John Bowman The Hole Mountain Home
This 6 song EP from John Bowman is a wonderful example of gospel music that can also appeal to non-religious country and bluegrass fans. John Bowman is a graduate of Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver, Alison Krauss’s Union Station, JD Crowe’s New South, The Isaacs and The Boxcars. Now a full time preacher and solo performer, he has collaborated here with five other top musician friends on the six well chosen story songs. Kicking off at breathtaking pace with You Ought’ve Been There (Johnny Run The Pews), it is obvious from the start that Bowman has a deep love of country gospel.
This storm burner was written by family gospel trio The Easter Brothers from NC, and Bowman goes all honky tonk on it, with fabulous electric guitar playing from Kelly Back and rip roaring dobro from Josh Swift (Doyle Lawson). The Hole will be well known from an early Randy Travis record - here Bowman has the vocal capacity to take on this classic, helped by the outstanding piano playing of Gordon Mote and by Mike Rogers on drums. Silverthorn Mountain, from the pen of Merle Haggard, is an outright bluegrass number, and it’s got Aubrie Haynie’s fiddle all over it. Playing mostly acoustic guitar throughout, Bowman takes out the banjo for the closing song I’ll Talk It All Over With Him, which he would have played many times with JD Crowe. Don’t be put off by the rather macabre cover photo depicting the feet and shovel of a man digging a grave - this album is highly recommended and guaranteed to uplift!
Review by Eilís Boland
The Grascals Straighten The Curves Mountain Home
Favourites of Dolly Parton, who used them as her backing band for several years, The Grascals have been one of the most successful bands on the bluegrass circuit since their formation in 2004. They have been awarded a total of a whopping 38 mainly instrumental awards (individually or as a band) from the IBMA and SPGMA, and have guested on the Grand Ole Opry many times.
The title track, penned by Chris Coole of The Lonesome Ace Stringband, is a superb example of the genre - a song to drive to - with star turns from each of the six band members. The equally catchy driving song, Driving my Life Away, is a revival of the Eddie Rabbitt country hit song from 1975, and here the banjo playing of Kristin Scott Benson provides the grooving rhythm alongside founding member Terry Smith on bass. Newest member Chris Davis (guitar) takes lead vocals on his well crafted song Don’t Leave Your Memory Behind, enhanced by the sweet fiddle playing of Adam Haynes, who is an alumnus of several top bands including The James King Band and Dailey & Vincent. Larry Cordle’s song Callin’ Your Name is given a new outing and Becky Bulller contributes the traditional themed My Virginia Mama. Danny Roberts (mandolin) wrote the only instrumental, Andi Wayne, and Terry Smith co-wrote Who Needs You. Some of the other song choices are slightly bewildering given the standard of the writing, however there is enough good material here to satisfy the hard core bluegrass fan.
Review by Eilís Boland
Josh Rennie-Hynes Patterns Self Release
Born in Australia and now living in Nashville, this musician found fame as part of The Ahern Brothers who previously released two well received albums of folk-based songs to great acclaim.
With the twelve songs featured here Rennie-Hynes booked studio time at the Sound Emporium in Nashville and enlisted producer Alex Munoz to create the magic at the controls. Munoz also contributed various guitar parts to the songs with electric,12-string, baritone and lap steel all featuring. Rennie-Hynes plays guitar and harmonica and sings in a voice that has a plaintive tone, well suited to the dream like sounds of Chapter, Caught In A Dream, Borrowing Time and Ghosts (with superb violin from Kristin Weber).
There is a rock-oriented sound to the album with lush guitars, swirling keyboards, pulsing bass lines and driving percussion on a number of songs. The simple arrangement on Stay is a change in style and shows a more rootsy side to this talent and perhaps a direction he will focus on as he grows into his career over the coming years.
Pieces has an early Springsteen groove to the arrangement and the laid-back delivery is very appealing on a number of different levels, head, heart and hips. Equally, All Of Me has the strut of early Tom Petty with attitude to match. Hold Out My Hand and High Road both have all the hallmarks of an Americana radio hit and are songs that highlight the excellent bass playing of Christopher Griffiths, who together with Allen Jones on drums and percussion, anchor all of these tracks in a steady and often creative style of playing. Micah Hulscher provides plenty of colour on organ, piano and synths to the tracks and Erin Rae delivers vocals on the final song, Home To You, which is a stripped back acoustic love song.
Coming in at 50 minutes of listening time, this is a confident statement from an artist who wants to be recognised for the talent that he clearly displays across these songs. Something tells me that we will be hearing more form him in the future.
Review by Paul McGee
Rott’n Dan and Lightnin’ Willy Self-Titled DMA
Rott’n Dan and the Lightnin’ Willy are an acoustic duo who play a style of Country Blues that conjures up images of the old days when the roots of traditional music were being planted deep into the ground. The timeless nature of acoustic blues over the generations is not in question and these two Canadian artists certainly honour the tradition on this debut album.
As a side project, Rott’n Dan and Lightnin’ Willy certainly put a lot of love and affection into these ten songs, with the finger picking guitar style of Lightnin’ Willy (Willy Ryan) perfectly in balance with the creative riffing of Rott’n Dan (Dan Shinnan) on harmonica. They both sing to augment these stripped down, rhythmic tunes and the overall effect is both authentic and impressive.
There are five original tracks that sit very well alongside covers of old artists such as Mississippi John Hurt (I’m Satisfied), Arthur “Blind” Blake (You Gonna Quit Me Blues), Blind Willie McTell (Delia), Sonny Boy Williamson (Good Gravy). The songs that are penned by the duo are very much of the same backyard as these standards and the superb Ragtime sound of My Belle is followed by the Delta groove of Coliseum Station Blues, both displaying playing skills of the highest order. There is a terrific instrumental version of Mercedes Benz (Janis Joplin, Michael McClure, Bob Neuwirth) to bring matters to a close and this is old time roots music which helps you reconnect with what is important in our collective listening experience. It feels grounded, real and quite rightly, a highly recommended purchase.
Review by Paul McGee
Edward Abbiati Beat The Night Self Release
Abbiati is best known as the front man in LOWLANDS, an Americana band that released a number of excellent albums since their debut back in 2008. Here, on his debut solo record, he has collaborated with Mike ‘Slo Mo’ Brenner (Marah, Magnolia Electric Co.) and Chris Pleet to produce a ten-song album that reflects upon a life-changing experience and which delivers some beautifully realised songs touching on mortality, dark days of fear and hope for the future.
What was to be a solo, acoustic record quickly turned onto a full collective experience with Joey Huffman (Soul Asylum, Georgia Satellites), plus Joe Barreca and Jimmy Ragazzon of the Mandolin Bros being joined by Michele Gazich (Mary Gauthier’s violin player), Italian cello virtuoso Simona Colonna, session bassist Antonio ‘Rigo’ Righetti and Lowlands’ keyboardist Francesco Bonfiglio. Others to climb aboard were former bandmate Stiv Cantarelli and David Henry (Yo la Tengo, Matthew Ryan, Rod Picott), who added strings.
The whole project was recorded over a few weeks in Cava Manara, Pavia, Italy and the ensemble playing is quite superb throughout. Reminiscent of early Green On Red or Richmond Fontaine, these very personal songs of facing down serious illness are quite clearly cathartic for all involved.
Tracks like I Got Hurt, Hold Me Tight and In Harm’s Way tell the story of Abbiati’s near death experience, underpinned by the restrained playing of, in turn, Brenner on lap steel, Colonna on cello and Gazich on violin. Three Times Lucky is dedicated to his new daughter, Sofia, with the hope and joy she brings for the future. Worth checking out Folks.
Review by Paul McGee
Norma Mac Donald Old Future Noyes
The title says it all. Norma Mac Donald’s fifth album sounds like it could have been recorded fifty years ago. The Halifax, Nova Scotia resident's last release BURN THE TAPES, was nominated as Americana/Bluegrass Album Of The Year by Music Nova Scotia, and OLD FUTURE could most likely earn similar accolades.
It’s an impressive exercise in keeping things simple and to the point. Strong songs, quality playing and MacDonald’s classic country vocals all excel across the ten tracks. She co-produced the album alongside Dale Murray, who is credited with playing guitars, pedal steel, piano, organ, percussion and bass, together with adding backing vocals.
Essentially a country album in the true sense, it does dip slightly into pop territory on occasions, Trick Of The Light and Temperamental Year being two examples. However, the stand out tracks are pure unadulterated country, delivered by an artist blessed with a simply gorgeous vocal ability. Your Wedding Day (tears on her ex-husbands wedding day) and Some Days sound like country standards you’re convinced you’ve heard before, uplifting pedal steel featuring on both tracks. The latter, a reminder in difficult times of better times on the horizon, includes the line “Some nights you die a slow death by nostalgia.” MacDonald had intended to name the album ‘Death by Nostalgia’, before being convinced by others to reconsider. One Man Band, the first single from the album, is a stripped back affair, impeccable vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar and gentle strings all amount to a beguiling and soothing listen.
The album is indeed nostalgic but in a positive way. Impressively packaged and with the lyrics displayed in the inner sleeve, it circles back to a sound more celebrated in the 1960’s and is a delightful journey down memory lane from start to finish. Simply gorgeous.
Review by Declan Culliton
Miss Tess The Moon Is An Ashtray Rights
Miss Tess is a member of the growing community of talented female artists residing in Nashville. In a similar vein to her peers, she is delivering music from the other side of the track, unlike the often-insipid pop country emanating from Music Row. She has enjoyed a fairly nomadic lifestyle and the influence of time spent in Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn and Nashville are all evident in her music. Her sound is somewhat more left-field than many of her contemporaries, dipping into rockabilly, jazz and blues alongside her retro country leanings.
THE MOON IS AN ASHTRAY is a continuation of her fascination with the sounds and styles of yesterday. Testament to this are both the album’s cover photo and the use in the recording of her trusty 1930’s Weymann Archtop guitar. The title track also pays homage to bygone times. It’s a sultry, slow burning affair which overlaps jazz with country vibes. Gamblin’ Man offers a spikey machine gun vocal delivery - her neighbour Aaron Lee Tasjan comes to mind - complete with a Dr. Feelgood sounding rhythm section. If Western Swing rocks your boat, you’ll be well impressed by I Wanna Be A Cowboy, it’s a piano led number that features Tess yodelling to good effect. The retro sound also features in the standout If You Don’t Know How To Love Me, an old school country affair which combines smoky vocals and wailing pedal steel guitar. One Little Kiss and Human Being are instantly catchy pop melodies, before she swings the album to a close with the laid back and jazzy Riverboat Song.
Recorded at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, the production was a three-way affair between Tess, her bandmate and musical partner Thomas Bryan Eaton and Andrija Tokic (Hurray For The Riff Raff, Alabama Shakes). They certainly succeeded in capturing a timeless and absorbing essence across a most impressive album.
Review by Declan Culliton
Sarah Peacock Burn The Witch Road Dog
That Sarah Peacock is acutely aware of what is happening around her now and what has happened to many people in the past is evident by the title and lead track on this new album, her eight. She is no stranger to this particular game and continues to define her craft and creativity through it. It is an album that sets out a canvas on which she can paint her stories that are as much about attitudes and social change as they are about personal change. That includes having a fire on her tour bus back in 2016 that destroyed everything on board and in its aftermath having the chance to revaluate her role. She came to realise that her music had made an impact on those who listened to and loved her work and who encouraged her to continue. This new album is the end result of that period of reflection and reinvigoration.
The album opens with guitar and electronic sound and Peacock’s convincing voice on the title song that immediately makes an impact as the song relates back to the hypocrisy and horror of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem in 1692. Keep Quiet follows in a similar style, questioning the reasons people are often afraid to speak out. Mojave compares a person “lost in the wasteland of an empty heart” and of that arid desert. A sense of place is also central to Colorado. These songs like many here are wound around a deep sense of melody, delivered through provoking lyrics and a vital voice. There are songs that seek the higher ground such as The One and Take You High. These sit beside the outsider consideration of one who sees the world as the domain of The Cool Kids who bullied at school but ultimately are the ones deserving of pity. That sense of openness and understanding is prevalent throughout the album. Peacock has struggled with combining faith and being openly gay and seeing how those often seemingly opposite viewpoints are not so for many people worldwide. Peacock wrote all the songs here, either solo or with a number of like-minded co-writers.
The album was recorded, produced and mixed in Nashville by Shawn Byrne. He also added guitars, percussion and backing vocals. Over this base was the largely understated but highly effective contributions of Adam Ollendorff on pedal steel, John Henry Trinko’s keyboards, Brian Sutherland on cello and Michael Lucarelli’s strings. A tightly focused sound that is genre non-specific and a product of a wide range of musical influences and life experiences that make BURN THE WITCH an album that should take Peacock to another level and to a wider audience. She is certainly worthy of it with this accomplished and life affirming music that she simply wants her fans to hold her in their hearts.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Hoth Brothers Workin’ And Dreamin’ Self Release
In the best tradition of such named bands Bard Edrington V, Boris McCutcheon and Sarah Ferrell are neither brothers or all boys! What they are is a set of musicians who take their acoustic based music and give it a contemporary shake. They are joined here by Greg Williams whose drumming adds a lot of energy and pulse to the songs. There are some additional voices added to fill out on a couple of songs but as all the principle players are also vocalists, that side of things is well catered for. The song writing is either by Edrington or McCutcheon together or individually. The sixteen tracks and an hour plus running time is generous and they try to bring some variation to the acoustic formula. They share vocals throughout the album with either Edrington or McCutcheon taking the lead for the most point and the others adding harmonies. This will appeal to fans of old time and bluegrass music with the banjo well to the fore in the sound. They also add some electric and baritone guitars to expand the acoustic nature of the songs.
Nature, at a glance of the titles, is a topic to their worldview and lifestyle - Trees Of Heaven, Singing Grass, Flint Hills, Horses Are Made Of Wind and Bitter Frost are a selection of the titles that reference that viewpoint. Some of the songs work strongly in the stripped back setting such as Singing Grass and O Birds Still Sing. There is a different tone to Rendezvous Duel which has a ‘western’ feel to its sense of desperation and murder. Chili Line has a strong vocal chorus that sings of wishing to be transported to a different time over a jaunty beat and a banjo melody. A theme that also is at the heart of the river riding tale of Wild Robby. January gets some bad press in the song of that title. It features some electric guitar along with effective intertwined vocals in its underlining denouncement of the inauguration of the current president and his fractured administration.
There is a sense that this band of brothers have a deep love of the past and for history but intend to deliver their music with a spirit that is very much of the now. Despite that it may be a little archaic for some ears but that would be their loss, as this is music for all ages. It offers a number of highlights including the song Balancing Act, which is something of a statement of intent for the Hoth Brothers who add that sense of earth with a strong sting in the tail of those who wish to own and control it. Meantime these folks will keep workin’ and dreamin’ for better times.
Review by Stephen Rapid