The Desert Bandits Self-titled Self Release
This is a debut EP from a band who define their sound as Trans-Atlantic Americana. The five songs featured are really engaging and the ensemble includes Greg Kelso (guitars, mandolin, piano, keys, bass, backing vocals), Jim Russell (vocals), George Falconer (drums) and Stewart Logan (pedal steel). At a Cinema Near You is excellent, with pedal steel and mandolin adding to the predominant fiddle playing in an up-tempo arrangement. Love Shines Through laments hard times in a relationship where things are winding down, the pedal steel weeping through the slow melody.
The music project was born in Scotland with Greg Kelso and Jim Russell, a song-writing partnership in Stirling, who called upon George Falconer to add his drumming talents. The pedal steel, which is a highlight throughout, was supplied by Stewart Logan from Louisiana. When he’s not making music, Stewart runs a business enterprise that provides top name entertainment booking and event production services, something that has been a passion for a number of years now.
The sound is very much old school country and the five tracks go by in fifteen short minutes on a very pleasing breeze of fine melody and understated playing. The Wrong Man is a slow, bluesy number that laments a lost opportunity while Wave Goodbye is another slow tempo with restrained interplay among the musicians and a hope to endure beyond a current relationship.
The Boy I Used To Be is another sorry tale of time changing a relationship and the hope that the past can reinvent itself into the future. It has a more commercial sound and the instrumentation sparkles with electric guitar, mandolin and pedal steel all blending well together. The band invited Gram Rea to contribute and he appears on two songs, his fiddle playing enhancing and expanding the sound, while Mike Munro added backing vocals. The whole project was certainly worth the long-distance collaboration and the logistics involved.
On a sad note, I learned that Jim Russell passed away earlier this year, leaving behind these songs as a legacy to his life in music and his involvement right up to the time of his death. If there are other songs featuring Jim’s fine vocals then I’m sure they will surface on future releases but for now the band will carry on in his honour.
Review by Paul McGee
Mike West The Next Life Self Release
Country music is alive and well in the hands of this talented singer songwriter from Rock Ferry in the Wirral peninsula in England. An experienced musician who played in different bands, West began his solo musical journey in 2016 with the release of a live recording that would eventually turn into his debut EP, RUSTED, a year later.
There have been three further EP’s along the way but with the release of this album, Mike West has come full circle. This is acoustic based Country Blues of the highest standard and the great passion and restrained power in the vocals display an earnest desire to communicate on all levels with the listener. West is also an accomplished guitar player, in addition to his skills with harmonica and bass parts. His strong musicality is augmented by Travis Egnor (pedal steel, slide guitar) and Amy Chalmers (violin).
Recording took place at Kingwood Studios in Liverpool and these nine songs display an impressive understanding of the dynamic involved in balancing authentic expression with emotions against an anguished yearning and hopes of respite from the pain of living.
There is a live feel to these tracks and a sense of the recordings being the result of an on-the-floor session. Paul Miceli-Fagrell was the guiding hand with recording and mixing, in addition to providing harmonica, with the overall result yielding a very positive listening experience.
Songs like What If, Company I Keep, No Grave and The Next Life have an urgency and tension in the delivery, while Away I Go and For Them are played with more restraint in delivery but not in passion. The ensemble playing is a joy throughout with gentle violin playing above the pedal steel/lap steel that intersperses with guitar and harmonica to great effect.
Also a writer of comics, short stories and flash fiction, interestingly, West allows his music to be fully sampled on his website https://mike333west.com/music generously giving the option to also purchase, which is something you should do without hesitation.
Review by Paul McGee
The Brothers Landau Haven’t Got A Name Self Release
David Landau (cello, vocals) and Daniel Landau (guitar, vocals, baritone guitar, dobro, banjo, ukulele, percussion, clarinet, keyboards) are the siblings involved in this 5-song project. Joining them in the studio is Kevin Milner (pedal steel), with recording taking place at Precarious Rock Studios in Los Angeles, CA.
On the promotional sheets this EP is described as “an introspective look into what it means to exist and how to coax negative emotions into a more inspiring self-reflection.” It all sounds very deep and self-absorbed.
Opening with the title track, a dreamy melody carried along by cello, acoustic guitar and pedal steel that echoes into the distance, the easy melody is carried along with hushed vocals. Second song, Steady Joy, is a combination of acoustic guitar, dobro, banjo and woodwind instruments blended into another gentle melody, topped off with cello and all very easy on the senses. A Way Down follows with sweetly soft vocal harmonies, haunting cello, acoustic guitar and a restful, restrained mood.
Departing from the reverie and taking things in a different direction is A Major Jerk, someone who thinks that life is one big movie screen on which to create whatever is the current whim, “I don’t flush the public toilet, And I damn sure don’t wash my hands, Can’t seem to find out how to use a trash can.” Don’t think this guy will survive too well in the post-Covid world.
Monday shows a disgruntled individual who is trying to make sense of his life, “I got out of bed again, to feed the great algorithm, to make myself have a sense that I am doing something good with my life.” These are Interesting songs, well arranged and performed with great confidence and feeling.
Review by Paul McGee
The Mammals Nonet Humble Abode
Ruth Ungar couldn’t have foreseen the current pandemic when she was writing Coming Down Off Summer, the opening song on her band’s latest album. A successful folk/Americana band of 18 years (give or take) and veterans of many tours and festivals, founding member Ungar (fiddle/guitar/uke) explores the mixed feelings probably felt by many artists when the busy summer season is ending - ‘sayin hi to the neighbours, tellin em we’ll be around for at least a while ... what would we do if time stood still in the mornin light? Well, it never will’. But, of course, it did.
Along with her husband and the other founding member, Mike Merenda, they gathered with seven other musicians (hence the album name, referring to a group of nine) in a studio in their native Hudson Valley, NY last winter to record what has turned out to be a stunning collection of songs. Both are strong songwriters, multi instrumentalists and take turns in lead vocals. Neither shy away from wearing their credentials on their sleeves - they are devastated at ongoing environmental destruction, are sociopolitically aware and not in favour of war. Never fear though - they have somehow managed to create a work of uplifting positivity.
Blessed with a beautiful voice, Ruth sings lead on If You Could Hear Me Now, a Dylanesque plea to save the planet, accompanied by Charlie Rose’s barely-there pedal steel and Mike’s acoustic guitar picking. Overall, though, there’s a very West Coast folk rock feel to most of the arrangements - layers and layers of pedal steel, Hammond organ (Will Bryant) and mostly acoustic guitars, anchored by the twin drums of Lee Falco and Konrad Meissner. Merenda’s What It All Is, despite its deceptively gentle musical touch is actually a plea for peace and healing. ‘Still I got a friend buried in Arlington, I guess you got one of em, too? Who died fighting in a war, we’re still not sure what for, maybe oil’ is chilling stuff.
Ruth explores racism in the banjo-led, Cajun and soul influenced Someone’s Hurting. And did I mention the beautiful packaging and lyrics book designed by Carly James and the bonus 5 extra session tracks, which is perhaps a nod to their old time/bluegrass earlier work?
Mike invites all their road weary friends to drop in for rest and recuperation in You Can Come To My House - anyone know the address?!
Review by Eilís Boland
Alecia Nugent The Old Side Of Town Hillbilly Goddess
Best known as a lauded bluegrass singer Nugent, a Louisiana native, has made a return for this album to the more traditional side of country music. Her HILLBILLY GODDESS release on Rounder in 2009 was the last release that focused entirely on that sound. It was produced by her friend Carl Jackson and proved she was a country singer who could stand with the best of them. Now some eleven years later she has a brand new country album and one that places her easily alongside the best of the new upcoming breed of female country singers. This time out she has worked with another like-minded producer in Keith Stegall, best know perhaps for his work with Alan Jackson. The album gathers together a bunch of musicians who were regular names on many of the albums in the 90s - including Brent Mason, Stuart Duncan, Paul Franklin and Rob Ickes - all craftsmen who continue to work in the studio but whose names don’t often appear in the credits of the current mainstream album releases.
This album is released by Hillbilly Goddess Music, Nugent’s own imprint which allows her the freedom to record and sing these songs in a way she feels comfortable with. The songs deal with themes of love and loss in a variety of situations, including sweet reminisces of her father on the co-write with Jackson They Don’t Make ‘Em Like My Daddy Anymore. This song is obviously close to heart and appears also in a bonus bluegrass version on the album. Indeed, elements of that form appear elsewhere in the arrangements alongside the upfront use of fiddle, steel and guitar twang. The title track (written by Tom T Hall) is a call to return to some older values and locations while the more uptempo Too Bad You’re No Good looks at a unsuitable potential partner. Yet it is on the slower ballads like Sad Song that her voice excels with emotion and honesty, a voice that is as suited to this setting as it is to any other.
Nugent is a strong writer who has had a hand in writing five of the nine songs here and who has also chosen to sing some pertinent songs from the pens of such emerging stalwarts as Erin Enderlin (I Might Have One Too Many) and Brandy Clark (The Other Woman - where she goes from being that to being the one facing the other woman). Nugent grew up listening to country music and bluegrass and it is so steeped in her nature that she could really have no other path musically. That she is back making such strong music in the wake of a divorce and the passing of her father highlights the reality of the songs and how they are delivered. She acknowledges Reba McEntire and Merle Haggard as major influences and both I think would recognise her achievement here.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Scott Southworth These Old Bones Flaming Tortuga
A singer-songwriter whose heart and soul is deeply rooted in the honky-tonk. From the first song that mentions steel guitars, broken hearts and Merle Haggard (Steel Guitars & Broken Hearts) you have no doubt as to where his and your affections lie. The title track, while recognising the passage of time, allows that there is life in the old dog yet. Southworth has Buddy Hyatt in the producer’s chair and he gathers a set of players who are conversant with what is required to deliver a top-notch album. There are a variety of names involved which indicates that the album was recorded in a number of different sessions, but under keyboard player Hyatt’s guidance it is consistent on every level.
The writing is all down to Southworth solo or with a number of like-minded co-writers but the essence is pure country, as one would expect from a performer with his track record. He is Nashville-based but leans well away from the mainstream and has many nominations for his work including the Academy of Western Artists Pure Country Album Of The Year and his THE LAST HONKY-TONK IN TOWN was included in UK publication Country Music People’s Top 25 Albums Of The Decade. So there is no disputing his credentials, all of which are revealed in the music he performs onstage and in the studio. Recording in Nashville he has easily absorbed the spirit of Lower Broadway and Ernest Tubb's Record Store. Think of him in the same light as you would Mark Chestnutt in his heyday.
Southworth is equally at home with a duet as witness on Argee To Disagree, one of those back and forth songs that swops insult and affection equally with Jill Kinsey, whose Dolly-esque vocal is the match of Sourtworth’s playful baritone. Maybe he is coming out of this at a time when he is an independent artist on the fringes rather than the major label artist he would most likely have been some decades ago. That however does not diminish that he knows how to deliver a hard-core stone cold country song as he does here, especially with Less To Break, a song that is packed with emotion and a clear album highlight. There is humour alongside the heartbreak that makes you want to share THESE OLD BONES as much as a cure for that condition as any kind of warning.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Victoria Bailey Jesus, Red Wine & Patsy Cline Rock Ridge
Name checking Patsy Cline on an album is a brave move, but to Californian country singer songwriter Victoria Bailey’s credit, she certainly comes up trumps with this hugely impressive album. It follows her 2014 release DREAMER which was credited to the Victoria Bailey Band. Her debut solo full-length album JESUS, RED WINE & PATSY CLINE offers a free and easy style that combines all the key components of old school country music. Bailey’s soprano vocals are crystalline with the perfect splash of twang and are matched by cracking playing throughout the nine tracks on the album, eight of which are written by her.
She also made all the right moves putting the album together. The ‘go to’ man in California for all things jangle and twang, Jeremy Long, was brought on board to produce the album. Long has worked with Michella Anne, Sam Outlaw, Jason Hawk Harris and Alice Wallace in recent years and his production and indeed his pedal steel playing on the album are top notch. Lead guitar is provided courtesy of Eric Roebuck, Billy Mohler plays bass, drums are by Ian Foreman and Philip Glenn adds fiddle and mandolin.
Bailey puts her cards on the table from the work go with the opener Honky Tonk Woman, which was the first song written by her for the album (‘I wanna be a Honky Tonk Woman, I want to write those barn burning songs, I want to feel those pedal steel strings pulling on my heart strings’). Her vocals dip and soar sweetly on the song as she stretches each syllable with gusto. She’s gifted with a voice that’s simply the idyllic channel for classic country and she can also write and compose material that complements those vocals.
The rip-roaring Skid Row recalls a hallowed honky tonk bar in Los Angeles. Bailey name checks Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam on the song which replicates the Bakersfield sound solidly (‘And all this time you thought you had to be from the South, to get a little respect for the old country sound’). Tennessee, written by Johnny Cash, gets an impressive and swinging remodelling, complete with a spoken verse. She returns to the country sounds of Bakersfield rather than Music Row with Spent My Dime on White Wine, Homegrown Roots, Outlaws and The Beginning, which are songs that define Bailey’s ability to reshape retro country music yet apply her own individual stamp.
Listening to the album I’m also reminded of the similarly talented Zoe Muth, who released a series of equally impressive albums, with similar sentiments, but has been taking a break from recording in recent years. Victoria Bailey, like Muth, has mastered the skill of writing deeply melodic songs and singing them with flair and self-assurance.
Bailey is a member of a collection of younger artists that may very well, going forward, become veterans of the resurging classic country scene. The Bakersfield sound runs deep in the grooves of JESUS, RED WINE & PATSY CLINE which, for me, is one of the year’s most impressive and dazzling country albums.
P.S. To pass on her passion for traditional music, Bailey founded the Little Folk Club in 2016, to introduce children in her community to both singing and instrumentation. She has hosted regular early morning sessions in schools, parks and birthday parties and more recently streamed events for children. She also released a children’s album LITTLE FOLK CLUB: SONGS FOR CHILDREN in 2019.
Review by Declan Culliton
Mike McClure Looking Up Self-Release
Oklahoma singer songwriter Mike McClure can boast nine previous albums, two decades touring and production credits for numerous acts including Turnpike Troubadours, Jason Boland & The Stragglers and Whiskey Myers. However, it has been anything but plain sailing for him and LOOKING UP is very much a reflection on an industry that poses untold survival challenges, both mentally and physically, on its membership.
This new album reflects on McClure’s lifestyle changes and awakening over the past few years, which has resulted in sobriety, healing and renewed self-esteem. Given its thread, one could expect a self-indulgent and downbeat late-night listen. Instead what’s on offer is a full on, upbeat album brimming with positivity and defiance.
He co-produced the album at his house in Ada, Oklahoma, with his partner Chrislyn Lawrence, who also adds backing vocals on a number of tracks. He sets his stall out in fine style on the feisty I’m Not Broken, welcoming his re-birth (‘I got a little bit burned out but I’m still smoking, yeah I mighta got bent up as the days got spent up, but I am not broken’). Become Someday and album closer Sword and Saddle come across like mid-90’s Steve Earle both in McClure’s vocal delivery and the musical energy that matches it. The powerful Holiday Blown presents a war veteran, unable to function when he returns to normal life and his subsequent addiction. The song came about by way of McClure’s recollection of his grandfather’s return from WW2 and his alcohol dependency, which in hindsight resulted from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that would have been unrecognised in those times. The track also is a reflection on holidays that went by the wayside due to McClure’s own alcohol issues. The albums tour de force is Orion, a representation of darkness and light, relapse and recovery. It’s a strikingly evocative song with a nod in the direction of Tom Petty.
LOOKING UP finds McClure ridding himself of insecurities and fright and starting a new life with renewed energy and confidence. It’s the beginning of what hopefully will be a happy ending in his life journey and also a compelling listen that you’re well advised to check out.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Northern Belle We Wither, We Bloom Die With Your Boots On
An addition to the burgeoning Nordicana music scene, WE WITHER, WE BLOOM is the third release from this seven-piece band, fronted by singer songwriter Stine Andreassen, who also plays with the folk band Silver Lining. It’s their first album to be released on the international market, influenced no doubt by their 2018 recording BLINDING BLUE MOON having received a Spellemann nomination (Norwegian Grammy). Andreassen relocated to Nashville for three months to immerse herself in the flourishing Americana scene there and to write the material for the album.
Nine of the twelve songs on the album were written by Andreassen, the three remaining being co-writes with non-band members Henry Brill and Josh Rennie - Hynes. The band's sound veers more towards the pop and folk tinged end of the Nordicana musical spectrum, rather than country or roots. The twelve tracks that are on offer here draw on a wide range of musical instrumentation including a string quartet, pedal steel, guitar and the Norweigan Hardanger fiddle, alongside the more traditional instruments. They also benefit from some well-constructed vocal harmonies on many of the tracks.
The arrangements are intricate and the hooks come hard and fast on Gemini, Remember It and Late Bloomer, all of which are radio friendly and slick. They’re equally at home with gentler ballads, Lonely and Love Of Mine are both delicate and free flowing. The acoustic title track bookends the album - at under a minute it’s a statement of hope and rebirth to close an impressive listen from start to finish.
Review by Declan Culliton