Delaney has an amazing voice, as deep as Josh Turner’s, but he sings in a more musical and very country fashion, not unlike Alan Jackson. This 6 track EP is, according to his website, his second release. Although Delaney is referred to as a singer/songwriter he has only co-written one of the songs , the humourous You Make Me Wanna.
The production is by songwriter Gary Hannan (Back When I Knew It All) who also co-writes 4 of the 6 tracks, 3 of them with Eddy Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry. Surprisingly, this doesn’t result in the booming drums and homogenized gloss of most mainstream Nashville music, although I do lament the OTT Strat solos in a couple of the songs. A twangy Telecaster would have suited the sound much better.
The songs themselves are interesting, my favourites being Long Black Cadillac (not the Elvis song, this ones written by Daniel Scott Miller and George McCorkle) which has an irresistible groove after a keyboard wash/acoustic guitar opening, Ugly, Lucky and Me which has a slightly Foster & Lloyd feel with nicely sentimental lyrics and Shotgun Wedding which is straightforward but a nice balance between banjo and full band. Although I just am not in love with that screaming guitar sound lads…
Good EP, good enough so that I want the first one and am looking forward to the next one, hopefully a full length album. Great cover photo as well.