo, and is the lead vocalist.

The record kicks off with the funky groove of their own instrumental composition, Interstellar Blues. Things get even more cosmic with Kyle Ussery’s instrumental The Pleiades which is inspired by that open star cluster in the constellation Taurus (d’oh). Chris Elliott’s Space Mango features a percussion solo on his Banjothon Acoustikit, followed by another of his original intrumentals, Echoes Through The Void. More familiar is the first of the cover songs, an absolute stonker of a version of Riders on the Storm, complete with vocals. There’s a nod to their jazz influences with an unconventional rendering of Sweet Georgia Brown, featuring much percussion and bass banjo solos. Sands of Mystery Suite transports the listener to North African, with haunting, echoey vocals from guest Nabanita Sarkar. Polka on the Banjo is a not unexpected nod to Flatt & Scruggs, but you might not be prepared for JS Bach’s Two-Part Invention No 1. (but don’t worry, it’s only 1:31 mins long). 

Just when you’re starting to think that they could never reproduce these tracks live, there follows four live tracks, recorded at various recent gigs. Firstly, there’s a cool version of Sting’s classic Walking on the Moon, followed by a Flatt & Scruggs standard Farewell Blues.  Next up is the funkiest version of AP Carter’s I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow you will ever hear, complete with mandolin from Sam Bush himself. By complete contrast, the fourth live track is an interstellar retelling of the Mario Brothers Medley, which will appeal to a certain demographic!

Then it’s back to more conventional space travel with Pink Floyd’s Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (from their 1968 second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets), which is amazingly close to the original. There’s a short instrumental from Kyle Ussery, Sometimes It Rains, and a version of Linus and Lucy, which will be recognised by North American listeners as the theme song from the Peanuts franchise. They close out with yet another surprise, an otherworldly instrumental version of Billie Eilish’s theme song from the Barbie movie, What Was I Made For? 

Check out the band’s website for video versions of all of the tracks here, and more, which should whet your appetite until you get to catch them live.

Oh, and in case you haven’t realised, this album is highly recommended.

Eilís Boland

Brinsley Schwarz Shouting At The Moon Fretsore

Brinsley Schwarz was a leading light of the 1970s pub rock scene and founding member of Graham Parker and The Rumour. His latest album is a continuation of his solo recordings, which began in 2016 with UNEXPECTED and continued with TANGLED in 2021.  The material includes songs written back in the late 1990s and more recently penned compositions. The common denominator is the distinctive, soulful, rootsy sound that was at the heart of that burgeoning live pub rock scene that packed London venues like The Hope & Anchor, The Lord Nelson and The Nashville, before the punk rock explosion in 1976.

Schwarz played all guitars, bass guitar, together with vocals and harmonies on this album. He worked closely with another Graham Parker collaborator, James Hallawell (The Waterboys, Jackie Leven), who produced the album and played Hammond organ, bass, percussion and brass.

Recreating the signature sounds of the pub rock scene that spanned several genres, the highlights include the Van Morrison-style soul blues crossover, Falling Over Backwards, and the breezy Steely Dan-sounding Nothing Is What It Seems. The lively vibe in Hard To Change reproduces what Ian Dury’s band, The Blockheads, excelled at, and it includes one cover version, Schwarz's favourite Graham Parker's song, Watch The Moon Come Down.

Although the early to mid-1970s were plagued by rising unemployment and weak economic growth, life was somewhat simpler, and the live music scene flourished, particularly in the Greater London area. The album’s title reflects the present unsettling times, and tracks like the previously mentioned Nothing Is What It Seems and Hard To Change are commentaries on today’s darker social issues.

Two years short of his eightieth birthday, Schwarz has reached back to earlier times with this record and has done so with flying colours.

Declan Culliton

Jake Xerxes Fussell and Jim Elkington Rebuilding Fat Possum / Crowded Table

When approached by filmmaker Max Walker-Silverman to compose the soundtrack to the film Rebuilding (on the recommendation of its producer, Dan Janvey) Jake Xerxes Fussell’s first call was to long-time collaborator Jim Elkington. Most recently, the pair had worked together on Fussell’s 2024 album WHEN I’M CALLED, and they laboured remotely, Fussell from his home in North Carolina and Elkington from his studio in Chicago, to fashion this seventeen-track record. The result is sixteen atmospheric instrumentals, and one short a capella performed by actors Kathy Rose and Nancy Morlan.

Using Ry Cooder’s soundtrack for the 1984 road-drama Paris, Texas, as a reference point, Fussell and Elkington have recreated soundscapes that entirely suit the modern Western tale of loss, community and survival. The film follows the fortunes of a man whose home is destroyed by wildfire and takes refuge in Montana in a FEMA trailer, surrounded by others forced to live in similar conditions. Focusing on the protagonist's renewed relationship with his young daughter, the film centres on rebuilding that father-daughter bond, as much as on the property.

Acoustic guitars, pedal steel, strings, piano, and touches of brass in places, capture the film’s scenes superbly, with standout tracks like Things We Lost, Begin Again, and A Cowboy Without Cows, and the title track, being particularly striking. 

In addition to its often-dramatic soundtrack, the album stands on its own as a fine collection of instrumental compositions.  While capturing the intended cinematic backdrops, it’s also a calming, meditative listen, beautifully performed by Fussell and Elkington.

Declan Culliton

Colter Wall Memories And Empties La Honda / RCA

1800 Miles, the opening track and first single from Colter Wall’s latest album, could have been borrowed from Merle Haggard’s songbook. It’s also a pointer to what amounts to the Canadian artist’s most traditional country album to date. That Haggard association doesn’t end there either. MEMORIES AND EMPTIES was recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A, where Haggard and his outlaw brothers Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson recorded some of their finest cuts. Co-produced by Wall and his regular collaborator, Pat Lyons, the recordings featured his regular touring band, the Scary Prairie Boys. Those players are Pat Lyons on electric guitar, Russ Patterson on drums, Josh Shilling on piano and organ, Brady Henrie on pedal steel and Jack Groves on harmonica.  

The album takes a sonic journey back to the early 1970s, exploring classic everyday country topics. The songwriting delves into the simplicity of country living, the pain of lost love, the melancholy of barstool blues, and the comfort of a good drink.  

The title track is a gentle, honky tonk, George Jones-style ‘tears in your beer’ ballad, where the barstool has replaced the marital bed. Drinking to mask the unhappy memories of a broken marriage, the Jones connection may or may not have been the motive to use ‘swinging doors’ in the lyrics (‘Til I walk myself through swinging doors, replacing memories with empties again’). Less melancholic than that title track, It’s Getting So (That A Man Can’t Just Go Into Town Just To Have Him A Drink) is another ‘drinking’ song, but more playful than rueful.

Entirely more profound is 4/4 Time. Bordering on the spiritual, it ebbs and flows, sometimes hushed and other times full-bodied, with Wall’s baritone voice rejoicing in the beauty of the nature that surrounds us. The Ian Tyson-written Summer Wages is an ‘easy come, easy go’ affair, offering sage advice (‘Never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her. She’ll be gambled and gone like summer wages’). Among other standout tracks are the gorgeous pining love song My Present Gets Past Me, featuring Nikki Lane on backing vocals, and the more honeyed, serenading Back To Me.

Although loaded with tender nods to a previous era, Wall is not simply paying homage to the classic country legends of yesteryear. Instead, he has recorded a robust effort here that is equal to many of those much-loved late 60s and early 70s country records. With songs that sound like they’ve been around forever, and not a minute wasted, MEMORIES AND EMPTIES is an unabashed country record with a capital C, from one of the leading standard bearers in the classic country revival of recent years.

Declan Culliton

Chris St John Never Where I Am Halo

Back in 2021 this songwriter decided to release a solo debut album, I’m Dreaming. Until this point he had been active as a practicing attorney for nearly 30 years, a former prosecutor, and an elected judge. He also was the founder of HALO Missions, and has brought medical care, surgeries, and education to orphans in Zambia, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Argentina.

Since that debut, St John has gone on quite a creative streak, releasing a further four albums which included a recent 6-track EP in 2024. We are today looking at a talented musician who delivers his songs in a convincing and confident fashion. Assembling a group of studio players, the album was recoded at Dark Horse Studios in Franklin, Tennessee and St John looks at different topics in the songs. The break up of a relationship is addressed in The End Of the Road and the political strife of societies pulled apart is the subject of Differ We Must.

There is a tribute to his partner on Used To You, and to his mother on Heavy Lies the Crown. Other relationships are remembered on the songs, Maryanne and An Irish Goodbye, and the sense of fate in the random chances not taken, and the life decisions made. The joy of being in the moment is covered on A Flower Blooms and The Little Things, while on You’ve Got To Be Good To Be Great, a child born out of marriage is given the advice to stand strong and be proud of your place in the world.

Perhaps the abiding feeling is captured on Never Where I Am and the lyric ‘Not sure of tomorrow or how to make it through the day, You can’t change someone’s mind, When they’re already on their way’ with the twists and turns that life can throw in our direction perfectly captured. The road not taken, and the paths we choose to walk; somehow they converge and lead to the person we become through the experiences along the way. An enjoyable album and plenty to admire in the playing and the fine production.

Paul McGee

Nolan McKelvey How Small We Are Self Release

This artist grew up in Lansing, Michigan and he moved to Flagstaff, Arizona during the 1990’s. His musical career has seen McKelvey play in various bands, and his temporary sojourns in other American states were usually motivated by chasing his musical ambitions. He spent a number of years playing  in the Boston area, but no matter where his travels have led him, McKelvey felt the urge to return to his home base in Flagstaff.

There have been many albums released over his career and this new offering is marked by the mature playing and songwriting throughout. The broad sound fits into an Americana and Roots arena but it seems too limiting to try and define what is a timeless sound that reverberates. The album opens with a testament to his upbringing, Raised By Love and the important bedrock that is established by being surrounded by the right environment. Jeff Lusby-Breault assisted in the recording process and he contributes with some nice fluent guitar lines on this, and other tracks.

The Valley Of the Sun celebrates nature and the joy of being in the presence of the source ‘Born and reborn we find our place among the stars, when night falls on the desert, you’ll know how small we are. ’ Again there is some subtle electric guitar, this time dovetailing with the lovely pedal steel playing of Jon Rauhouse. Anam Cara is an old Irish phrase that translates as “soul friend” and the song with this title is a love song that swears devotion to a deep love, with Mandy Fer sharing co-vocals. Same Conclusion looks at the broad issue of religion and our belief system. Trusting in something more and the fear that it’s all just illusion ‘Is it not the same if you find relief, if it gives you comfort, If you believe?’ We all walk through the valley of tears in search for solace, one way or another.

All of the songs have merit and the album is very much a personal affair with McKelvey not only co-producing but also writing all ten songs that are included. He plays upright and electric bass, acoustic guitar, and performs all lead and harmony vocals. His voice has a warmth and a pleasant tone, highlighted on the track In Front Of You which offers sage advice to a youngster as they grow into adulthood ‘Find you way, Nobody’s gonna give it to you.’

Resilience, and living with oneself, is the topic of Lonely, Not Alone shining a light on the fact that you can feel alienation while being in a relationship. The country feel of Preparations has Tim Kelly on dobro and Jesse Valenzuela on guitar, with Stephanie Groot on violin and PH Naffah on piano, taking the arrangement into a bluegrass direction, and echoing the need to rise up against oppression and not to be afraid of the consequences.

Seed Is In the Fruit is another celebration of nature and the seasons, with springtime bringing renewal and fresh beginnings. There is a nice blues swing to Mama, I’ve Been Trying ‘It’s not always black and white, There are shades of grey, I strive in my mind to keep doubt at bay, But since you’ve been gone, it’s just day by day.’

The album concludes with Moon and Stars To Give circling back to the notion that ‘small is all we are.’ It looks at the passing of a loved one and the grief and regret that follow. Pedal steel resonates and the slow tempo highlights the need to remember all the good times as an essential part of healing. This is a very strong statement of the talent behind the songwriting and the performance skills of Nolan McKelvey and certainly someone that you should investigate further.

Paul McGee

Katie Spencer What Love Is Lightship

Album number three in the ongoing rise of this very gifted musician. This time out Katie mixes things about, with new personnel bringing their varied skills to the recording studio, the one exception being Tom Mason on upright bass, who is retained from her last outing. That album, Edge Of The Land, was my pick of the year, back in 2022, and three years on, we are given ten new songs to compare and contrast with that timeless work.

Who was it that said “comparison is the thief of joy”? Theodore Roosevelt is linked to the quote and when it comes to music journalism, we may be culpable of resorting to such laziness, but when comparing work from the same artist, there is some validity in what is experienced. In this case Katie has swapped the gentle sounds of flugelhorn and piano, both prominent on the last record, and introduced a new dynamic of clarinet and pedal steel into the song arrangements. The writing still retains a very intimate quality and these songs reflect upon love in all its guises, be it celebratory or painful. The warm vocal tone with which Katie delivers these personal insights is as beguiling as ever.

The instrumental Back To the Brightness Above is beautifully constructed and reflects the soothing qualities that permeate this album. There is a tribute to the influence of the great John Martyn in the melody and the playing on Cold Stone, a song about valuing the moment and appreciating all that is given us ‘a golden light, arms out-stretched wide, breathe.‘  These ten songs are all so beautifully judged and delivered, in quiet contemplation of emotions and memory, whether past or present, the influence of others in our lives and the love that either departs or remains.

Katie has spoken openly about her experiences of adoption and there is a tribute to her adoptive parents on the song It Was Then That I Knew Love with the lines ‘at last, they found me a home, to my bed I was shown, hey it was then that I knew love, it existed beyond blood.’ In other songs there is a thread woven that highlights love as the one constant, the title track What Love Is a prime example in the words ‘When will we know what love is, Are you going to wait and see with me.’

Elsewhere the sense of being lost is evident in the need for reassurance and reconciliation with both Come Back and Find Me and Forget Me Not looking at the pain of separation and isolation. The free spirit who leaves in Goodbye was always destined to seek pastures new and the letting go can bring loss. However the loving awareness that is mixed into the fabric of Home shows an open vulnerability that strengthens the bond ‘When I’m travelling and I’m on my own, I think of you and I’m not alone, I think of you and I come home.’

The final song Carry It All speaks of the power to be found in the acceptance of the journey undertaken and the paths that it leads us towards, the passing of time and the perspectives gained. Indeed, love is enough to carry us home ‘Some things soften, with the passage of time, And this love will carry it all.’ The interplay between the four musicians is gently delivered and quietly superb. The understated pedal steel, the rich and mellow clarinet playing, the melodic upright bass, and the creative guitar prowess, mixed with gentle percussion and sweet synthesizer sounds. A very rewarding album in every sense and the entire project is delivered by Katie Spencer (vocals, guitars), Giacomo Smith (clarinet), Max Clilverd (pedal steel), Tom Mason (double bass), Matt Ingram(drums, juno). The production is courtesy of Matt Ingram and the album was recorded at Urchin Studios, Hackney Wick, London.

Paul McGee

Emily Hines These Days Keeled Scales

A debut album from Ohio singer songwriter Emily Hines and the seven songs included were all recorded straight to cassette in a small house located in Nashville. It harkens back to simpler times when music was played for the simple pleasure of creating something of value in the writing process, and that is what we are given here.

Opener, My Own Way, is a gentle song about finding a singular path and not being too hard on yourself, the easy melody and rhythm create a sweetly comforting sound. Next up is Cold Case and a song that muses over the possibilities that a relationship might bring too great a cost in the unfolding layers ‘Is love something that you choose, Or does it burn a hole right through you?.

Another relationship song is All Of Our Friends and the implied pressure brought to bear by friends’ expectations, whether to defy the issues or to bend to social mores, ‘Will you hate me if this doesn’t last forever? All of our friends can see us together.’

Cowgirl Suit has such a gently delivered vocal, strummed guitar and quiet percussion ‘Sorry if I wasted your time, I don’t think that I wasted mine’ and the sense that all is not well in love and the fallout. The song also reflects 'I saw you walk in and it changed my whole day, Is it by design when you’ve got nothing to say?’

On Callin Ya we are treated to internal musings of whether Emily should reach out to her significant other and try to melt the ice of a floating iceberg that drifts along their relationship tides ‘ I’ve thought about calling, But what good could it do? If you don’t love someone, You can’t pretend to.’  The lovely melody again highlights the unique qualities on this album, just so subtly balanced in all areas.

The list of musicians deserve all the credit here and blend so effortlessly. We have Emily Hines (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, nylon string guitar, harp, percussion), Heny Park (vocals, bass, baritone, electric guitar, 808, drum machine, mellotron, percussion, keyboards), Holden Bitner (cello), John-Ruben Medina(drums), Liv Greene and Madelyn Baier (background vocals) to thank for the atmospherics. The production is delivered by Henry Park and all songs are written by Emily including two co-writes with Olivia Ann Greene (Liv).

On UFO there is the suggestion that love cannot be ever truly known and might as well be represented as some alien space ship that comes to visit momentarily ‘I don’t know about you, But I’m holding out hope.’ Cedar On the River is a song that  reflects upon the ease with which songs can be a vehicle for true emotions that are too difficult to negotiate in conversation with another ‘This whole time I’ve been trying to rip the skin off the snake.’ There are other songs that merit a mention and on the CD/Vinyl versions there is an additional track ‘ I’ll Never Know.’ This superbly crafted song is a real highlight and it is sadly reflective and hints at relationship challenges ‘I need a smile before we go to bed.’

Subsequent to the release of the album Emily recorded a killer version of the Jackson Browne classic These Days and she really does it justice in her vocal phrasing and emotion-filled take on the sense of disillusion with youthful love ‘Don’t confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them.’ This debut album is very interesting and hints at so much more quality music to come from the songwriting craft of this impressive artist.

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

White Rose Motor Oil Merry Crisis Self-Release

This mini-album from the engaging duo of Eryn DeSomer and Keith Hoerig-DeSomer is one for those whom the festive season may in fact not be so. Instead, they consider that it also brings some more unwanted thoughts to the fore. Playing all the instruments themselves, it is still a set of relatively pared-down arrangements that are featured. They have also been astute in their selection of material. Overall, it offers an alternative to overproduced, all-too-often saccharine renditions of Christmas classics. A source of material that can still be handled, depending on the particular artist, with a degree of individuality using interesting arrangements.

Here, for instance You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch, which opens the album, comes from an animated TV show from 1966. The Feminist Santa Baby was performed originally in 1953 by Eartha Kitt and is a very familiar melody. Dolly Parton wrote the song Hard Candy Christmas and released it herself in 1982, and Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) was by The Ramones. Broken Heart Holiday is a rerecording of an original White Rose Motor Oil song. All are given a largely, though not always, energetic reading that has much of the upbeat spirit associated with the season, even if the lyrics don’t always reflect that. 

Given the proliferation of Christmas songs that flood the market this time of the year, this one accurately reflects the music that White Rose Motor Oil release on their non-seasonal recordings and highlights how the duo deliver an punk/rock/rockabilly sound that is rooted in an earlier musical explosion but is just a relevant today, if not more so, given these unpredictable times. 

Though a duo, the fact that both play a number of instruments means the sound is never sparse but sounds exactly as they and the listener would wish. There are undoubtedly going to be a number of singles and albums released around this time of year that will rise above the cliches of the holiday happenstance, and this is one of them. There are good song choices, good performances and a good deal of variation on these eight songs. It will be one I will return to again when wanting some realism that makes these tracks something of an alt-Xmas stable, joining the likes of Jason Ringenberg’s calm-to-frenetic original, Lovely Christmas (a duet with Kristi Rose), or Robert Earl Keen’s engaging tale, Merry Christmas From The Family.

Stephen Rapid

Abigail Dowd Saints & Warriors Self-Release

The third album from singer-songwriter Abigail Dowd is a ten-track project, all written by her. Produced by Grammy-nominated Jason Richmond (The Avett Brothers, Dom Flemons, Emily Scott Robinson, Aoife O’Donovan), Dowd’s vocals are underpinned by a host of talented players, including Scott Sawyer on electric guitar, Alex Bingham on bass and synths, and George Sluppick on drums and percussion.

The record skips from the deeply soulful Miss Annie to the gentle rock of Already Free and the classic modern, Mothers of Saigon. The common thread is Dowd’s heavenly vocals, which ebb and flow faultlessly throughout. A particular highlight is the mid-paced, achingly gentle ballad Papa, which, alongside the similarly measured Sunday Morning, is enchanting, bordering on trance-inducing.

In previous decades, when classification was simpler, SAINTS & WARRIORS would likely be found in the rock section of your local record store. Dowd is a gifted storyteller who blends gentle ballads with more explosive tracks. Both vocally and lyrically, she recalls Joan Armatrading's early career for me. Applying her skill to writing about history, the environment, and topics close to home, won me over  with this impressive collection of songs.

Declan Culliton

Tommy Talton Seven Levels Strolling Bones

Cowboy, the 70s Georgia band formed by Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer, was often described as Southern Rock’s best-kept secret. They recorded four studio albums between 1970 and 1977 and, following Boyer’s death in 2018, their final album, 10’LL GETCHA TWENTY, which featured recordings from 2007, was released. Talton died in 2023, and SEVEN LEVELS was recorded at the Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia, in 2022, prior to his passing.

This is a seven-track album that feels like a stroll down a 1970s country-rock lane. At the time of recording, Talton was battling cancer; the album was intended as a farewell to his fans and family. Its quality achieves that aim. The recordings feature Talton’s former band members and Capricorn label mates. Talton, whose session work included Gregg Allman, Wet Willie, and others, played electric guitar and handled lead vocals. He wrote six songs; the seventh, Ramblin’ Man, was written by Scott Boyer. The studio players were Randall Bramblett (organ), Chuck Leavell (electric piano), Rick Hirsch (slide guitar), Charlie Hayward (bass), and Bill Stewart (drums).

Fittingly, the album closes with an eight-minute bluesy jam, Say A Prayer On My Behalf, with Talton’s stinging guitar work centre stage, supported by a booming rhythm section. Other tracks whose titles reflect the album’s theme include Time Will Take Us and the solemn ballad I Want To Do It All Again. A standout track that recalls The Band, I’ve Got The Sun In My Heart, includes backing vocals by Donna Hall Foster, and they slow things down a couple of gears with Ramblin’ Man.

SEVEN LEVELS is precisely what you would expect given its origin. In keeping with the core sound that defined Talton’s talent, it delivers an album that is hugely more than simply nostalgic and underpins the talents of all involved.

Declan Culliton

Michael McGovern Thin White Road Cauldron

In 2021 this Scottish singer-songwriter released a debut album that garnered much praise from the music industry and wider social media outlets. Written during the Covid pandemic and fuelled by the lockdown experience, it was largely an acoustic-based project with eight songs, and a focus upon the vagaries of loneliness, love and relationship challenges.

With this new album we are given a different approach with a bigger sound palette across ten songs, and the presence of co-producer Bill Shanley (guitars, bass), along with James Steele (saxophone), Jamie Sturt (vocals), and Scott C. Park (guitars, bass, vocals) from that original debut recording. Joining these musicians are Josie Duncan and Niamh Corkey (vocals), Ali Caplin (fiddle, piano), and Callum Little (drums). It is the presence of drums on a number of the tracks, together with strings, that changes the band dynamic and with Michael McGovern contributing on guitars and keyboards, the overall impression is of a talented artist expanding his creative vista.

All songs are written by McGovern, with five co-writes, and these is a sense of regret on a few of the songs that channel relationship issues. On the song Evelyn we have a reflection on the lost love of youth and the distance caused by the passing of the years ‘I could say I’m sorry, but words won’t do much now, The more you got to know me, The more I let you down.’ Another song I Made A New Friend suggests a schoolboy crush that became something darker ‘Well not much has changed since way back when, I’m still burdened by your regrets, Though you can pray for mercy and search for excuses, You can’t forgive what you can’t forget.’  Yet another track In the Garden is perhaps closing the circle on past attempts to try and make a love work out ‘I suspect that time has crumbled, And my life has passed me by, And when I said I never loved you, You couldn’t look into my eyes.’

Elsewhere we have the poignant tribute to the actress and dancer Ann Miller, with her iconic work in the 1940s and 1950s, drawing the comment that she was one the greatest actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Her final role was in the iconic David Lynch movie Mulholland Drive (2001). In her life she suffered a tragedy in losing her new-born baby as a result of domestic violence and the lyrics capture that sense of grief ‘And I never heard my daughter, Calling out my name, So I’ll die in hope that I’ll see her again.’

There is also a tribute to the poet, novelist and screenwriter Laurie Lee and his adventures in pre- civil war Spain, captured in his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969). I get the sense that McGovern was influenced by the nomadic wanderings of his artful hero and that a similar wanderlust may well have risen in his own mind ‘I was lost then too, In the madness of my youth, I prayed to the stars that night would end soon, God only knows what I tried to prove, Carelessly burning my roots, It was something I had to do.’ Taking risks is a necessary part of the creative journey and who knows what benefits that the journey can unveil.

The Harbour is a story song about an orphaned blind girl who is forced into prostitution in order to survive and who ends up murdering a man in order to try and gain redemption. The title track, and I Heard the Thunder Cry are two songs that reflect upon the isolation to be found within, even where relationships offer some succour ‘ You held my trembling fists and wiped my eyes, When the ground below me cracked, And swallowed me inside’ (Thin White Road), and the words ‘Indulge me like it’s the first time, And let me sleep on your thighs, Then bring me to bed, And let me surrender, With tears in my eyes.’

A standout is the track The Will and the sadness sprung from helping a parent write a living will in anticipation of that day when the Grim Reaper comes calling ‘I want to be by your side, When death comes and I can see your pain subside, I’ve seen the world through your eyes.’ There is a short instrumental as a coda to the song and the melody is achingly delicate. There can be no doubt about the growth achieved by this talented artist on his creative journey. These songs are superbly considered and delivered, with McGovern’s singing both engaging and warm in the vocal tone. His Glaswegian accent comes through in his voice and this adds a certain charm to the excellent production qualities. A fine achievement and an album that  certainly leaves a lasting impression.

Paul McGee

Steve Aliment & Annie O’Neill Fuego Self Release

This duo were introduced to me by my sister-in-law, Maureen Boyle, who caught a gig in Tacoma, Washington and who saw their band playing live at The Spar venue in the city. Maureen thought that their sound was in the central sights of what Lonesome Highway targets, so she bought this current release at the gig, and gave it to me for review consideration. And how correct she was with her instincts. It’s a really enjoyable romp through the environs of Country and Americana, with plenty of memorable moments to recommend the album.

The fourteen tracks are all written by Steve Aliment, with one co-write, and the album was self-produced by him, alongside Bart Hyde. The excellent band that deliver the goods is made-up of Mark Wuesthoff (pedal steel, dobro), Bart Hyde (guitars, piano, harmonica), Annie O’Neill (vocals, guitar), and Perry Morgan (drums, percussion). Steve Aliment plays bass on the album and joins Annie O’Neill on lead vocals across the songs. The duo are based in Seattle and have been releasing music since their formation in 2020.  Previous releases saw the appearance of A Long Way To Go (2023), Armadillo Tattoo (2021), and 150 Tears (2020).

The word “Fuego” means something is really cool, and there is nothing wrong with a little self- promotion. Opening track Down the Line highlights the instant likeability factor with a nice rendition of all that made the old 50s Country sound so popular, a swing-beat that sets a positive tone. Another song The Fun Is the Ride puts down the rhythm of getting out on the highway and seeing where the asphalt takes you, with nice guitar and pedal steel playing off each other ‘She’s gonna keep on rolling down the line, She can’t get off, And she’ll never arrive.’ The early Eagles sound on Lonesome Broken Home is very radio-friendly with the harmony vocals echoing the warning of placing all your chips on the wrong bet ‘When the show was over, The girl and the money were gone… left me on the doorstep of my lonesome broken home.’

Hot Biscuit #1 is a nice country blues romp about going out on the town and having a good time, while the easy groove on Last Exit Sign is a traditional sound with the pedal steel of Mark Wuesthoff bringing home the weary traveller ‘It’s been a long a long drive, But now I can see that exit sign, Judgement day ain’t something that I fear, Did I tell you that the highway to hell runs right through here.’

The beat on Roosevelt Dime is a rockabilly workout that has the band nicely in the pocket of the rhythm and certainly worthy than greater currency than a ten-cent piece. Things slow down for Holding On and the co-vocals of Steve Aliment and Annie O’Neill reflect upon a relationship that is teetering on the edge ‘We keep holding on, Now that the love is gone, We’re just trying our best to hold on.’ A standout moment is Tacoma To Tupelo with the driving guitar sound propelling a song about breaking out and heading for good times without a care ‘Now if you ain’t sure, we can take it slow, let the wind take us where the wind wanna blow.’

Things continue at a pace with If You Were A Movie and a love song that celebrates the longing for connection, again the co-vocal of O’Neill and Aliment hitting the mark. Truck Stops, Cheap Shots is a co-write and it is classic country in the delivery, pedal steel tickling the edges of the melody as the joys of pulling off the highway for a night of partying is to be celebrated. The slow beat on the song Can’t Feel the Bottom Yet reflects the sadness of a relationship crash where the victim is heading towards unconditional surrender.

There is an instrumental version of the earlier track Down the Line and Lonesome Broken Home is also revisited with a similar mix to the initial arrangement. The final song is Empty Heart which includes some very tasty saxophone, courtesy of Max Rose, who engineered and re-mixed the song with a fine soulful tempo, the original appearing on the 2023 album A Long Way To Go.

This is a very enjoyable album and it certainly prompts a visit to the back-catalogue of the band, in expectation that it will prove as impressive as this new release. In the meantime, if Steve Altimont and Annie O’Neill are looking for a PR person in the Tacoma area, they could do a lot worse than looking up their advocate, my sister-in-law, Maureen!   

Paul McGee

Steve Postell Walking Through These Blues Quarto Valley

Settle in Folks for just over an hour of inspiring music from the very impressive Steve Postell. Just in case you are being introduced to this talent for the first time, Steve has spent a storied career in the music industry over a number of decades and has left his mark on many projects, whether as a musician or a producer.

The number of A-list artists that he has played with is highly impressive, including such luminaries as James Taylor, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and Michael McDonald, John Oates, Jennifer Warnes, Kenny Loggins, among others. On this new solo album Steve has written all twelve songs with three co-writes included. Production was overseen by both Steve and Peter Adams at Katonah Studios, Marina Del Ray, CA and you can almost see the sunshine glinting on the water if you imagine the setting. There was also production input on two songs by both Russ Kunkel and Danny Kortchmar, just two names that will resonate with admirers of the 70s California sound. Indeed the list of players on this album is the stuff of dreams with appearances from David Crosby, Iain Matthews, Glen Phillips, Tony Furtado, Bekka Bramlett, Jeff Pevar, Greg Leisz, Steve Ferrone, Leland Sklar, Bob Glaub, Jeff Young, Peter Adams, Ramon Yslas, Debra Dobkin, Waddy Watchel, Danny Kortchmar, Mark Shulman, and several others.

The entire project is a celebration of all that is enriching, inspiring and uplifting in music. The ability of a melody and a song to reach out and touch the listener in a palpable manner is what brings the magic to the listening experience, and this album is a complete joy from start to finish. The warm melodies and the ease with which the musicians interpret the arrangements is testament to the intuitive playing of the musicians. There is such invention in the interplay, everything appears effortless in the end-result, surely the finest compliment that can be paid to the entire creative process.

There is no filler on this album, with each song leaving a strong impression, and don’t let the title fool you as there is much more here than just a walk through the blues. Having said that, there is no doubting the price to be paid for letting the current state of the world impact upon your daily mood, and the title track Walking Through These Blues has Steve looking for some clarity and truth.  Buried Stone has the superb Bekka Bramlett on guest vocals as the slow groove laments earlier times when the musical synergy was more spontaneous.

How Far We’ve Come is a look at the social media and the progress made, and yet, there always seems to be so much more to tackle ‘Flew me to Paris, Train down to Rome, Missed all the scenery, Just staring at my phone, We’re so connected, But we always feel alone.’ A highlight is the track Wait Until You Get Here and the message that life brings wisdom as we age, and the aspirations of youth will be balanced by the consciousness of living in the moment.

The unrequited love of Until I Do is a sweetly delivered reflection on the stances we take ‘I won’t complain about the cards that were dealt, It was just a little sleight of hand, I went looking for the Jack of Hearts, And a better place to stand.’ Another memorable song Is This It appears to be a tribute to the passing of David Crosby, but it could also be about any loved one who has left this mortal coil ‘When I see you in my dreams, Are you really in the room, Or is it just me tryin’ to tell you, That you left this world too soon.’

Wicked Wind brings everything to a conclusion and it reflects on the reality of loss, plus the hope for good fortune as we look towards better days, with the guitars of Mark Shulman and Steve Postell ringing out for a fair wind in our collective sails as we navigate the sea of life. Steve says in the liner- notes that “In a world of singles, I still love the idea of a “record”. I still love creating a body of work that represents a time of life and a point of view.” A quite superb album in every way, and one of my favourites for the current year.     

Paul McGee

Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus Two True Loves Berkalin

It’s been a long road that this husband and wife duo has walked since they began releasing music back in 1998. Their initial band was called Edge City and for a number of years they played in their home state of Maryland, before taking the decision to relocate full-time to Austin, Texas, where they were accepted by the music community into the local scene at the time.

Jim Patton writes the songs that the duo perform and he takes his lyrical inspiration from everyday life, the people that he encounters, and the lives lived with quiet dignity. He also looks within for creativity and tackles many of the questions that we all ask ourselves in negotiating our way through the challenges of life. On this new album he writes all fourteen songs, with seven co-writes included across four different collaborators. It has been noted that co-writing can be somewhat akin to going on blind-dates, in that you’re never quite sure how things will turn out. Happily, in the case of Jim Brokus, his wealth of experience results in positive outcomes more often than not. Plus it’s a positive thing to stretch outside of yourself with regard to trying new ways to create with others.

This is album number eight in a run that has seen Patton and Brokus create music as a couple since their debut appeared back in 2008. They did release a collection of their songs in 2019 that spanned the period 2008 – 2018, capturing their first ten years of recording, with their own preferred track selections, and altogether their four prior album releases are equally represented across the eighteen songs chosen.

With the new project, the talents of long-time friend Ron Flynt are featured as both producer and musician. The location was Jumping Dog Studios in Austin Texas and in addition to Flynt playing a variety of instruments, including bass, keyboards, acoustic guitar and harmonies, there are the talents of Scrappy Jud Newcomb on lead guitars, John Chipman on drums, Bettysoo on harmony vocals, to add to Jim Patton on acoustic guitar and lead vocals and Sherry Brokus on harmony vocals.

Patton does not possess the most strident vocal, but his delivery is very focused on both a sensitivity and honesty in portraying the messages that these songs convey.  Wanting to be surrounded by the things that bring personal satisfaction is very much the message on opener I Want It All  with the importance of community a priority ‘A handful decide what’s best for all the rest, Every step up the ladder they care for you less and less.’ The fluent playing of the band sets a real marker for the rest of the album.

The title track refers to being committed to what you do for living and being passionate about your partner in life. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive of course and it’s preferable if both can align. Looking for love is something that Annabelle Lee considers, whereas the trio of songs Why Did You Leave Me For Him?, She Doesn’t Want To See You Anymore and What If You’re Fooling Me Now tackle the issues where things don’t run smoothly in love and the downside of existing relationships can bite hard.

Laurence Beall is a song written for an old acquaintance that has fallen out of regular contact over the years. He had a band called The Sultans back in the 1990s and was active in the Nashville area.  Another song that looks at past friendships is That Cup Of Coffee We Never Had and the influence that someone once held. Caught In the Headlights is a look back at heady youth and the melody captures that sense of insecurity. Hard Times is a look at the other side of the coin, where adulthood brings compromise and the things that folks have to do in order to survive go beyond the innocence of youth. A high point as the band stretch out on a soulful melody and deep rhythm.

Nothing At All is a song about lost dreams and the stark reality that disappointment brings, even if trying is the most important thing ‘They say if you fly too high you’re bound to fall… but if you stay on the ground, you won’t see nothing at all.’ One More Song is a tale of past glories and the compulsion that pushes old musicians to continue playing to smaller audiences ‘Something inside that never quite died, And they’ve always got one more song.’

This sentiment, in a way, perfectly encapsulates the story of Jim Patton and Sherry Bokus; a couple who decided to walk a creative path opened up by their love of music, shunning the safer option for a more comfortable existence that pursuing regular careers would have offered. However, the memories earned and the joy that the creative process brings is more than sufficient compensation for the risks taken. This album is another worthy addition to their ongoing dreams of self-sufficiency and creative freedom.   

Paul McGee

Su Andersson Postcards Firma Su

This singer-songwriter is based in Göteborg, Sweden and she made a decision back in 2019 to change her life as an architect to pursue music as a full-time profession. Full marks for bravery as the risks inherent in the performing arts and the unpredictable nature of earning potential has to be balanced against the personal satisfaction of following your passion and making dreams become reality.

The debut album back in 2020 was titled Trains and it reflected upon journeys across the United States of America, and she returns to the theme of travel on this, her third album release. Focusing on her travels in Europe this time out, Su reflects on travelling alone to various places, including Hamburg, Berlin, Montpellier, Barcelona, Valencia, Paris, and other locations.

The songs are very well written and the production is quite superb, with the music really jumping out of the speakers to grab the listener. The influences are also quite varied across the ten songs included here, from the jazzy-noir of Based On A True Story, to the spoken-word vocal on the dramatic Sunset Unlimited, and the commercial sweep of Vertigo, mixed with the soft melody of Reunion.  The elan displayed on Voices From the Future is balanced against the reflections on Voices From the Past and a look back at her younger self, when the prospect of the dreams and hopes were unbridled ‘A voice from the past, calling me nicknames, A voice from the past, Names I’d forgotten.’

I have always enjoyed the music of Su Andersson and it is always engaging, innovative and memorable in the creation and her reflections on life. This album continues the momentum of this interesting songwriter and is worthy of your time.

Paul McGee

Kyle Carey The Last Bough Americelta

Folk traditions traverse the continents and embrace many different oral and musical influences in their rich heritage. The study of the land and the people who inhabit the territories has led to many great legacies that enrich our communal histories. For many years Kyle Carey has explored these hallowed spaces and looked to shine a light upon what unites us as part of the human spirit, what binds us to the great emotional tug of the earth, and the ancient traditions that are passed from one generation to the next.

Previously, Kyle has lived in Alaska and travelled to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, on a Fulbright Fellowship, where she began her study of the Gaelic language and its music. She also immersed herself in the study of Scots Gaelic, while living for two years on Scotland’s Isle Of Skye. This album represents her fourth release since her debut back in 2011. It was recorded in Nashville, at Peach Tree Studios, and was produced by Kai Welch, who also contributes piano, accordion and synthesizers. Backing vocals are provided by Ruth Moody who also plays on bodhrán, and the overall feel of the project is softly reflective in tone.

Four songs are sung in the Scots Gaelic tradition and the beautiful sound of the language really translates superbly. There is a song that is sung in Italian also and the inclusion of Eden’s Grief and Armour’s Mystique are two of the stand out moments across the ten songs included.

The skill of Anthony Dacosta on guitar is matched by the fiddle playing of Christian Sedelmeyer, together with the whistle and flute contribution of Mike McGoldrick, with percussion, courtesy of Jamie Dick, and the sweet vocals of James Graham also noteworthy. A diverse collection and one that is laudable for its scope and depth.   

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Roberta Faceplant Brisket & Cigarettes Self Release

The latest EP from Philadelphia’s cowgirl, Roberta Faceplant, showcases her honky tonk credentials, her strong vocals, her songwriting and, above all, her sense of fun. Recorded in Philly’s Cambridge Sound Studio with her own band, it is a six-track country rock riot.

Big Dark Town opens proceedings. Written by bass player Nick Anastasi, it’s the darkest song inclusion here, its broody and clanging guitar-driven palette suitably accompanying the tale of the seedy underbelly of every town, where drug dealers weigh out the demon drugs for the addicts who are 'drowning in their scars’. The title track introduces the food theme underlying the whole record, suitably illustrated by Nick Anastasi’s sleeve design, an amusing homage to cold meat packaging. Brisket & Cigarettes is a manic retelling of a hunger fuelled car chase, where Katie panics that she won’t make that night’s show. Her pet lizard, who is ‘a brother, much more than a pet/ got left behind in that roadhouse’ and that story is relayed in much more detail in the hilarious Lizard in a Bar. The country flavoured spoken intro introduces us to all the items that one can bring into a bar (from head phones to hats and scarves) and all the behaviours tolerated (from throwing darts to throwing punches) but the innocent lizard is still barred!

Mykk Hoffman’s country lead guitar playing gets to showcase in Eat Em, where Roberta tries to hold back from eating the sausages she's cooking. In A Can ups the tempo with Beachboy influenced harmonies, while Roberta plans how to 'make a gazillion' by ‘putting you in an airtight container’, 'if they sold you in jars/you would go far’. The closing song Bottle It Smash It is a more serious piano led ballad (keys by Frankie Padano), an exhortation to ‘drink it while you got it’ because 'good times don’t last’.

This is an excellent calling card for an act who can be enjoyed playing live in the Philadelphia area and further afield. Catch ‘em if you can.

Eilís Boland

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter Forever, I've Been Being Born Ideologic Organ/Southern Lord

It's been a journey of evolution and growth for Jesse Sykes and her musical partner Phil Wandscher. Fourteen years since the release of their last album, MARBLE SON, they now make a welcome return with their fifth studio album. Their relationship, which began in Seattle, Washington, in 1999, led to the formation of The Sweet Hereafter and the release of their acclaimed debut record, RECKLESS BURNING, in 2003. OH, MY GIRL followed a year later to hugely positive reviews, and was followed by LIKE, LOVE, LUST AND THE OPEN HALLS OF THE SOUL in 2007.

Having written and recorded the material for this latest album several years ago, the release was delayed primarily because two band members, essentially the band’s rhythm section, left after MARBLE SON was released, splitting the band that had become akin to a family unit. Although written before COVID-19 and the current political environment, much of the writing on the new album, as if prophesied, addresses trauma and dislocation. While sonically somewhat less muscular than its predecessors, it retains the core otherworldly and enthralling attributes that make the Sykes and Wandscher partnership so unique. 

Mortality has often been visited in Sykes’ writing, and the title track in this record explores the crossing from death to an afterlife (‘It’s to this that I will surrender. Forever I’ve been born’). It’s beautifully articulated by Sykes's crystal-clear pronunciation and supported by whirling guitars, lap steel, and strings, with Marissa Nadler adding backing vocals. Following a similar thread, Gentle Chaperone, with its aura of oblivion and limbo, could be the next stage in the journey spoken of in the title track (‘This is where I stay, but this is not my home’). A spine-chilling affair, A New Medium drifts from a gripping acoustic opening before Wandscher’s guitars and organ explode spectacularly mid-song. The name ‘Lorelie’ is taken from a river rock in Germany where sailors were coaxed to their deaths by a mythical siren, and the melancholy, haunting I Still Hear Lorelie expresses irresistible, and often deadly temptation, regardless of the likely consequences. 

Sykes and Wandscher have both been active with other projects in recent years, Sykes as lead vocalist in Dave Alvin’s band, The Third Mind, while Wandscher has been working with Marissa Nadler and Jon Langford of late. However, the re-emergence of their partnership in Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, is celebrated with this striking album that sits comfortably alongside their powerful back catalogue.

‘What’s left my Sweet Hereafter? I’m coming home to you,’ Wandscher announces in the lyrics of My Sweet Hereafter, a song which features only his vocals and guitar. Hopefully, it’s a declaration that the reincarnation of this unrivalled gothic-folk partnership, which is essentially in their DNA, continues to flourish.

Declan Culliton

Courtney Hartman With You Reckoner

 A member of bluegrass band Della Mae for nearly a decade prior to launching her solo career, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Courtney Hartman has collaborated with Anaïs Mitchell, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Sam Amidon in the past. Her latest project follows that trend of working closely with like-minded artists.

Very much a triumph over near tragedy, Colorado-born Hartman’s latest record seemed unlikely to see the light of day amid a series of life challenges. While rebuilding their house in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Hartman and her husband learned that Courtney was pregnant with their first child. That joyous realisation was followed by misfortune when her husband fell off a ladder, leaving him unable to work for several months. Further misery followed when Hartman was dropped by her booking agent and lost their family car in an accident. Rather than finance what was to be her fourth album, the money saved to record the album was used to survive that difficult period. However, instead of being smothered by their predicament, Hartman began writing material reflecting on both her physical and emotional condition.

Continuing in that vein, WITH YOU became a ‘motherhood’ album, navigating across the pregnancy experience, the joys of birth, and the bouts of post-natal depression which followed. This exploration then drew Hartman’s attention to the difficulties other mothers face in balancing the demands of a creative career with the responsibilities of childcare. As a result, she connected with several other women in similar circumstances, leading to co-writes with Dawn Landes, Tift Merritt, Sarah Siskind, Ana Egge, Kristin Andreassen, and Emily Franz Marlin of the husband-and-wife duo Watchhouse.

The album opens and closes with the same song, divided into two parts. The former, titled Softening, visits both the defencelessness and tenderness experienced in the early stages of pregnancy. On reflection, it was decided to split the song into two, resulting in the closer, Softening Again. Both are lo-fi dreamlike affairs with Hartman's vocals surrounded by drifting synths. That calming sonic soundscape is repeated in the Ana Egge co-write, Bright Eye, the nickname Hartman gave her daughter.

Everything At Once, co-written with Sarah Siskind, who gave birth the same week as Hartman, traverses the full gamut of emotions accompanying motherhood (‘I want to be held, I want to run, I want to be holding someone’). Like A Woman, also co-written with Siskind, addresses the often-overlooked need for emotional support after childbirth (‘No one needs mothering like a woman in the summer days of mothering. No one needs covering like a woman on the journey, discovering’) and is complemented by the enduring love for the child in Inside Outside.

Given its theme, WITH YOU could have resulted in an overly self-indulgent affair. Instead, Hartman has created something quite lovely here. With contributions from her friends and peers, her heartfelt lyrics and evocative vocals are underpinned by musicianship that maintains a consistent, intimate ambience throughout.

Declan Culliton

Drive By Truckers The Definitive Decoration Day New West

“Considered by many (including me) to be DBT’s masterpiece, this is the ultimate version of Decoration Day, sounding better than ever,” declares Patterson Hood on the remixed fifteen-track album originally released in 2003. The package also includes the previously unreleased double album HEATHENS LIVE AT FLICKER BAR, ATHENS, GEORGIA, JUNE 20th, 2002, and a forty-page full-colour booklet.

SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA, the band's third album, had been released two years earlier than DECORATION DAY, having been funded by fans and family. A mammoth twenty-track project that ran for over one and a half hours, it generated a degree of positive media attention and saved the band (formed in Athens, Georgia, by longtime friends Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley in 1996) from throwing in the towel. The band members at that time were Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Earl Hicks, Brad Morgan, and Rob Malone. When Malone departed, leaving a gap for a guitarist, Jason Isbell entered. Invited by Patterson from the audience to perform with the band at an unofficial gig, and despite being half Hood and Cooley’s age, Isbell was in the tour van the following day.

Despite his young age, Isbell’s songwriting impressed to the extent that two of his songs, Outfit and Decoration Day, made the final cut on the album, the latter replacing what was to be the record’s title. Recognising the band’s potential, Lost Highway signed them but, when presented with a fifteen-song track listing for DECORATION DAY, insisted it be whittled down to ten and wanted all of Mike Cooley’s songs to be removed. Outraged by the prospect, the band bought the album back from the Lost Highway and found themselves once more without a label.

New West, one of several interested labels, came on board, and the album was released in the format the band presented. The material was written at a time when Hood and Colley’s marriages were falling apart, apparently because they put the band ahead of family life. The writing on the album reflected that grim period and served as an examination and commentary on the darker side, emotional wreckage, and the undercurrent of real Southern life. Hood and Cooley’s writing tackled issues head on and included relationship breakdown (Sounds Better In The Song, Something’s Got To Give Pretty Soon, Your Daddy Hates Me), incest (The Deeper In), a jilted bride (My Sweet Annette), farm repossession (Deep Hole), and suicide (Do It Yourself, When The Pin Hits The Shell). Although only two of his compositions were included, the influence of the new kid on the block, Isbell, was immense. Outfit’s slant was one of leaving the nest and surviving in the big, bad world, advice Isbell was to ignore, as he followed the other members' hedonistic lifestyle during his six-year tenure in the band. Decoration Day was a classic depiction of a brutal, long-standing family feud that Isbell had heard from relatives, and it was, deservedly, selected as the album’s title.

Propelling the band to the frontline of alt-country bands in America and Europe and away from their previous Southern rock façade, both Drive By Truckers and Jason Isbell went on to record several masterful albums, but, arguably, DECORATION DAY was their finest undertaking.

HEATHENS LIVE AT FLICKER BAR, ATHENS, GEORGIA was recorded a year before DECORATION DAY was to be released. A late-night session at the small local bar in their hometown, the essentially acoustic set (bass player Earl Hicks was the only one amped up) included many of the tracks from the upcoming album performed for the first time. Even in the stripped-back format, the energy of the recorded songs isn’t lost, and although the band would confess to being worn out from touring and, like most of the audience, ‘drunk as skunks’, the playing and vocals are impressive.

An essential purchase for Drive By Truckers’ fans and a reminder, if needed, of the most stellar lineup and creative writing of the band’s three-decade existence.

Declan Culliton

Kimmie Rhodes West Texas Heaven Revisited Sunbird

This is a very welcome re-release of an album whose timeless quality has remained intact over the years since its original debut back in 1996. Twenty nine years later and the original twelve songs still maintain a warm reflection on what life was like for an aspiring young talent, with Kimmie’s sweetly gentle vocal so prominent in the production.

The arrival on the music scene of this new talent was given real gravitas by the appearance of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Joe Ely and Townes Van Zandt on the recording. As a veritable who’s-who of Texan music legends, Kimmie could not have happened upon a more influential quartet to announce her arrival.

This remixed and remastered album includes six additional tracks, three new songs and three out-takes, together with the twelve original creations that still stand up so well here. The duets with Willie Nelson on Hard Promises To Keep and I Never Heard You Say both lament lost love and are performed with an elegance and rueful reflection. Two more tracks, Maybe We’ll Just Disappear and Be Mine are sung with Waylon Jennings and celebrate the love shared between two people to great effect. There is a sense that the genuine respect between the musicians at the time made everything sound even more real in the delivery.

The impressive I’m Gonna Fly really hits the spot and the co-vocal with Townes Van Zandt pulls on the heartstrings, as both singers dove tail together on a song of longing and wishes unfilled. There is a wide musical palette that includes the French lyrics and waltz-time of Les Roses Sauvages, the mandolin giving a stylised impression of cosmopolitan Europe in earlier times. Corner Of the Bar is a song of regret and includes a sample melody from the classic La Vie en Rose, with accordion and acoustic guitar echoing the lonely lyric, partly sung in French.

The light jazzy arrangement on Home John is a fine example of the versatility of Kimmie Rhodes, the piano and electric guitar in unison as she sings of getting back on familiar ground. My personal favourites are the cool blues groove on Just To Be Near You and the equally impressive Git You A Job, with atmospheric playing, including superb harmonica and guitar combinations, really shining.

Of the new songs, I’m Not An Angel is memorable, a promise to be true, despite a dark past. The superb Send Me the Sun has Kimmie performing alongside Emmylou Harris and Beth Nielsen Chapman on co-vocals on a song about true love. Another song Lines is a reflection on a life lived and the wisdom gained that often shape the song content that Kimmie writes. ‘I live on the outskirts of the back of my mind.’ It’s also poignant to hear the superb playing of Joe Gracey who provided bass and rhythm guitar to many of Kimmie’s recordings, together with Jack “Cowboy” Clement. Kimmie was married to Joe Gracey for twenty-eight years before his untimely death in 2011.

Other players on the songs include David Zettner, Mike Maddux and Mickey Raphael, in addition to her son Gabe Rhodes adding some nice lead guitar parts. It all works superbly well and the album is a timely reminder of all that attracted folks to the original Outlaw Country movement. Kimmie continues to record, and in 2024 she released HYPNOTISED, an album produced by her son Gabe and one which continues her impressive creative output.

Paul McGee

Stephen Simmons Hunch Self Release

I have always thought of Stephen Simmons as the quintessential example of Heartland Roots music that has endured over the decades, since it became fused with the Alternative Country music movement of the 1990s. Simmons took to the highways back in the early years of the Gen Z generation when his debut album LAST CALL (2004) was getting very positive media reaction. Ever since, he has been capturing stories from the road and impressions derived from his globe trotting in the chase of his eternal muse.

There are any number of guitar slingers out there who label themselves as road warriors in the never-ending pursuit of nightly confirmation of their talents. As Simmons sings on Amsterdam ‘Nobody ever had a dream that didn’t cost them anything, nothing’s free.’ On the ten songs included here there is nothing that wouldn’t sit easily alongside anything that say, Springsteen, might deduce from looking at this crazy world that we all share. It’s album number twelve in the continuing journey of Stephen Simmons and it’s a real beauty.

The album was recorded in Tennessee by Goffrey Moore and the relaxed production delivers plenty of room for these songs to breathe. The title track Hunch imagines a country boy who just wants to break out and become a musician. No factory or farm work when you can take an amplifier and a guitar to make some sweet noise.

Decoration Days is right out of the Tom Petty songbook with melodic guitar hooks and a memory of days now past. On Song Of Us we are given a failed relationship in all its compromise and hurt ‘Running in place and running on hope, Running behind, and running out of rope.’ Country influenced Grandpa’s Jacket is a song about moving on but always being tethered to the past, and with Early Rising Moon the pedal steel plays a lazy melody on a song that professes a deeper love. The story song Dresden Doll captures a lonely night in Europe, and chasing down a feeling that may just be something of a dangerous desire ‘One night is all it takes to fall, For a Dresden doll.’

With Amsterdam we find the weary traveller in a rented car and feeling alone. Ten years of touring and wrestling with the demons you are running from, can there ever be any joy to be found ‘You can’t learn without being wrong, Like a singer that ain’t ever lived his song.’ The slow tempo is right along the lines of a Springsteen reflection on a blue funk. To balance the dark mood we then get Tomorrow Is Another Day and the optimism ‘We may never be here again, So I try to be in the moment and take it all in.’ Such a better life philosophy.

Boy Before the Man is a look at the path taken in the development of adulthood and maturity. You cannot rush the journey ‘You won’t know ‘till it’s over, what it was about all along.’ You can’t go back in time and help the boy before he becomes a man … sage advice from the pen of Simmons.

Someone Like You is the final song and it’s an attempt to reach out to a loved one in order to find connection ‘I’m not going to play forever, these little songs will leave me too, the only melody that is eternal is a song shared with someone like you.’   A nice sentiment to end on and confirmation that at the end of it all, the only important message to take is one of connection, to our inner selves and to each other.

Paul McGee

Nathan McEuen My One and Only Mesa/Bluemoon

This five-song EP is a taster for the talents displayed by Nathan McEuen, the son of John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). Nathan has been steeped in music from an early age, and he has released a number of previous recordings, from 2005 through 2014.

The songs here are all firmly based in the Americana stable and the loving sentiment of the title track My One and Only is certainly destined to become a popular wedding song in the years to come. Equally, on the song Lately we are given a sweet melody and a celebration of shared love in the words ‘Through the endless sea of city lights, Yours is the only one that shines.’

Up To No Good changes things up a little on a song about trouble coming to call and the consequences of experiencing dangerous situations. The tempo is very much an acoustic blues with the ensemble interacting nicely, McEuen (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Calire (piano), Steve Nelson (upright bass), Mario Calre (drums), and Jesse Siebenberg (slide guitar), teasing the melody. The deeper groove on Sticks and Stones is a highlight with nice B-3 organ and both electric and slide guitar parts fuelling a song about staying strong amid all the challenges that life imposes.

The final track is Beautiful Night and returns to matters of love with a Bossa nova rhythm, aided by strings, mandolin, piano, hypnotic percussion and sultry gypsy violin. Very assured and engaging, with hopes for more to follow from the creative talents of Nathan McEuen.

Paul McGee

Sister Speak Coming Home Reso Nation

This is the fifth release from Canadian artist Sherri Anne Nyberg who performs under the stage name of Sister Speak. Previous releases included two studio albums, a live recording, and an EP. This new music is also released as an EP and it has five songs, running over fourteen minutes, with the arrangements mainly acoustic-based.

Coming Home expresses the urge to return to your roots and losing yourself in dreams of mountains and starlit skies. Home is in British Columbia for Nyberg and the acoustic guitar strums a nice melody to accompany the understated piano.

We Can Rise follows, with a slow rhythm and electric guitar backed by bass, on a song about taking stock and taking action to protest against the ongoing differences that repeatedly separate our wish for peace. Anger and pride fuelling the actions that keep people apart ‘Have we forgotten all the visions that we can make come true?.’

I’ll Find Peace is a song that looks for a way to resolve internal conflict and bring contentment to a troubled mind. The war here is a battle fought within. Another song Oh Sunshine is performed acapella, with communal hand-claps, asking for the sun to reveal itself and bring some restorative  healing to the spirit. There is a gospel feel in the performance.

The final song L'amour Partout is performed in French and the co-vocal of Sherry Ann and Matt Stern is very enjoyable. The slow melody tickles in the build and the song speaks of ‘taking what is not ours’ and questions ‘what are we fighting for?’ It’s a plea to save the earth from shortsighted power that places profit before everything. It’s a pleasant EP, even if the short duration leaves you wanting more from this talented artist.

Paul McGee

Alice Di Micele Reverse the Flow Alice Otter

This is an album of Folk-infused music from a songwriter who is based in Oregon, and who has released a number of albums, compilations and collaborations over the years. Her concerns include environmental, LGBT, and anti-war sentiments, with such topics reflected in the songs and the words of this talented artist. Such interests are highlighted in her impressive and powerful vocal range, and illustrated on the opening song here, I Wanna Love.  It is a celebration of womanhood and calls for self-love to abound when celebrating the influence of the female spirit.

The next song One Little Word is about the sense of separation caused by the use of the ‘Gay’ word, trying to defame same-sex relationships, rather than celebrating the love shared by people ‘Love is beautiful and kind, and I hope you change your mind.’ Misunderstood and hated just for loving what society deems to be alien to our natures.

Falling Through the Cracks tackles issues of homelessness and the lack of care in the system ‘There’s no salvation in this land, people turn their heads instead of lending a hand.’ Worship of profit over people is going to be the death of us all as the cracks continue to appear in society. The electric guitar of Andy Casad in a highlight on this song.

Counting on nature to show the true essence within us all is the theme of The Mystery with beautiful harmony vocals, violin and viola, complimenting the flowing piano melody. Springtime (Here We Go) has a similar focus with the onset of the new season opening the possibilities of living proud and embracing the universe, while the acoustic arrangement on Oh Humanity bemoans the urge of men to make war ‘Will we keep fighting over what was never ours, The earth cannot be bought and sold, It’s just illusion that men can hold power, True power is not for us to hold.’ Amen.

Bonafide has a nice blues rhythm on a song lamenting the evils of the world and the failure to find lasting solutions that can see us live as one; maybe all we can do is focus upon our own meaningful lives together? The Ghost Of Alice is a track with atmospheric violin and a story-song that tells of a murder in rural America, with the spirit-world seeking retribution for dark deeds done ‘And the ghost of Alice sings with the owls at night.’

The final song is Reverse the Flow and it speaks of the power we all have to change the order of things, the communal voice is still loud enough to be heard and to make a difference ‘We’re still here on the ground, we’re still here on this sacred ground.’ Despite the protest of ‘fake news’ in our media, we could ask is nothing ever true unless it comes from the heart? This is her first album in three years and Alice Di Micele continues to prove that class is permanent, with her strong environmental message and her well-crafted songwriting. Yet another home run.     

Paul McGee

New Album Reviews

Cory Grinder and the Playboy Scouts And More Self Release

The cartoon cover does not reflect the serious skill of all involved here, but it does give you some idea that they don’t take themselves too seriously and there is a sense of humour throughout. I think what struck me the most this time out was the versatility of Cory Grinder’s lead vocals, which are more expressive than what one might come to expect from some honky tonk bands. The album was recorded directly to one inch tape with the band playing together in one room. That accounts for some of the spontaneity and energy on display. Led by Grinder, their chief songwriter, the band also includes guitarist Anthony Papaleo, steel guitar from Tebbs Karney, as well as bassist Jon Wolfe and drummer Bee Roberts. Grinder also joins Matt Dunkelberger and Papaleo on the fiddle work as well as on guitar throughout.

Given the mention of Grinder's fine vocals, he is ably joined by Karney, who takes the lead on the sad ballad The Lights Of Angel Falls, one of the highlights, among many, on the album. The album opens with On Time, the current single, built around a solid danceable mid-paced rhythm and flowing steel guitar. This set out the stall for the album, that mixes the heartbreak ballads like Angel Falls and also I Turned The Lights Out, Pull Me Out and How About Blue - all songs wherein Grinder’s vocals embody the sense of disappointment that is present lyrically. This contrasts nicely with the driving hardwood floor fillers like Take Me, Feelin’ It Too and Back Of My Heart, all solid arrangements filled with steel guitar and twanging Telecasters.

The song that perhaps in terms of word play stands out is On Brand For Me, wherein he outlines all the stupid moves his protagonist makes on life choices; like how he “brings a knife to a gunfight” or “keeps on barking up the wrong tree” and “making a mountain out of a molehill”, all pretty much, he realises, are on brand for him. The track also has a western swing feel with the fiddles and pedal steel guitar largely responsible for that disposition. There are numerous moments here that are memorable for this Ohio based band, who certainly deserve a much wider recognition for their collective ability. Ain’t Enough Of You has a stand out guitar riff with some effective organ playing behind it.

There is a strong collective vocal in How Do I Make Up, in which he asks how he can possibly make up for losing out in this particular relationship. The title track closes the album in, again, a reflective manner that is deep at the heart of the ethos of honky-tonk storytelling, throughout its history surviving even the proliferation of the mundane bro-country and by-committee material that we thankfully seem to be moving away from these days, especially with a genuine ear for traditional country mores.

So in the end AND MORE delivers more. It is the collective work of a band that undoubtedly works as well in this recorded format as it surely does in a live setting (as this recording equally shows). Most definitely a name to add to the growing list of those acts who walk the talk and reemphasise their love and keep alive a genre that is both relevant and rewarding.

Stephen Rapid

Dead Buzzards Roadkill Self Release

A hard workin’, hard country-rock five piece band from San Diego with a new album to their name. They are fronted by songwriter Ace Collins, who can pen some effective and appealing country orientated songs that stand up for themselves. The overall tone is again that mix of how males misunderstand the dynamic of a relationship in a rueful, though often unaware, circumstance. That lack of awareness and misapprehension is perhaps best summed up in the song I’m Leaving You (After You’ve Thrown Me Out). This is the last track on what is an enjoyable collection of twelve melodic and vigorous tunes.

The remainder of the band consists of Al Gordy, Teddy Herrmann, Roscoe Miles and Renny Nave on keyboards, lead guitar, bass and drums respectively - all also contributing additional vocals. They constitute a tight and unified combo, all having a similar vision. The title songs feature fiddle and keyboards to glorify the use of the plentiful food sources available on a busy backroad or highway. Eva Reed duets on the song Last Call At Closing Time and it is, for that reason, another standout track and example of a contemporary take on a classic male/female interaction. The underlying element of humour is a part of that track, as it is in the somewhat ill-natured Body Snatchin’, “let’s go body snatchin’ tonight, as the med school Is paying half for each corpse” is the off colour message. There is a punkier sound to Slab City with a description of a town on the edge of law and order.

Having to deal with other people’s children appears to be what Rug Rats delineates, “they should be at home taking naps, as any sane person would know”. The tale told in Rob Me A Bank is pretty much in the title of this 'get the loot and run' tale. Their take on the classic r’n’b song is given a run out with (Lick Your Wounds On) Route 99. In a somewhat more subjective look back at growing up and what the taste of a Daddy’s liquor might leave in your mouth is where Daddy’s Poison leaves us. It is another track that gives you an idea of how this would be fun in a live venue.

Otherwise, Dead Buzzards is an example of one of the many regional bands building up a local reputation and give their best with their individual perception of a rockin’ country sound that they describe in a nod to the early Who with the Maximum C&W poster. Scrape this one off the tarmac for a palatable musical stew!

Stephen Rapid

Meghan Clarisse Shadows Of A Ghost Town Self Release

Described as a personal perspective on life, viewed through a sense of the West as a place of exploration, as well as the spirits that surround you in reality and in their sense of the past. The songs were all written by Clarisse and realised by Don Richmond who recorded, mixed and mastered the album. It uses the touchstone of bluegrass and country throughout, with pedal steel and dobro acting as a pointer to the each tangent. Overall Clarisse takes a non-literal lyric, allowing individual interpretation of the exact meanings on offer. Her website has the welcome inclusion of the lyrics, which show the more poetic nature of her words.

For instance the lines in Desert Run conjure place but also personal perceptions: “On a dry and dusty trail / You're feeling desperate, full of fear / Tumbleweeds blowin’ nowhere / You're both looking for a place to disappear”. Then on the pedal steel led Here I Am Again the words suggest a beautiful but fruitless situation “Your heart made of steel / I just can't make you feel / But here I am again.” On the very traditional sounding duet with Richmond that is The Catch That Got Away, she balances her higher voice with the deeper tones of Richmond. It also blends the pedal steel with fiddle and banjo to create a very enticing song and album standout. Desperation seems a large part of the intense sense of isolation that is The Ballad Of Lily Mae, perhaps underscored by lines like “It only got worse / Started thinking she must be cursed / With no way to live She's got nothing left to give / Thinking of the babies she lost”.

That sense of sorrow carries on through these songs, that hint at, rather than detail, what are the actual tales but rather they capture the essence of the story. Like on Never Going Home, we don’t know the plan but we know the possible consequences. “Two stolen horses and pitiful plan / They were never gonna let us get by / Said a love like ours was a shameful crime / I'm not one to run from a risk.” More upbeat then is Strong, that feels like there is a hope to be had if you have the ability and strength to just keep on. “When you've had all you can take / Between the rocks and a hard place / Don't lose your drive / It's just one step at a time … Hold on strong”

“Spent some time in the Mojave / Lit a fire in Joshua tree / Wrote out all the things you never were fed/ the fire your effigy”, are echoes of the desert and the lives that crossed paths with it in The Ghost Of California. The twelve tracks close with another that appears to be a more positive title in Life Of The Party which is, in itself, a tribute to another soul,who may well have been the man of the title. “So l hiked up here to reminisce / And maybe cry just a little bit / Feel what my heart can't see / Pour one out for the life of the party.”

Alongside these songs the assembled players do much, under the guidance of Clarisse and Richmond, to bring these ghosts to life. Of particular mention however is the dobro and pedal steel playing of Todd Clayton, simply because it is at the forefront of these arrangements - but kudos to all. This is an album that should be given the time to listen to, as it reveals its nuances with each play. It is not one that will suit all tastes, but many will enjoy the journey it takes.

Stephen Rapid

Meghan Hayes Latecomer Cranky Heartburn

The final track on Nashville-based Meghan Hayes’ 2019 album SEEN ENOUGH LEAVERS was simply titled Story Of My Life. It wrapped up an album of personal and observational struggle, landing on a note of guarded hope. Hayes’s new ten-track album deepens those themes, confronting the past six years’ personal upheavals, post-pandemic fallout, and a shifting political climate.

 ‘You can fly or you can fight. Either way you’re hiding, the sun’s gonna chase you through the stars at night’, Hayes sings on Unlock the Door, labouring under self-doubt and denial. A co-write with Mando Saenz, weeping pedal steel by Paul Niehaus adds to the deeply melancholic song.

 Picking up the thread of powerlessness, the title track features Hayes’s vocal and acoustic guitar, her voice approaching breaking point as she speaks for the forgotten, helpless, and underprivileged. This theme continues in Tornado, where Megan Palmer joins on backing vocals and Fats Kaplin on fiddle. Possibly inspired by the 2020 East Nashville tornado, this song also hints at commentary on the political landscape in Hayes’ homeland and farther afield.

 ‘Grief has been my default, sorrow my first friend. Please, please, saints and angels, let your kingdom have an end’ she pleads in I’m Getting There which, in a similar vein to Story Of My Life, the closing track on Hayes’ last album, does offer a glimmer of hope. On this occasion, Hayes closes with the song Work, accepting past losses and tribulations, and preparing for the long road ahead (‘And the rest of our life, this is the punch line. Back on the run and all this work to be done’).

 LATECOMER explores the grinding realities of pain and complexities of real life, presenting an intense, brutally frank album. Hayes possesses the wherewithal to craft exceptionally moving songs and delivers them in a soprano vocal that perfectly matches their subject matter, and she has succeeded once more with flying colours with her latest record.

Declan Culliton

Emmylou Harris Spyboy New West

Originally released in 1998, SPYBOY, named after Emmylou Harris’ backing band, was a fourteen-track live album featuring cuts from a twenty-five-date tour in 1996 and 1997. The band had been formed to reproduce material from Harris’s 1995 Daniel Lanois-produced cutting-edge album WRECKING BALL in the live setting. It consisted of Lanois on guitar (temporarily), Daryl Johnson on bass, and drummer Brady Blade, with Buddy Miller, who co-produced the album with Harris, replacing Lanois.

The initial release of SPYBOY was by Eminent Records. Like WRECKING BALL, it pushed Harris into more experimental territory, while also featuring selections from her extensive back catalogue. This revisited New West record includes an additional five tracks with the inclusion of Tom Petty’s A Thing About You, Bob Dylan’s Every Grain Of Sand, Bill Monroe’s Get Up John, Lucina Williams’ Sweet Old World, and All I Left Behind, written by Harris and Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

After country radio gave little or no play to her excellent COWGIRL’S PRAYER album in 1993, and because stations excluded several ‘older’ artists, Harris ended her mainstream country career with that record. Instead, she boldly departed from her traditional folk and country roots with WRECKING BALL, which, while alienating some followers, also introduced her to a wider and younger audience. This shift led Harris to pursue a more experimental path, resulting in RED DIRT GIRL in 2000, where, she wrote or co-wrote eleven of the twelve songs on the record. SPYBOY captures that sonic shift perfectly, with gritty renditions of Deeper Well, Where Will I Be, and All My Tears, alongside more familiar deliveries of Boulder to Birmingham, Wheels, Tulsa Queen, and Love Hurts.

SPYBOY represents Emmylou Harris at the most transitional and arguably most creative period of her career. It cemented her reputation as more than just a silver-tongued vocalist with a sharp eye for covers. She was also a major player, though not always credited, in the alt-country movement of the mid-'90s, which rallied against country music becoming entirely mainstream.

Revisiting this period in her career is a joy; Harris’ vocals are sublime, and she’s backed by a killer band that never puts a foot wrong. It catered to both her hardcore country fans and others brought on board by her more progressive musical direction, and with the addition of five extra tracks, it’s a ‘must have’ for any serious roots music collector, most of whom would already own the original recording.

Declan Culliton

Jeremy Pinnell Decades SofaBurn

A road warrior who seldom has time to rest due to his touring schedule, DECADES finds Jeremy Pinnell expanding his musical repertoire. He now includes 70s-styled blues and rock alongside his customary gritty country sound.

The gospel-tinged opener Barabbas, about the Biblical figure reinventing himself after past misdeeds, may be self-directed. The closing track, Pink Champagne, is equally first-person and as ‘country’ as the record gets. Elsewhere, Pinnell turns bluesy with the raunchy toe-tapper Too Much Sugar. Save You, about two young lovers drawn together by addiction, is a straight rocker with Eleanor Whitmore adding backing vocals. Dallas, sounding like something from Rodney Crowell’s songbook, is a hooky gem with driving rhythm and a killer guitar break. Ironically, it was inspired by a gig Pinnell played in Houston to an audience of one (‘and he asked to pray for me after the show!’ Pinnell recalls).

The pleading and quite stunning Set Me Free could be directed at an estranged lover or a plea for release from addiction. Resurrecting lost love also raises its head in Stuck In The Rain, and Come Home To Me holds a forgiving hand out to forsaken friends and lovers.

The record was recorded in one week at Steakhouse Studio in Los Angeles. Shooter Jennings produced it, played organ, and provided backing vocals. Pinnell’s vocals were recorded live, accompanied by Chris Masterson and John Schreffler (guitars), Ted Russell Kamp (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), and Eleanor Whitmore (fiddle and backing vocals).

‘I've been releasing records over a 10-year span. People change so much within that time, so why shouldn't the music change, too?’ explains Pinnell. The changes are not dramatic, but the results are significant, triggering Pinnell’s strongest album to date.

Declan Culliton

Micah P.Hinson The Tomorrow Man Ponderosa

‘It hit me that all I was doing was writing about my previous relationships and situations, and that meant I had nowhere to go. How can you progress as a human being into the future if all you're doing is writing about all the shit that chains you to the past?’ confesses Memphis-born artist Micah P.Hinson, referring to his latest studio recording.

Consistently intriguing and thought-provoking, it’s fair to say that the material in Hinson’s ten-album back catalogue was never a Saturday night listen. THE TOMORROW MAN, although equally dark and questioning as his previous work, refocuses his lens from personal matters to more universal challenges.   Alongside that variation in subject matter, Hinson performs the songs in crooner style, with rich orchestral arrangements that, on first listen, may camouflage the thorny questions many of the songs ask. That admiration for the classic crooners raised its head in 2009 with ALL DRESSED UP and SMELLING OF STRANGERS, which included reinterpretations of songs performed by Frank Sinatra and Roy Orbison.

Dividing his time between Europe and Texas, THE TOMORROW MAN was recorded in Spain, Italy, and Texas, with the production duties carried out by Italian Alberto ‘Asso’ Stefano, who also worked on Hinson’s 2022 album I LIE TO YOU. The rich orchestral arrangements on this album, conducted by Raffaele Tiseo and performed by the Benevento Orchestra, give the material a gloriously uplifting dynamic.

Written during a challenging period when Hinson considered abandoning his artistic career, the songs find him wrestling with infatuation, heartache, and pain, without descending into self-pity. He opens and closes the album with different takes of Oh Sleepyhead. The first is upbeat and optimistic, a rallying call; the last is less bullish, bordering on acceptance of defeat. Though Hinson claimed past relationships would be excluded, the self-critical I Thought That I Was The One, verging on dark humour, concerns exactly that. One Day I Will Get My Revenge also finds Hinson looking back at past let-downs. Think Of Me, presented in a voice at near breaking point, is simply divine. Take It Slow may be self-directed, as the writer prepares for personal liberation. The countryfied The Last Train To Texas, complete with mariachi-style horns, is both intoxicating and mournful.

This album finds Hinson giving himself a reassuring hug, casting away the shackles, and accepting himself for what he is, faults and all. Journeying from desperation, through pain, to final freedom and release is at the heart of what is his strongest recording in quite some time.

Declan Culliton

Craig Edmonds View From This Side Self-Release

A novel project from South London, U.K. artist Craig Edmonds. Not only did Edmonds write, produce, record, perform vocals, and handle all instrumentation on the album, but he also designed the artwork and packaging. A VIEW FROM THE SIDE is his third album, and it genre hops from prog to power pop and folk to psychedelia.

The four press photos that accompanied the album show Edmonds with acoustic and electric guitars in hand and behind a drum kit, donning dark shades and looking remarkably like a young Brian Wilson. Whether deliberate or otherwise, that Beach Boys vibe raises its head on the album’s title track, which closes the twelve tracks on the record.

Edmonds dashes from the sunny Laurel Canyon sounding From Me Again to the poppy Autumn Flowers, at times mirroring the work of Syd Barrett and elsewhere dipping into early Genesis territory. Two lo-fi thirty-second inclusions, I Feel More Me and Faded Photograph, are a flashback to the 1960s when artists like The Beach Boys and Paul McCartney stepped out of their comfort zones and slipped similar ditties into their albums.

The overall mood of the album is one of an artist steeped in the sounds of the 1960s and early '70s, and the results are quite spectacular in places. Don’t expect to find this album on the top shelf of your HMV store, so check out the options on Bandcamp to have a listen.

 Declan Culliton

Terry Klein Hill Country Folk Music Self-Release

One of the few advantages of being an independent artist is the option, finances allowing, of recording an album and getting it out for public consumption within a short period of time. This is the case with HILL COUNTRY FOLK MUSIC, the fourth album from Texas singer-songwriter Terry Klein. Recorded over three days at the beginning of August this year, the eleven-track album is released three months later.

Lonesome Highway’s introduction to Klein was his 2019 album TEX. Sagamore Bridge, the outstanding opening track on that album, drew this writer in on first listen, and the other songs on the album lived up to the promise of that opener. GOOD LUCK, TAKE CARE (2022) and LEAVE THE LIGHT ON (2023) followed and received equally complimentary reviews from us.

In keeping with his previous recordings, Klein’s latest record combines previously unrecorded songs, often revisited when requested at his live shows, with material written more recently. In the time-honoured troubadour tradition, despite the time difference between the newer and older songs and the varying dynamics in their delivery, they work seamlessly together.

As with his previous two albums, Klein worked with celebrated producer and guitarist Thomm Jutz (Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, Connie Smith, David Olney). The studio core band was also the same, consisting of Tim Marks on bass and Lynn Williams on drums. Other contributors included Justin Moses on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin, Finn Goodwin-Bain on piano and organ, and Scotty Sanders on pedal steel.

Storytelling that is very much in the present, Try opens the album on a positive, upbeat note as the protagonist defiantly dusts himself off and prepares to turn over a new leaf. The same song, retitled Try Again, bookends the album, with a slower, weary vocal that hints at despair over the current environmental and political chaos, yet vowing to carry on regardless. Dealing with a friend’s suicide, If You Go offers a helping hand to those barely sustaining themselves (‘This is for whoever needs to hear it, if it makes a difference, I don’t know. You’re loved, you’re loved, you’re loved, and someone’s gonna miss you if you go’). Mortality and the crippling acceptance of terminal illness are articulated tenderly in My Next Birthday (‘Yes, I hope the party’s big and it goes late, when they remember me on my next birthday’).

A palpable sense of anger is presented in Hopelessness Is Going Around which tells of a father and decorated war hero, whose small business is bought out by a large corporation, ending his days in a nursing home, with little by the way of entertainment except watching Fox News (‘ Now dad’s in a nursing home watching right wing cable news. He likes the way it makes him feel, couldn’t care less if it’s true’).

It's not all cheerless; a playful sensibility runs through both I Used To Be Cool and The Job Interview Song. The former, a hook-heavy affair, reflects on the passage of time. The latter is a typical engagement between an interviewer and an interviewee, who could literally relate to the character in the former song, going through the motions (‘You and I are the same Pawns in a rich man’s game’).

It's ‘business as usual’ for Klein with his latest project. Impeccable songwriting, splendidly articulated and supported by suitably sympathetic players, combine in an instantly rewarding listen.

Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Ella Spencer Oregon self release

Brought up in Suffolk, where her father started the Maverick Festival in 2008, Ella Spencer has been exposed to roots music for as long as she can remember. Now in her mid-twenties and living in London, she has become ‘one to watch’ in indie-folk circles. Classically trained in piano and viola during her childhood, she is a multi instrumentalist favouring piano, guitar and banjo these days. A friendship with the much underrated musician Jerry Joseph developed initially through the Maverick festival, and he has become a mentor, resulting in her visit to his Portland, Oregon base in 2024 to record this EP.

I Never Told You About Oregon, written during an earlier visit to Oregon, deals with loss and coming to terms with it. ‘There’s a bruise on my nail from Oregon/every day it gets closer to oblivion’ refers to the passing of her grandmother during that visit, and how Spencer dealt with the pain, which coincided with the gradual fading of a finger injury. Opening with just her vocals and piano, it gradually builds with guitars, drums and backing vocals to a powerful tour de force, with Spencer admitting that ‘I don’t miss you/I just see you in everything I do’.

There’s an air of menace emanating from the start on Warning Signs, opening with Joseph’s resonator guitar along with Spencer’s acoustic guitar, over her distinctive deep and resonant vocals. Possibly a metaphor for a relationship that went wrong, it’s rich in imagery of stormy weather but we are left somewhat in the dark as to its meaning, the sign of clever song writing.

Interestingly, the title of Scotty’s Tyres came about accidentally when Spencer recorded a voice note of potential lyrics as she passed her local tyre centre! Co-written with Canadian artist Poesy, it concerns the disintegration of a relationship (‘I can feel the wind it’s blowing/touching everything in your room’) with unfinished threats (‘And I really want to slash your tyres set your car on fire/ And that’s something I still might do’). The obvious hurt and regret are infused with a hint of the possibility of salvaging the once passionate liaison.

The three main tracks above were recorded in The Panther studio in Portland, the home studio of Steve Drizos, who also contributes percussion, guitars, synth and backing vocals, and co-produced with Jerry Joseph. Joseph himself also adds guitars and backing vocals. The bonus/fourth track is a stripped back version of Scotty’s Tyres recorded in London with Michael Smith.

Ella Spencer has plans to return to Portland to record more material soon. Check out this superb EP as an introduction to the work of an artist who we will be hearing a lot more of. 

Eilís Boland 

Luke Bell The King Is Back Thirty Tigers

There has been a long history of musicians who have dealt with and, at times, succumbed to addiction. At the same time, until reasonably recently, mental issues - often inherent in the associated aspects of that lifestyle - have received less coverage. Luke Bell died after an accidental fentanyl overdose in August 2022 at the age of 32. Although he had a career that had suffered some setbacks, he was gaining respect and fans for his music, particularly for his 2016 self-titled and only officially released album. It may have seemed, after his death, that there would be no new music from Bell, but friends and family have worked hard on this posthumous release of 28 tracks, recorded at various times over the last few years. They are a testament to a talented singer and songwriter. They are more than just demo recordings and largely featuring a full band. There are few better ways to celebrate the positivity of Luke Bell’s music, which has the potential of a much wider reach than any other format or single tribute performance. The release includes full liner notes, especially one written by his mother that is heartfelt and outlines Bell’s ongoing struggles, as well as his successes.

The album opens with Rattlesnake Man and it has the rollicking feel of early 1950’s honky tonk, something that was brought home when I heard Hank William’s I Saw The Light, slightly out of context, in a movie soundtrack recently. That feel, for this listener, continues in many of the featured songs from the first section of the album. This set of tracks (Side A) were cut in The Bomb Shelter in November 2013, and the choice of Andrija Tokic as producer on these tracks only serves to emphasise that direction. There some great songs like Don’t Mind If I Do, which features also some fine harmony singing from Kiki Cavazos. Lone Gone Love and Black Crows are also great performances. The players here are also spot on, like the rhythm section of Jimmy Lester and Dave Spicher. Also among those adding to the overall feel are Stephen Daly on guitar and pedal steel and the fiddle of Avery Bright, while Micah Hulscher is the keyboard player. These seven selections are taken from a previously available independent album, DON’T MIND IF I DO.

The next set of recordings (Side B) were recorded around a year later in October and December and again in the Bomb Shelter with Tokic back behind the desk. Some of those contributing to these selections differ from the earlier tracks, with Carter Brallier and Ryan Elwell on bass and drums. Stephen Daly plays electric guitar and Casey Driscoll is on fiddle. Mark Sloan is on keyboards and the steel player is Leo Grassl. Here the mood has moved on a few years, with a sound that is still pure country but with more of a 60s feel overall. More electric twang prevails and the vocal has a layer of warmth and confidence. Again some great songs in Dark House Of Fools, Ready For Love and All I’ve Got. Relationships and how they can ebb and flow is the overall lyrical theme. The final songs on this section again move on a year to the end of 2015. The assembled players are largely the same and the two songs again are reflective of that additional year and conviction in Guitar Man and Hand to Hold. The former is of a gentler persuasion, wherein he reasons that being a guitar man is destined to be his role in life. The guitar and keyboards are featured prominently under a subtler vocal from Bel,l seeking to be understood. The latter is one that could have easily found favour in a different environment in radio, then obsessed with a very different notion of what constituted ‘country music.’

The same set of players are featured on the next number of cuts (Side C). These tracks were from the same 2015 sessions as the previous two songs. Blue FreightLiner is about travel and some degree of feeling lonely, and it has some strong steel playing. Bell’s neighbourhood and friends are the subject of Hard Time, but it also has some old school yodels in a Jimmie Rodgers’ style update. Life, love and work as the constants are components here, if I read the songs right, in the likes of the bluesier Roofer’s Blues. Stag is given a more uptempo and upbeat arrangement, suited to its subject of a man going out and ‘acting single’ and wanting to avoid some aggravation from his love.  River is a more keyboard-led ballad with an effective harmony vocal from Cavazos and show how they were collectively stretching out at the time. This section finishes with the track Bottom Of The Sea which fits that sense of exploration with a subtle rhythm and some light touch guitar from Matt Menold. It was produced by Justin Francis and offers another perspective on where Bell might have explored.

The final set of songs (Side D) were taken from a series of Nashville sessions in 2014, all produced as the previously mentioned track by Francis, at what became know as the Tin Dog Sessions. These include the title track of the album (which was laid down a year later). It is assertive and advises to “hold your hat, the party’s on, the king is back.” Peter Lindberg and Brailler handled the rhythms and bass with Bright on fiddle and guitarist is Menold. Irrigator’s Blues again has Bell featuring on harmonica, with a nod to the blues. Orangutang has a touch of Roger Miller about what is a seemingly light-hearted delivery, that is also memorable. The last song from this set of recordings is Waste Of Time, with a freewheeling Bell vocal. The final three songs were all recorded in a private home in 2016. In some ways it is a return to the early hillbilly sound of the earliest cuts on the album. Stephen Daly is listed as producer and guitarist, with Elwell and Brallier listed as joining in. Seven And Strong, The Party Song and Tiger’s Mouth all finish off the album in upbeat fashion.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this music and it is great to have it in the world. Though I would have appreciated it as much without knowing of the tragedy that preceded it. It is also an acknowledgment of how, despite the physical and mental pressures which many people (artists, musicians and others) face in their lives, there is creativity to be found and while not everyone is able to be in the position of having such a testament as to who they were, this is something special. So, long live the king.

Stephen Rapid

The Autumn Defense Here and Nowhere Yep Roc

The opening track, The Ones, from the latest recording by The Autumn Defense is a six-minute gem and a dizzying country rock and classic pop crossover addressing deeply felt losses. Beautifully arranged, it also defines what John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, the founding members of the band, do so well. 

Eleven years since the release of their last studio album, FIFTH, the band return to their sun-kissed and deeply melodic Laurel Canyon signature sound with HERE AND NOWHERE. The brainchild of Stirratt of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame, and his close friend and Wico member Sansone, this eleven-track record seldom strays from their harmony-drenched and lush sounds that date back to their 2001 debut album, THE GREEN HOUR.

Recorded at Creative Workshop, Nashville and spaced over three years between Stirratt and Sansone’s other recording and production projects, the other contributing players were long time rhythm section of James Haggerty (bass) and Greg Wieczorek (drums, percussion), alongside a host of guests including Brad Jones, Jim Hoke, Matt Combs, Austin Hoke, Jennifer Kummer, and Steve Tyska.

From the string-infused classic pop In The Beginning to echoes of The Byrds in I’ll Take You Out Of My Mind and Hearts Arrive, they don’t put a foot wrong. Things take a more countrified slant in Raven In The Wood, and the unrushed More Than I Can Say is an intoxicating ballad. The niceties and relevance of love in a mixed-up world are considered in Love Lives.

Showcasing their flair for melodic songs that are so easy to access, The Autumn Defense have triumphed once more with this record. It’s another noble effort by the band to keep the heart and soul of the flourishing Los Angeles sound of the mid-to-late 1960s alive and kicking.

Declan Culliton

Joshua Hedley All Hat New West

Christened ‘Mr Jukebox’ for his capacity to roll out four-hour sets of classic country covers effortlessly at Lower Broadway’s Robert’s Western World, there is a lot more to Joshua Hedley’s credentials than simply a singer, fiddle player and country music historian. Since moving to Nashville from Naples, Florida, over two decades ago, Hedley has worked alongside several residencies in Music City, serving as a session player and touring musician with numerous artists before recording his debut album, MR. JUKEBOX in 2018. That record recalled the classic country sound of the 1960s and was followed four years later by NEON BLUE. 

Inspired by the passing of Joe Diffie in 2020, that album was a tribute to 1990s country, which Hedley described as ‘The last bastion years of country music.’ Maintaining his genre approach to writing and recording, ALL HAT finds Hedley turning his attention to country and western, jazz-influenced, Western Swing.  

Never one to do things by half measures, Hedley hooked up with nine-time Grammy award winner and frontman of Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Benson, who undertook the production duties. The recording was the first to take place at Benson’s new studio, The Bismeaux Barn in Austin, Texas, with Asleep at the Wheel players and celebrated fiddle player Jason Roberts all contributing.

Of the eleven tracks, nine were written by Hedley, the others being a co-write with Brennen Leigh, Crawlin’ Home To You, and the Ernie Newton-written Boogie, Woogie Tennessee. Good time dance tunes often laced with humour include Fresh Hot Biscuits, written by Hedley the night before the recording, and the playful All Hat, No Cattle. Other highlights are the jazzy waltz Crawlin’ Home To You, and the meticulously performed instrumental Hedliner Polka, which sounds like it was borrowed from The Texas Playboys' songbook from the 1930s. Ray Benson takes the lead vocal in Stuck In Texas and the slow-burning love-lost Over The Line bookends the album.

Hedley’s devotion to Western Swing dates back to when, at fifteen years old, he recorded his own Bob Wills tribute album. ALL HAT spectacularly recaptures all that sparkles about the genre and sticks religiously to the style that made it so popular in the Texan dance halls and further afield.

I’ll leave the last words to Hedley, ‘This album is my pièce de resistance. It’s all been building up to this moment. I feel like I’m making music I love more than any other style.’ 

Declan Culliton

Todd Snider High, Lonesome And Then Some Aimless

‘Humans are just awful, and I feel like I’m one of the worst ones sometimes‘ says Nashville-based anti-hero Todd Snider, tongue in cheek, or maybe not. 

Often considered a heartbroken troubadour, Snider has been surviving on the edge since the release of his debut album SONGS FOR THE DAILY PLANET in 1994. Revered by his peers and despite recording classic albums like EAST NASHVILLE SKYLINE (2004), PEACE QUEER (2008) and AGNOSTIC HYMNS and STONER FABLES (2012), the self-destruct button often appeared to deny Snider the opportunities for the recognition his songwriting warranted.

Plagued with chronic back pain that has prevented him from touring for a number of years, the lasting impression is that the album’s title accurately reflects his current state of mind. Snider's friends rallied around to assist with the album, most notably his close friend Aaron Lee Tasjan, alongside Robbie Crowell and Joe Bisirri, who are credited as co-producers.

It's not an easy listen; several of the songs play out like demos rather than the finished article, and Snider’s cracked vocal deliveries are rawer and raspier even by his standards. The less skeletal tracks, like the Chris Robinson co-write While We Still Have A Chance and the title track, both, unsurprisingly, the two singles that preceded the album’s release, are vintage Snider. The former is a piano-led cry from the heart (‘I know how lately I’ve been walking you crazy, but I’ve been saving and I got my eye on a little car. And just as soon as I save enough more money, I’m planning on taking you way too far’). The latter is a glorious self-deprecating tale of regret, set to a bluesy back beat.

‘I can’t please anybody that loves me, anymore than anyone I know,’ Sniders imparts in the semi-spoken The Human Condition. That air of self-censure also raises its head in his reworking of Don Covey’s 1971 soulful Ain’t Nothing a Young Girl Can Do. Re-christened Older Woman, it loses the playfulness of the original and instead gives off an air of desperation. Stoner Yodel No.# 2 (Raelyn Nelson) is a four-minute-plus rant directed at a named ex-girlfriend (‘She’d picked some guys in Gene Simmons side band over me. He ties bandanas to his belt loops and hangs them all the way down to his knee’) before wrapping up the record with a slight glimmer of hope with The Temptation To Exist.

Snider’s writing has never been sunburnt and blissed out, but HIGH, LONESOME AND THEN SOME is a challenging listen at times. It’s a ‘warts and all’ update of Snider’s state of mind and body, melancholic rather than uplifting. Hopefully, his headspace and spirits will improve, but in the meantime, it’s a relief to find that his creative juices continue to flow.

Declan Culliton

Signe Marie Rustad Do You Know Something I Don’t  Die With Your Boots On

‘I wanted to find out what impact the energy and love from an audience in a live setting can have on a studio album, ’ explains Norwegian singer-songwriter Signe Marie Rustad, on the brave move to record her latest album in one take in front of a live audience. DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING I DON’T was recorded in Oslo Konserthus, Lille Sal, on May 23rd, and the seven-track captures the blend of folk, roots and pop that has become the cornerstone of the Nordicana music genre in recent years.

The backing musicians that joined Rustad on the recording were among Norway’s finest players and included regular members of her backing band, Bjørge Verbaan (piano), Alexander Lindbäck (drums), Sander Eriksen Nordahl (guitar), and Njål Uhre Kiese (bass). Guests included Solveig Wan, who co-wrote three of the songs; Stine Andreassen of The Northern Belle and Silver Lining; and Live Miranda Solberg, whose stage name for her solo project is Louien, and who is also a member of Silver Lining.

A recurring feature of the talented artists and bands emerging from the Norwegian music scene is the quality of the vocalists, and Rustad’s vocals certainly live up to that accolade. Opening with the beautiful piano-led title track, the album pays homage to the wide musical influences that shape her. The tracks travel through alt-folk (Conformities Of Life, Everything They Said About You) to percussion-driven pop (Just What We Asked For, Tell Me Something True, The Line) and closes with a remodelled and more peppy offering of the title track.

From the minimalistic to the fully blown, the melodic intensity created by the musicians and the quality of both the lead and backing vocals make this record a most impressive listen.

Declan Culliton

Mariel Buckley Strange Trip Ahead Birthday Cake

EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE (2022), the second studio album from Canadian artist Marial Buckley, featured highly in our albums of the year at Lonesome Highway. STRANGE TRIP AHEAD should further bolster Buckley’s standing as one of the most exciting artists emerging from the Canadian alt-country/Americana scene in recent years.

The latest album does not stray too far from the model that worked so well previously for her. Observational songwriting, often relationship-related and always brutally honest, a driving rhythm section, and soaring vocals are once again the order of the day.

The production duties on EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE had an exclusive Canadian feel to it.  Buckley engaged Marcus Paquin, whose previous work included collaborations with fellow Canadians Arcade Fire, The Weather Station, and The Barr Brothers, to oversee that project. For this album, she travelled to Nashville to record with Jarrad K (Ruston Kelly, Lucie Silvas, Fancy Hagood, Goo Goo Dolls) at his home studio, Chateau Noir.  

An artist with the capacity to deliver bleak themes in an upbeat and melodic manner, the opening track Vending Machines is a case in point. The harsh reality and downside of a touring musician, compounded by the absence of a soul mate for support, are expressed frankly. The instantly catchy Swimming Practice addresses self-discovery as a non-heterosexual teenager and the resulting emotional turmoil (‘I had just shaved my head, felt like nobody loved me’). On first spin, Anvil may play out as a typical ‘tug of war’ relationship story, but a closer listen reveals the maternal desire for children, on one side of the partnership.  Further soul-searching songs, like the self-deprecating Sick of Myself and the recalling of sexual predatory behaviour in Somewhere Else, continue the forthright song cycle on an album that is seldom short on drama but is equally a deeply satisfying listen.

As was the case when I previously reviewed Mariel Buckley’s work, comparisons with Kathleen Edwards spring to mind in STRANGE TRIP AHEAD.  In a similar manner to her fellow Canadian, Buckley has the capacity to present deeply emotional matters with a hook-filled sound that draws the listener in and holds their attention from start to finish. The title may be a pointer as to what to expect when you first listen to this record, but it’s also a trip well worth venturing on.

Declan Culliton

Shawn Williams Acoustic Sesshawns Self-Release

New Orleans native Shawn Williams’ songwriting has invariably focused on matters of the heart and, in many cases, issues of the flesh. Unbridled desire was at the forefront of her striking WALLOWIN’ IN THE NIGHT from 2022; the content and rawness of that record recalled Marianne Faithfull’s classic album BROKEN ENGLISH. The following year found Williams in a more reflective mood but no less enraged with SULKING IN LOVE. Her latest recording is an acoustic eight-track collection, recorded by British-born Canadian resident Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young).

Does the acoustic setting find Shawn Williams in a more relaxed mood and steering her thoughts towards social commentary or environmental matters? Of course not. From the get-go, we are told of unreciprocated love in My Baby. Aired in a vocal that’s approaching breaking point, Williams pours her heart out about her loss. Recollections of that affair could also be the background to Love Is and Only One On My Mind. The brooding Where We Start, the album’s longest track at over five minutes, is the standout track. It’s not all agonising over lost love, either. The bluesy Good Time finds the protagonist dusting herself down, donning the gladrags and heading downtown for her next adventure.

Williams is in fine voice throughout and is as convincing a storyteller as ever. Whether the tales are garnered from real life or observational, they continue to populate eyebrow-raising territory, delivered in what she labels her distinctive ‘alt-rocka countrybilly, serial killer blues.’ 

Declan Culliton

The Prickly Pair Self-Titled Self-Release

What started as students at USC/Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, when Irene Greene and Mason Summit teamed up for a class assignment, progressed romantically and eventually to the formation of The Prickly Pair, for this East Nashville-based couple. Their self-titled debut EP is a harmony-drenched, five-song set of well-constructed, easy-on-the-ear compositions.

 Capturing the richness and mood of polished harmonies, the love ballad Winsome Loser Some Game is an impressive opener. Spreading their lens wider, Swamp Angel looks back on the tortured life of folk-hero Helen Spence, who avenged the murder of her father by shooting dead his killer in the courthouse at his trial. A fleeting love affair and its inevitable ending are at the heart of Riverside, and Never Any Good is a twangy tale of a no-good drifter. I doubt that D.B.Cooper, the alias of an unidentified Boeing 727 hijacker who was never caught and brought to justice, has previously been the subject of a song, but Piece of the Sky, the album’s final track, uses his mystery and disappearance as a study of detachment and exile.

The sonic terrain into which this EP falls is that ever-expanding Americana genre. Greene and Summit’s vocals are perfectly placed and work extremely well together. Alongside cleverly written songs and graceful arrangements, they sound like a couple who know exactly what they are doing. I’m interested to see what comes next for The Prickly Pair. This short introduction points to a duo with a very bright future.

Declan Culliton

New Album Reviews

Heather Little Even Better Now CRS

EVEN BETTER NOW is an appetiser by Texas-born, singer-songwriter Heather Little, before the release of her new studio album which she is currently working on. The recording features remodelled versions of several songs that were included in Little’s acclaimed 2024 album BY NOW. The revisited songs include additional input from like-minded artists that were approached by producer Brian Brinkerhoff (Nathan Bell, Shannon McNally) to refashion the original recordings. Also included are four solo studio recordings by Little that will be featured in their fully fleshed shape in her forthcoming album.

It was welcome news that Little returned to the recording studio after a ten-year break from the release of her 2013 debut record WINGS LIKE THESE from 2013. An exceptional songwriter, hugely regarded by her peers, she has had her songs recorded by Sunny Sweeney, Miranda Lambert (I Don’t Love Here Anymore was the standout track from Lambert’s 2005 album KEROSENE), and Keith Urban. By her own admission, her writing is primarily autobiographical. With three failed marriages and a career that began in her mid-teens, she has accumulated many life experiences to write about.

The songs that also appeared on BY NOW include Sunset Inn, which features Hannah White on backing vocals and recalls a traumatic period in the writer’s life that necessitated leaving home and taking shelter in various medium-term rented rooms and shelters. Bones is injected with even more atmosphere than the original version by the contribution of Irish traditional band Fourwinds, and in particular the haunting concertina input by Caroline Keane. Retaining that connection with Irish artists, the title track includes vocals by Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy, and Nicola Joyce of Galway-based band, The Whileaways. Stefan Prigmore shares vocals with Little on the sorrowful ballad Razor Wire.

Tinged with sadness, the stripped-back acoustic solo Just Like Trains and She Knows are powerful stories of helplessness and abandonment. In contrast, there is a sense of defiance and fearlessness in Won’t Be Sorry.

If Heather Little’s album from last year, BY NOW, passed you by, you are well advised to check this one out. Her accolade as a ‘songwriter’s songwriter’ is well earned. Still, she richly deserves to be recognised well beyond the music industry, and this, and last year’s record, could well be the stepping stone for much wider recognition.

Declan Culliton

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band New Threats From The Soul Tough Love

Harking back to an era when bands like Lambchop, Okkervil River, 16 Horsepower and David Berman’s Silver Jews were challenging mainstream country and rock music with what was tagged Alt-Country, Ryan Davis has been treading a similar path. Described by the late Berman (during Davis’s former days as band leader in State Champion) as ‘the best lyricist that’s not a rapper going,’ that accolade still rings true in his more recent mission, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band.

DANCING ON THE EDGE from 2023, with a title that precisely describes the essence of the album, was Davis's return to songwriting following a five-year pause.  A seven-song collection that ran for over fifty minutes and ranged from good-humoured rambling banter to fearful observations, it could have slipped under the radar, but fortunately, it earned consistently positive reviews. NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL follows a similar format and is equally intriguing. Again, the record features seven tracks. This time, it’s fifty minutes long and, like its predecessor, requires a fully attentive listen, with headphones advised and ideally in one sitting.

‘I left my wallet in El Segundo; I left my true love in a West Lafayette escape room. She had the kind of smile to get a blue swine in trouble,’ Davis tells us in a relaxed voice on the title and opening track. It’s as close to a love song, although without a happy ending, that Davis has penned, and Catherine Irwin of Freakwater, one of many guesting contributors, adds well-placed harmonies.  The woozy Monte Carlo/No Limits, sounding like a collage of songs pieced together, also confronts a fizzled-out romance, and former, less complicated times are considered in The Simple Joy (‘And life was a safe if you could crack it or not…’Till I grew up and started living alone’), Will Oldham adds his vocals on this track. A contrite Davis confronts these failed liaisons in the countryfied Better If You Make Me (‘I can change for the better, if you make me’).

The semi-spoken delivery in Mutilation Springs adds to the dark message contained within the song, like a desperate look out of a half-opened door at the unfolding carnage that threatens to take over (‘Forsaken punks flip for police force work, And worse, then gift their king horse’). Mutilation Falls that follows three tracks later does little to lift the gloom or introduce an iota of optimism, (‘They waste no flowers on our graves but pray where our remains are really at. They pray for the beauty queen but more so for her parents’).

There’s no happy ending on the album either. Crass Shadow (At Walden Pawn), which brings the tales of unbridled despair to an end, finds its author clinging on for dear life as what may be a final wave of helplessness threatens to smother him.

Very much an inkling of what lies in Davis's inner mind, with gorgeous arrangements that add a degree of lightness to hard-hitting lyrics, NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL is a riveting listening experience that I’ll be returning to many times in the near future. 

Declan Culliton

Kirsten Adamson Dreamviewer Last Day

'I'm not the person that I'm not, I'm not the thing you think you got. I'm just a complicated fool, like any other Joe, I'm a little hung up on my life,' announces Kirsten Adamson in My Life, the opening track on her second solo album, DREAMVIEWER.

Adamson’s 2023 record MY LANDING PLACE was a deeply personal affair, opening the album with two heartfelt songs directed at her parents, No Other Mother (‘You’re like no other mother – and you’re mine’) and My Father’s Songs (‘But I never knew my father, 'Til I sang my father’s songs’). Disappointments and troubled times also got an airing on a number of brooding ballads on that record. That theme of soul searching and meditation on life’s challenges is also at the heart of DREAMVIEWER.

As the album title suggests, it includes phantasmal-like narratives but also some plainly spoken bittersweet hindsight. If the opening track is a stout-hearted, 'this is me, warts and all,' Adamson drifts closer to shifting trains of thought elsewhere in the record. A case in point is the striking song In The Next Life, which camouflages a deep-rooted thought process with a jangly, power-poppy arrangement. That tempo is matched in the punchy and hugely impressive Back Seat Driver, a tale of pipe dreams and high hopes thwarted by life’s grinding realities.  Enhanced by Joe Harvey-Whyte's weepy pedal steel, Perfume is a cry for the return of childhood innocence and the casting off of self-imposed shackles.

Fond memories of cherished times in a relationship, sadly exhausted, are revisited in Valley and the Pines ('Wipe the tears from my cheek, wind on through the valleys and the pines. Some scars are too wide to heal in a lifetime'). The title track closes the album on a hopeful note, bookending a project that journeys from remembrance to yearning, but ultimately with an undercurrent of resolve and inner strength.

Recorded at Karma Studios in London and produced by Joe Harvey-Whyte, Adamson was joined by her backing band The Tanagers, Jon McKenzie, who co-wrote nine of the album's eleven songs, on guitar, Fred Abbott on Hammond, piano and backing vocals, and the rhythm section of Scott Forsyth and Richard Anderson.

Whether intentional or not, Adamson's Scottish lineage shines brightly across the album. Her splendid and natural vocals thankfully avoid any adopted accent, and Harvey-White has her voice perfectly placed in the mix. I also get echoes of a range of artists from the folk leanings of Eddie Reader to the melody of Teenage Fanclub and the Celtic rock of her father, Stuart Adamson's band, Big Country. All in all, an album that packs a hefty punch by an artist whose work gets better and better with each recording.

Declan Culliton

Rosy Nolan Main Attraction Self Release

Proving that the Los Angeles alt-country scene is continuing to thrive, we have Rosy Nolan and her new album. Ten tracks that offer a pleasing look back at how the music of that region developed from earlier times to today. A part of that journey was drumming in an all girl punk band at the age of 15, which was a time that inherently meant a lot to her. Later she widened her vision, getting into a scene that was more founded in techno and electronic music. All the time keeping the energy and anger of punk at her core. She grew up around music, theatre, and circus, activities her father was immersed in during her childhood and that remain a part of her performance. His leaving the family when she was young also marked another life-changing time in her upbringing. That nomadic musical search eventually brought her to country music, its history, and self-relating songwriters like Lucinda Williams. All of these were formative for her.

The album starts, as it means to continue, with Dead On The Vine, which, as the title suggests, doesn’t hold much hope for a current relationship. This theme will be consistent throughout the album, as it has been in country music songs for a very long time. A shuffle it allows Nolan’s voice to be upfront and surrounded by fiddle and upright steel. The fiddle (by Julian McClannahan) with its old-time feel is a key to the sound here and again drives How It Feels To Fall In Love. Utilising a more acoustic sound, it stands out with a strong vocal chorus, and Dirk Powell's addition of accordion helps to emphasise its expression of love. She wrote this track with fellow artist Ted Russell Kamp. 

Also sounding like it came from a lost 50s album is Them’s The Breaks. Despite the downward nature in calling out many male preconceptions in Get On Me that often emerging in internet exchanges the deliver is upbeat. The feel of the music is effectively a contemporary take on that more acoustic country that was prevalent in the 40s and 50s. It actually sounds quite refreshing in this era of male-dominated turbo country, definitely more California than Nashville or Texas. The sole cover is the Hazel Dickens-written " Don’t Put Her Down You Helped Put Her There which uses Powell’s accordion as a prime part of the instrumentation. It also relates to Nolan’s strong feminist attitude and involvement, which remains with her, along with other commitments important to her sense of justice. 

The album finishes its outing with Bad For You, wherein she expresses a sense of what loneliness and often loss can come to be a way of looking at what life’s cards have dealt you. She may feel that she is the one who might be bad, but all too often, it is the other way around. This is Nolan’s debut full album. She produced it alongside Heather Ann Lomax and Jason Hiller (who also engineered it) in Electrosound Studios in L.A. Doc Brown (guitar and steel), Doug Organ (piano), Ryan Posner (double bass), with Jim Doyle and Kevin Brown (drums and percussion) all played their part as did the various singers who also added their vocals.

Other than the cover songs and the co-write, the songs are all written by Nolan. She has gone back in some ways to come forward in terms of her chosen sound, but she has incorporated all the good and bad things that have happened along the way, as well as all the different locations she has lived in, into her songwriting, which is the main attraction here. With an EP behind her, she now has the freedom to explore herself going forward and, hopefully, in the time-honoured way that California country has always been such a rewarding route.

Stephen Rapid

Sparkle Carcass Maraschino Chevy Self Release

This is the second release from the Chicago based honky-tonk four piece. The band is led by singer guitarist Cody Palmer with his wife vocalist Reilly Downes, Justin Frederick on bass and drummer Aaron Vincel. Also involved here are Jeff Lyman on steel and lead guitar, Julie Nichols on organ and on one track Palmer’s mother Tammie Messick adds piano - so something of a family affair. Palmer also produced this straight down the line set of songs suitable for the local bar and honk tonk but also making an album that is enjoyable in the recorded format as well.

There are eight tracks that include a cover of the late, great honky tonk icon Gary Stewart’s Single Again. This is sung with conviction by the husband and wife

with an uptempo hardfloor feel that does the song some justice. From then on its is a solid run through of the other seven tracks, that all feel that they’re going to the right places. The songs are slices of life and leisure, from the clear message of Sippin’ On A Cool One through to the appeal for a relationship to carry on through all that might occur, good and bad, in Not Ever, as in 'not now, not ever’. Trying to drink some memories away, a honky tonk staple, is summed up in New Year No You. The title track is the real gem here, a story of a baptist preacher father and the wish to own the car of the title, Maraschino Chevy. It has a solid beat, some nice steel and guitar interplay, and shows the band off at its best. Following closely behind is the harmony laden Rainy Day Head, “been livin’ on water and bread” doesn’t sound too promising a lifestyle but the song itself is. Caldwell County has some nice piano to give it that extra texture, contributing to the build up to a strong finish.

I have some doubts that the band name actually best describes what they do, which, on this evidence, is something they do well. This may not seem, on the surface, to be that different from a number of other local area bands, but that is not to downplay that it is a purposeful and well played bunch of songs from a band that sound like they would be well received in a small bar setting. Palmer is a convincing singer and songwriter with songs that deal with life on the road, love in less than easy times, and facing life in Chicago in the wake of the pandemic and other problems. This though is also balanced with humour and hubris, indicating that although this is their second album, there is a lot more music in them to come as the rev up and move on down the highway.

Stephen Rapid

Bill Scorzari Sidereal Days Self Release

Those acquainted with Scorzari’s previous work will be familiar with his grizzled and raspy, gravel hewn voice, which is always placed above a well thought out and pleasing set of arrangements that are cinematic in outlook. Scorzari’s often poetic lyrics deal with acute observations from a personal perspective, that are in context both often painful but also true-to-life affirmations of the positive. The songs here appear, from the credits, to have been written over a period from 1995 to 2016, but ones that Scorzari thought their time had come and he set about recording them from 2020 onwards, initially recording his contributions in his home studio in New York. Later, further embellishments were recorded in studios in Nashville. For the uninitiated perhaps think of Sam Baker (though that might not really help too much for those who are equally unaware of the latter’s work), or perhaps consider a touch of Leonard Cohen at times, a not so melodic voice placed against a detailed and revealing set of arrangements.

A dozen musicians or so have contributed alongside Scorzari’s multi-instrumentalist input, and that includes drummer and percussionist Neilson Hubbard who handled the production duties with Scorzari. The album opener All This Time incorporates a string section and it balances that distinctive semi-spoken vocal with a subtle pedal steel. Suffice it to say that throughout the album these characterisations are apparent in the consistent level of music contributions. Some may take issue with Scorzari’s vocal delivery, it is true. yet it is the element in these songs that is their humanity and focus. It’s also true that on Endgame he pushes his delivery and sings it with some gusto.

The ten featured songs vary in length from under two and a half minutes to over eight minutes, and while they are all lyrical interesting it is sometimes hard to catch their full meaning and insight devoid (on a review copy) of the lyric sheet. These however are helpfully available with the commercial release. Lyrics are an important part of Scorzari’s music, but it is the overall combination of lyric, voice and musical accompaniment that creates his vision and attraction for the listener. Each of the songs has an individual story to impart, such as And Carries Me Away where the instrumentation is suggestive of travel, particularly trains. By contrast, in Can’t Break This Fall the subject is more self-realised and about the notion of falling in love. This consideration of relationships and their many and varied interpretations is also there in Borrowed Hearts. Scorzari is generally not one to write songs of simple brevity but he does,on occasion, as in From Your Heart. Less than two and a half minutes in length, this country styled song, which still uses his full set of assembled players, is as convincing as many of the those that take their time in revealing their depth.

As with all reviews the real themes and meanings of the lyrics are Scorzari’s, my considerations are simply my take on them - which is perhaps not a bad thing as it allows the listener to play their part. It is another prodigious release that will find its fans - both old and new - and demonstrates that Scorzari is among a group of artists who have produced lasting work and will continue to do so while staying well away from the fickle mainstream spotlight. Explaining his choice of title, Scorzari writes “I liked the concept of a pure descriptor of the moment when something returns to where it had previously been, without consideration of how it was otherwise moving.” A second volume of these reworking and reimaginings of earlier material will be available in early 2026. If you enjoyed this volume, then you will await the next with some anticipation.

Stephen Rapid

Caroline Spence Heart Go Wild Self Release

Album number six in a run that has produced some enthralling music from this gifted artist. This new offering is absolutely beautiful, with production qualities that expand into hushed soundscapes in the delivery of these twelve songs. The listening experience is both intimate and spectral and Caroline Spence has a lovely voice, residing in the high register, at once inviting and endearing in the meaningful words and honeyed vocals.

Leading off with the superb Confront It, a song of self-analysis and self- doubt, which wrestles with gaining meaning from the vulnerability experienced in negotiating life ‘It never left, You carry it with you, It walks around keeping the score.’ Interestingly, in a departure from her more introspective songs, Soft Animal is an example of the new approach, mixing it up with the sound almost bordering on a rock groove, and a look at breaking free from the norms ‘Do you know how hard it is these days, To take a step against the grain.’

The lovely melody that runs through Effortless belies the message of striking out against expected behaviour ‘It’s not right yet, But I know that I’m doing nothing wrong, Not changing my tune, Just because they haven’t played my song.’ Perhaps a reaction to her time spent with Rounder Records and their expectation for an artist to fit into a corporate box. She has since severed her links with the record label and followed her aspirations toward a different vision.

Why the Tree Loves the Ax is trying to recapture something that has been forfeited; perhaps in a relationship, or with the loss of innocence – ‘Sometimes we want something, That is good for nothing, Just because we miss wanting, Something all the time.’ Again, the words are so carefully sculpted and portray deep emotion in such a graceful way. Where the Time Goes is just beautiful, a love song with time suspended ‘Oh I’m finding myself, Lost in the moment, Don’t know where the sun is, But every hour is golden now.’ The use of synthesizer and programming is a new departure in stretching out the sound palette and it works superbly well.

Another song that revels in wedded bliss is The Sound Of You and the gorgeous tone of Caroline’s vocal against a soft melody of piano and pedal steel ‘Oh a wordless melody, Oh the only thing I need.’ Caroline is now a young mother and the new experience of parenthood informs Dried Flowers, Old Habits with the changes in her daily living perhaps reflected in a new form of identity ‘Why am I this way, Waiting on the perfect way to change, A sure-fire way to let your colours fade.’

The title track Heart Go Wild is a search for new inspiration to appear ‘I heard before, That you want what you can’t have, But I want it all, Never wanted anything so bad.’ Fun At Parties is a pure joy, and as close to a commercial sound that Caroline has come to, the rhythm creating an earworm, along with the lyric ‘All I wanna do is dance, And be carefree, but I just can’t – I wanna be, but I’m not gonna be, fun at parties.’

Vulnerability in love is beautifully captured on Heart Like A Mirror and the sweet surrender to honesty in communication ‘All my life I’ve only ever dreamed, I’d hold someone this close to me, All this time I thought I knew myself, But you’ve reflected someone else that I’ve tried not to be, Love is daring to be seen.’ The message on Leaving Now is the need to rediscover what has been lost, perhaps stifled creativity? The temptation is to reference her label split again with the artist fighting against being pigeon holed ‘It was noise, now it’s music. My saving grace, you called it useless, I went above, I went beyond, To change your mind ‘till I got lost.’

A highlight is the final song Where the Light Gets Through and it is a dedication to a lost friend with a reflection on missing their presence ‘But it still feels empty, This place you left behind, Still everything about it, Brings you to my mind.’ No question, Caroline Spence has delivered something very special here, and without doubt one of my favourite albums of 2025.

Paul McGee

Ed Dupas Codename California Black Bear

“Go West, young man” is an oft-used phrase when it comes to striking out for change and new horizons. In the case of Ed Dupas it was something of a reunion to return to the state of California where he had originally been conceived. His family had settled in Texas but there was always an emotional tug pulling Ed back to the hills of the Golden State.

The journey undertaken was a pilgrimage of sorts from his home in Ann Arbour, Michigan to a small residence in Laurel Canyon. Following the death of his father in 2019, Dupas hit a creative wall and in dealing with the grief encountered in the loss of a parent, he then found himself caught up in two years of forced seclusion as a consequence of the Covid pandemic. So, a time to take stock and to reflect upon the journey taken, and the road that stretches out ahead.

The opening song, and album title, is Codename California and it’s fair to say that the place he had longed to revisit was long since disappeared. This is evidenced in the lyric to Barbed Wire Cross on the reflection “The sun’s going down on better days, So we’re sending our prayers from far away, Through the twisted streets of broken glass, To the folks sleeping underneath the overpass.” The separation between the haves and the have-not’s just keeps getting bigger and wider each year.

Another consequence of time and the Covid experience is the sense of isolation that is now palpable in the eyes of lost souls wandering around our cities, all looking for connection. With the song Box Of Lonely Men Dupas captures this cry for help perfectly in his observation of a local bar ‘When the whiskey flows like wine, You get everybody feeling fine, Till it’s closing time,’ and the patrons leave to return to their solitary routines. The need to get lost for a period during his grief is mirrored in Ready To Be Found and the admission ‘I’ve been paying the bills in the Hollywood Hills for a while, Living without care as the world out there runs wild, Yeah, I had to turn off the news just to find my smile.’

There are relationship songs that profess the love shared between two spirits bound in time and both Queen Of Hearts and My Only One give hope for the future that is not necessarily found in The Great Shutdown which captures the distance found between us politically when ‘Red or blue is the only thing to choose.’ Elsewhere, The Medicine is a song about addiction and the need to try and cope from day to day ‘I’ve been trying for so long to pick myself up off the ground, It’s probably the medicine that’s been bringing me down.’ When you get dealt your cards, it’s not always possible to play a strong hand.

Perhaps the philosophy expressed in Holy Land is all we can cling to ‘And walk the path of peace, my son, like a river flows, Try to be a North Star to the world when the cold winds blow,’ and the song emerged from a chance encounter at a truck stop with a man of God. This is the first album in six years and Ed Dupas sounds really authentic in his vocal delivery and heartfelt words. Think Steve Earle as a signpost to this new direction and sound that Dupas has shaped.

The final song is Angel and it seems to channel the loss of a loved one, perhaps his father, in the sentiment that we are never alone and someone, once loved, lives on in our hearts ‘When I was a child, You’d softly smile, Into my dreams, Once in a while.’ Ed Dupas has bridged the gap between finding himself born again and that sense of being lost which existed. The musicians are all trusted friends from earlier albums with Michael Crittenden co-producing, in addition to playing various instruments.

Drew Holland on pedal steel, lap steel and dobro adds plenty of great moments in his playing and Tony Pace also appears on lap steel and dobro. The rhythm section of Rob Avsharian on drums and both James Connors and James Simonson on bass is quietly assured and vocal contributions from Drew Nelson, Chip Habitz and Caroline Barlow are full of colour. Ed Dupas takes all lead vocals, writes all the songs and plays acoustic and electric guitars with a  knowing ease. Impressive on many fronts, a great sounding band record and one that comes with much to offer.    

Paul McGee

Holly Carter Leave Your Mark Self Release

Holly Carter is a singer-songwriter and multi-award-winning instrumentalist who has established a reputation as one of Bristol’s leading fingerstyle guitarists and as one of the UK’s only professional female pedal steel players. So informs her website upon an initial visit and this album is her full-length debut.

The album was recorded at Middle Farm Studios in Devon and apart from the obvious skills of Carter, the other musicians are Joe Wilkins (guitars), John Parker (double bass), and Matt Brown (drums, percussion). The songs were recorded live in the studio with Peter Miles in the producers chair providing an organic sound to capture the interplay between the musicians.

The ensemble playing is superb and Holly sings in a voice that is somewhat reminiscent of Natalie Merchant in its restrained quality and unhurried tone. The ten songs display a keen sense of place and time, from the cover of Joe Hill’s Where the Fraser River Flows seeking union rights for workers, to the tribute to activist Stetson Kennedy who successfully exposed the Ku Klux Klan’s racist activities in the 1960s.

The opening song What You See concerns our splintered society and the inclination to only see one side of any opinion ‘Every different kind of lens makes a different kind of sense.’ The instrumental Morewen is timeless in its beauty, capturing the purity of acoustic instruments, gentle percussion and double bass lines that echo the great playing of Danny Thompson at his intuitive best. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a lazy country bike ride on a summers day. The jazzier flow of He’s A Man is something of a jaunty ride that exposes the failings of the powerful and blinkered powermongers that eat up so much of our shared oxygen. There is an atmosphere to Follow Your Lead that suggests an insecurity in decision making, where perhaps an easy route taken is better than making waves, whereas the slow blues of Idle Eyes is a sultry swing through the choice of going with the flow of life.    

Out To Sea is a standout track with atmospheric pedal steel wrapping a melody that conjures up earth and sky on a horizon that stretches into the distance. This is a fine album with superbly executed songs, understated and sonorous in the delivery. Worthy of your attention.

Paul McGee