JB & Jamie Dailey Step Back In Time Pinecastle
Jamie Dailey is one of the most popular and awarded artists in the bluegrass world, currently as a lead member of Dailey and Vincent, and previously as singer and guitar player with Doyle Lawson. As a child, Jamie was trailed to picking sessions and bluegrass festivals all over Tennessee and Kentucky by his father, JB, and they played together in family and regional bands.
Now it’s payback time, and Jamie has enabled JB to finally record an album. Unable to play guitar and dobro like he used to, due to a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, JB sure can still sing. His favourite bluegrass and gospel songs are featured here in a wonderful collection of eleven songs and two instrumentals. All of the choices are well known standards but they are given a new lease of life by Jamie’s production skills and the host of bluegrass musicians he called in to Colemine Studios. The aim was for ‘no bells and whistles’ but with the likes of Darrin Vincent, Tristan Scroggins, Charlie Cushman and Patrick McAvinue involved, along with Jamie himself, no further fillips were needed.
While many of the songs such as Ashes of Love (Tennessee Mountain Boys), Praying (The Louvin Brothers) and Will The Angels Play Their Harps For Me (Doyle Lawson) are better known as bluegrass songs, here they are given a more traditional/early country feel - with their gentler pace and the addition of snare drum (Bob Mummert) on most of the tracks. JB takes lead vocals throughout, with perfect harmonies from Jamie and Darrin. Their version of It Was Only the Wind (written by Tom T Hall and Louise Scruggs, and recorded by Flatt & Scruggs) is truly poignant, but it is only one of many highlights. They close the album fittingly with the gospel standard Gloryland, a moving a capella 5-part rendition by JB, Jamie, Darrin and guests Jimmy Fortune and Aaron Lee McCune. A labour of love in every sense, and recommended
Review by Eilís Boland
Steve Thomas and The Time Machine All Of These Years Bonfire
‘Where have I been all of these years?’ Steve Thomas ponders in the apt title song from his very first album. In reality he has spent all of his adult life to date as a member of some of the top country bands (The Whites, Barbara Mandrell, Brooks & Dunn) and bluegrass bands (Del McCoury, The Osborne Brothers) playing guitar, mandolin and fiddle. Never a household name but highly rated by insiders, Thomas has finally got the chance to show what he can do and has produced a powerhouse of an album that should appeal widely to fans of Americana. Over a collection of four original songs and a well judged selection of classic bluegrass and country songs, Thomas leads his outstanding band through their own eclectic renditions. The arrangements and instrumentation are always tight but never showy for the sake of it, while Thomas’s warm, rich, and soulful voice is the icing on the cake.
He calls on Del McCoury (another ‘openminded’ bluegrasser) to share the vocals on the aforementioned title track, which he got from The Steel Woods, a Nashville-based Southern Rock outfit. Another former employer, Bobby Osborne, helps out on vocals and mandolin on the Flatt & Scruggs classic We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart and Bill Monroe’s Rocky Road Blues is indeed very rocky here, helped by the addition of snare drum. There’s more than a nod to Thomas’s lifelong love of country in his self-penned ballad Since Love Came Around and in Ronnie Bowman’s My Heart Is Always Headed Back To You. Sentimentality never becomes maudlin in the songwriting here, something that many contemporary country and bluegrass bands could do well to note.
Ironically, a song about an American classic car Daddy’s Twin I-Beam was written (and sung here) by the band’s Australian guitarist, Jason Owen. By the way, I had to look it up - for those non-American readers among us, it’a Ford pickup! Special mention must be made of Josh Matheny who impresses hugely on dobro. Another contender for my end-of-year list.
Review by Eilis Boland
RB Morris Going Back To The Sky Self Release
The new album from the ever interesting RB Morris is right up there with previous albums. His first album was released by Oh Boy in 1997 and TAKE THE RIDE justified his placement on John Prine’s record label. It didn’t quite make the sales it deserved so his next album ZEKE & THE WHEEL was released on the Koch label two years later. The followed up with a third album in 2001. Since then there have been 3 albums prior to this new release. All garnered positive reviews. Morris has an affinity with words and stories and also put them to good use as both a playwright (The Man Who Lives Here Is Loony - a one man play about James Agee which he also acted in) and as a poet (Early Fires and Keeping The Bees Employed are published books of his work).
GOING BACK TO THE SKY is the work of a writer who understands that lyrics are not always poetry in this case they’re evocative pieces of observational storytelling. Songs that fit with the musical accompaniment provided by the assembled players that include such notables as David Mansfield (mandolin, guitar), Bo Ramsey (guitars), Greg Horne (fiddle, guitar and pedal steel), the rhythm section of Daniel Kimbo and Hunter Deacon with a guest appearance from Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson’s renowned harmonica player). The album was co-produced by Morris and Ramsey (an artist and producer in his own right) and mixed by Nielson Hubbard. What they all accomplished feels exactly right and is an album I have returned to on many occasions. It offers the combination of vocals and musical settings totally in sympathy with the story being told. The trumpet (by Warren Byron) in Under The Cigar Trees sets the tone for the border location. Strangely at times it remained me vocally of Ray Davies! Whilst elsewhere there was a hint of vintage Dylan in the vocal tone (That’s The Way I Do). All of which highlights the flexibility of Morris’ vocal delivery, something that is never forced and always convincing.
The opening track Prelude 1 is an instrumental that sets the mood so that from then on the songs unfold as chapters grin a book and the individual songs draw you in to the degree that it is hard to pick out individual highlights from such titles as Red Sky, Old Copper Penny, Missouri River Hat Blowing Incident, Somewhere West, Six Black Horses And A 72 Oz Steak and the title song are imbued with a certain relaxed and laconic humour. However there is no denying that the writer (or co-writers in a couple of instances) has an uncommon affinity with words and common language. “Talk about rambling, talk about gambling / we talked about it all by now / hustled our way from the L&N yards / and we made it this far somehow”. A few lines that say a lot about travel and companionship - from the song Montana Moon.
Morris has not been a prolific provider of albums but when he does it is always worth checking them out and they may seem easy enough to pass over in these overtly media inclined days but if you do you will miss something that is worth getting to know, something that may take you back to a place that Morris encapsulates by noting “Every move that got me by / I took the road that turns into the sky.”
Review by Stephen Rapid
John Lewis His Other Side Atomic Cowboy
The title refers to the Welsh roots music maestro’s first acoustically-based outing that seems perfectly in tune with lockdown days but in fact was originally released in 2015 but has now been rereleased on vinyl. It is his 20th album and is indicative of his talents as vocalist and guitarist. In some ways it puts me in mind of what could be possibly considered as his Scottish counterpart and that is Daniel Meade, especially in this acoustic mode. Lewis’ voice here is strong and purposeful especially when detailing what could be assumed to be insightful details of his life and times on songs like Money Troubles and the less fiscally focused but the equally personally problematic situations out in What Kind Of Love Is This. This theme is also prevalent in It Hurts as evidenced by the opening stanza of “I wish I had an umbrella / to stop the pain life throws at me” a universal enough thought that is followed by the very specific locality of “But like the rain in Wales / it comes horizontally.” Equally tinged with heartbreak and reality is Cardboard Carpeted Doorways. The title sums up the desperation it spells out as it deals unsentimentally with child care and the break-up of a family. It reeks of truth and deep-rooted pain and should not be ignored because of its difficult subject matter. Or the fact that this kind of experience is integral to the person that he became.
That sense of hard times continues, for the most part, on through the remaining eleven songs but the infectious nature of the songs and performance negates a surfeit of negativity. Equally it is something of a testament to Lewis’ skills as he delivers the music, lyrics song arrangements and instrumentation without compromise. The relative positivity of the opening track Waltz Around The Kitchen is bolstered by the harmonies of Imelda May. There are additional contributions apart from Lewis on backing vocals and some drums, bass and keyboards. It was recorded, according to the credits, at Front Room Recording Studios which, I would imagine, underscores the d.i.y. nature and somewhat restricted recording budget. All of which makes the results all the more worthy of praise.
From his days in The Rimshots John Lewis has developed as a noteworthy guitarist who can turn his hand (and fingers) to rock ’n’ roll, jazz and country picking. Lewis has always maintain a heartfelt passion for the music that originated in the ‘50s and before and he manages to do so with conviction and realism that belies has Welsh upbringing without every deny it or pretending otherwise. Long may he waltz around the stage, the studio and even the kitchen.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Surrender Hill A Whole Lot Of Freedom Blue Betty
A partnership in music and in life Robin Dean Salmon and Afton Seekins are Surrender Hill. Both had solo careers before starting this duo who are now releasing their fourth album. Perhaps best summed up as country soulfullness and roots rock though there is more in the mix here. Born in South Africa Salmon moved to Texas and there it is noted he listened to an interesting mix of Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash and a the emerging counter culture of The Sex Pistols and The Clash. He was in a respected band See No Evil and another which he fronted before launching a solo career. Seekins had grown up in Alaska and Arizona two equally contrasting locations. She, initially, worked in the area of dance successfully before making the decision to move back to Arizona where she began putting her journals to music as songs. So while the name is taken from a location in South Africa the musical ethos is rooted a lot closer to home.
So on from the background to this new album. It was produced, recorded and mixed by Robin Salmon who is also a multi-instrumentalist playing guitars, keyboards, harmonica, mandolin and dobro. Afton adds lead vocals, harmony vocals and percussion and they are joined by some guests to produce what is from the get go a positive and pleasing set of songs that uses up, it seems, all the songs that had built up from the last album as there are 18 songs and a playing time of well over an hour. However the standard is kept up pretty well with a lot of memorable songs here from the opening title track and its next cut Turn This Train Around. They can obviously ring the changes over that time as with the slower sultry Winter’s End where Afron takes the lead vocal. Carry On is a ballad again which they take at a mid pace and featuring some dobro with close harmonies. Other songs, like Broken Down Car, veer towards a more obviously twang sound which is equally as effective. There have been some mentions to Afton’s voice having an affinity to Stevie Nicks’. Indeed there is a touch of Nicks and Tom Petty at times in overall feel which is no bad thing (and also echoes of many contemporary husband/wife duos). Lucky Star has some effective fiddle and talks of a father passing onto a son some wisdom.
There are moments of reflection about life and how songs helped to come a person grounded (Healing Song) as well restlessness and the life of a traveling troubadour (Wanderer). I’m Gonna Get It Right becomes a soulful message of intent. There is a link back to earlier times and musical influences with Badge Of A Punk Rock Band. Wearing that badge was a point of honour and identification in a world of jocks and uncertainty although the song is less raucous that one might expect. Live For Today deals with changing times and hanging onto what one has at that particular time. The album closes with The Ballad Of Rebel Wingfield which is a family history story and about growing up through an expectation that was then squandered with bad choices that ends tragically. On this album Surrender Hill have most certainly giving themselves a lot of freedom with this set of songs and they acquit themselves well and this is an album that has a wide range of appeal to a specific audience - which while it may not be massive will find songs to admire among those on offer here.
Review by Stephen Rapid
The Jensen Sisters Yellow Frames Self-Release
Born and raised in Goodridge, Minnesota (population 132), sisters Kendra and Kansas Jensen have covered a lot of ground in recent years, given that they only began singing together at a high school talent contest in 2015. The intervening years have found them touring the Midwest of America, performing original material alongside country standards. They also recorded a mini album HIGHWAY HIPPIE, which charted at the top end of the iTunes charts - no mean achievement for siblings who were still in their teens at the time. Their debut full album follows on from their award of "New Artist of The Year” at the 2020 Mid-West CMA’s. In parallel the sisters have also been hosting a weekly Gypsy Country Show on FM Radio and they have teamed up with a Minnesota based fashion store Simply Boutique to launch their own clothing line.
Both sisters are gifted with glorious voices, Kansas taking the lead vocal, joined by Kendra on harmony vocals and guitar. YELLOW FRAMES contains material that will appeal to followers of award-winning acts such as Lady A, Maren Morris, and Little Big Town. They cover a variety of sonic bases, fusing country with blue collar rock and splashes of bluegrass. On The Fringe and Lightning Rods are straight forward rock songs and both River Song and Beat of a Bad Habit are insightful and polished country songs. Good For You (written by Zac Norton) and Matches are immediately catchy songs, with melodies that sit comfortably between country and pop.
The Jensen Sisters are an act that would be well suited to the C2C touring festival. They describe their sound as ‘new wave retro country’ but in simpler terms they are a well-polished and impressive duo on the margins of crossover pop/country. Their core sound is well suited to commercial radio and they possess the skillset and work ethic to make a breakthrough to the next industry level.
Review by Declan Culliton
Jaunita Stein Snapshot Nude
Singer and guitarist with the Howling Bells, SNAPSHOT is the third solo recording by Australian Juanita Stein. She released her debut solo album AMERICA in 2017 and followed it with UNTIL THE LIGHT FADES a year later.
The material for her latest recording was written shortly after the unexpected death of her father Peter Stein. Stein explains the album’s title as ‘’me clinging to what I have left of him in my mind’’. A founding member of alt-country band The Cahoots, Peter also had his music recorded by numerous other artists, including The Blind Boys of Alabama. Although the album was born from a time of extreme grief and reflection, it is anything but a difficult listen. The material considers loss and the passage of time and is as much a celebration of life, while trying to make sense and come to terms with its passing.
At the core of the album is Stein’s exquisite vocals, often layered and seldom sounding better than on the dream like From Peace or the equally bewitching title track. The powerful Reckoning evokes images of rolling and crashing waves. Stein recalls her carefree childhood on the driving L.O.T.F and bookends the album on the delicate, countryfied and suitably titled In The End.
Ben Hillier is credited with the production duties and Stein’s brother and Howling Bells member Joel adds guitar. Jazz drummer Evan Jenkins from the Neil Cowley Trio and bass player Jimi Wheelwright from Brighton based band Tigercub also contribute. They combine to add exemplary sonic support without ever interfering with Stein’s assured vocal delivery.
The spirit and theme of SNAPSHOT are never far from the surface on what undoubtedly must have been a challenging project for Stein. A melancholy mood prevails throughout but seldom distracts the listener from what is a quite stunning body of work.
Review by Declan Culliton
Mike Ross The Clovis Limit Pt. 2 Taller
The Clovis, like other prehistoric cultures, were hunter-gatherers and the popular theory is that they were the first to settle in the Americas, having journeyed from Siberia across the Bering land bridge, which connects Alaska to Siberia and is now the Bering Strait. They first appeared in America around 9,200 B.C. and vanished 500 years later. Ross also references the author, William Gibson in speaking about history, it’s random course and the veracity of what gets recorded as fact.
Following on from 2019’s Pt. 1 release, the Clovis Limit connection returns with a much-changed focus and a lot harder edge. Gone are the use of dobro, fiddle and pedal steel from the last outing and in their place is a sonic assault that includes some serious rock guitar and synthesizer dynamics against the impassioned vocal delivery of Ross, which borders on angry frustration and outrage at the current frustrations of Brexit, Covid-19, Global warming and everything in between. The only constant is the superb guitar playing that separates Ross apart from so many contemporaries; such a fluent and melodic player who can also cut loose with swathes of distorted, fuzz-guitar when the mood dictates.
This time, Ross uses fewer musicians in the recording process and takes on full production duties in addition to excelling on acoustic & electric guitars, Wurlitzer and Moog synthesizer, fender bass, organ, percussion and vocals. The results are very impressive and the big sound is reminiscent in parts of Lenny Kravitz in full flow, Don’t Say A Word and None Of Your Business being to the fore with soul/funk arrangements. Most of the tracks run into each other, which creates a momentum to drive the music forward and the pace is very brisk. The Only Place You Take Me Is Down is another great example of the blues-based rhythms that populate a number of these songs and the message, just like the aforementioned tracks, could be taken as a broadside against political failings and/or relationship woes. Hammer is the one track not penned by Ross, with Paul Dent given writing credits on a song that references feelings of suffocation in a relationship and at over 7 minutes, a really strong melodic opus that soars and satisfies.
The Americana groove of The Loser is infectious, with a light acoustic arrangement and percussion delivering a message to never quit. It echoes the Black Crowes in both the arrangement and overall vibe. There are two instrumentals, Tell Jerry, all deep groove and hard edge, plus the superb guitar and keyboard flights on Unforgiven, a strong influence rooted in the Allman Brothers sound. The other musicians credited are Ricky Kinrade on fender bass and both Rob Millis and Stevie Watts on organ, with drums provided by Darren Lee.
Some of the songs, like opener Thanks A Lot, have time signature changes, synth doodlings and playful ‘found’ sounds. Leviathan is a perfect example, with the foreboding darkness of the depths conjured into nightmares. Shoot You If You Run is the longest track here, clocking in over 9 minutes and the anger at global damage perpetrated by mankind is augmented by a radio broadcast in the background, on some distant station on the dial, with singular guitar lines echoing the discord of a distorted utopia. There is the bonus of a hidden track, Unforgiven (reprise), with a more up-tempo arrangement on keys/synths leaving fond memories of early Camel and the Pete Bardens/Andy Latimer axis. All in all, a very polished release that excites and engages. Worthy of your time.
Review by Paul McGee
Hat Check Girl Kiss Me Quick Gallway Bay
An eight release by husband and wife team, Peter Gallway and Annie Gallup, who create the most hypnotic, beautifully formed song vignettes, either as solo artists or as a very potent pair. This is soothing, timeless music that gently seduces and invites you into a world that reflects the hopes, fears and quiet acceptance of our fragilities and strengths.
This collection of twelve songs was performed, recorded and given wings in their home studio on the coast of Maine. Annie sings in her haunting, sad tones and plays electric guitar, lap steel, dobro, in addition to her percussion skills of flatfooting. Peter also sings and plays both acoustic and electric guitars, accordion, keyboards, acoustic bass, drums and percussion. They write all the songs and their back catalogue is filled with special music that is worthy of a place in every collection.
How Far Will You Go is a song that ruminates on the secrets we keep and the urge within to follow our own vision; “His stories are gold but they don’t add up, He tells them well but they can’t all be true.”
Second Monday Of The Week looks at the routine in farming life and the need to endure in order to survive; “All we get is what we got, Fix yourself a good strong shot, Give all the loving a good man got.”
The Best Kept Secret in Blue Hill and Everybody Dance and Spin are both snapshots of lives lived in search of something other; the former about a local musician who makes good and the latter, a memory of a tour romance between band members that led to nothing more than just that, a memory.
He Loved Horses is a song about a solitary life that embraces both the great wide open and horses, in preference to a human relationship. Earl Had the Night Shift looks at someone who represents the faceless jobs that real people do without any recognition – “He had a way of moving cool and slow, The softest face, white as a ghost.”
The slow blues of New Old Life echoes the story of a widower talking to his deceased wife and lamenting the twister that killed her and her mother while he was away from the house. One And The Same is a life on repeat where one partner is blind to the reality of the other’s faults; “She closes her eyes. Nobody to blame, What he is and he isn’t are one and the same.”
My Dream Last Night is a moment in time and a feeling when observing a loved one; “The way she is, the way I am, In a summer dress she says kiss me quick.” Memory is a highlight with a wistful spoken vocal from Annie and the tale of youthful romance lost to time; “In the end, I chose you, in the end you couldn’t choose, which, in the end, is choosing, so we cut each other loose.” Such a fragile piece of poetry that hangs in the air.
Moving West is a heart-breaking tale of a family leaving the old home in search of new beginnings, with the sense of the moment captured in the lyric; “It’s been me and you since high school, now we got little girls ourselves, It’s a good old house, hope it’s good for someone else.”
Final track, Kiss Me Quick, and the album title, is a love song of sorts; ships in the night meeting to dull the ache of loneliness. Whether it’s just looking for a smile of recognition in another or just being given the strength to carry on, these songs are laced with both melancholy and unwavering spirit that elevates everything to a place of shared beauty. Another terrific album.
Review by Paul McGee