Joshua Ray Walker Glad You Made It State Fair
The debut solo album WISH YOU WERE HERE from Texan Joshua Ray Walker, landed twelve months ago and transported him into the ‘ones to watch’ category of emerging singer songwriters in the Americana genre. That album was an introduction to a young artist flaunting a confidence and maturity gained from working as a player in backing bands since his teenage years, together with performing up to 250 solo shows a year. He’s also a member of country garage punk band Ottoman Turks in his spare time.
Even with that hectic performing schedule, Walker hasn’t wasted any time following on that impressive debut recording. GLAD YOU MADE IT is another compilation of stories touching on everyday characters, often down on their luck and often without the prospect of a happy ending in sight. The troupers he writes about are part fiction and part factual and suggest a writer with an eagle eye for observing the minor detail and using it to fuel his imagination.
Musically Walker manages to effectively blend a cocktail of traditional country, old timey and garage punk like a dream. He’s joined by an extensive and impressive collection of musicians on the album, over a dozen players contribute impeccable playing throughout.
His vocal deftness allows him to switch between a semi - yodel on the Hank Williams sounding Living Country and full on Texan twang on the album’s stand out track User. Heading off on a somewhat unexpected direction, User features a driving horn section and some ripping guitar breaks, as Walker recounts a tale of an addict (‘I think I’m gonna use again, it’s been a long, long time’) overpowered by the temptation to return to old ways. Voices laments love gained and then lost as the protagonist agonises “I might put this truck in neutral, let it roll into the lake. First, I’ll finish off this bottle, so it looks like a mistake.”
Visiting motor shows as a child with his parents suggested the template for Boat Show Girl. In Walker’s eyes, the attractive, constantly smiling young girl, selling merchandise to middle aged men, was possibly concealing her true self (‘Yeah fake tan covers bruises, but it doesn’t last that long’). Killer dobro, fiddle and banjo all get an airing on the old school country track Play You a Song and Walker’s country garage punk sentiment is played out on the grungy closing track D.B. Cooper.
“I’m sure good at losing, even better at giving up” he agonises on the lively One Trick Pony. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Walker overcomes the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome with a confidence that points towards a young artist with many more tricks up his sleeve.
Review by Declan Culliton
Tyller Gummersall Heartbreak College Country Road 330
Despite having the appearance of a young man just out of high school, Colorado born Tyller Gummersall can boast seven studio recordings prior to this album - three Ep’s and four full albums. Belting out Hank Williams covers at County Fairs at the tender age of eight years, his first effort at song writing followed a year later, having studied under the watchful eye of two-time National Flatpicking Champion, Gary Cook.
The cover artwork on the album features Tyller leaning casually against a wall, decked out in signature western wear of plaid checked shirt, jeans, cowboy boots and with a leather hat perched on his head. It follows his 2017 EP LOVE ME WHEN I’M DOWN which was produced by Lloyd Maines. My first impression was to expect a dreaded crossover pop/country content, something along the lines of Florida Georgia Line or their like. My fears were instantly dismissed with the opening track You Pay For It. It’s a Dwight Yoakam-sounding toe tapping belter and the remaining seven tracks on the album also stick to a traditional country template.
Like the majority of old school country music Gummersall’s topics are simple everyday events, including the plight of the working man and the unyielding passing of time. Continuity and love are examined in Fathers And Sons and on the album’s closer How Did I Get Here. They’re dispatched with an impressive vocal and slick guitar work, both features reoccurring on all the eight tracks on the album. Heartfelt ballads Working Man and What If It Was That Easy? are delivered with that terrific whiskey and tobacco weathered vocal. They fit neatly alongside the brisker title track and the full-on honky-tonker Why Do I Buy Whiskey?
Albums such as this were being lapped up by the Nashville music scene twenty years back. Unfortunately, a more commercial mainstream product is the flavour of the day currently. Hopefully this album will reach the ears of true country music enthusiasts - it certainly deserves to.
Review by Declan Culliton
Emma Swift Blonde On The Tracks Tiny Ghost/CRS
Recording an album of Bob Dylan songs is a brave move and one that’s likely to divide opinion straight down the middle. To some, attempting to embellish or indeed replicate the work of Sir Bob verbatim is nothing short of sacrilege.
The list of artists that have paid homage to Dylan is lengthy and ranges from Mountain to The Hollies and Jerry Garcia to Bryan Ferry. Pleasing as these efforts were, they could also be considered a tad self-indulgent. The cynical amongst us might consider them stop gap recordings by established artists to placate record label obligations or a temporary solution between albums of original material.
Emma Swift is not the first female to cover Dylan’s songs on an album, Joan Baez and Odetta both recorded similar albums back in the 1960’s. BLONDE ON THE TRACKS is somewhat different. Emma Swift, unlike many others who have embarked on a similar project, is not a household name. She also remains predominantly true to the original recordings (‘I had no interest whatsoever in undertaking renovations on a perfectly good house’). The album was also conceived as a personal journey for her, without external pressures or deadlines. This allowed her to select and record the material over a generous timescale, without a target audience in mind, essentially a labour of love for her.
Born in Australia but residing in East Nashville since 2013, the idea for the project came about when she was experiencing a depressive phase and began singing Dylan’s songs by way of dealing with that short but difficult period. Song writing, by her own admission, has never come easy to her and rather than the additional pressure of coming up with original material for an album, she concentrated on selecting suitable material from Dylan’s extensive songbook to record.
The majority of the material on BLONDE ON THE TRACKS was recorded in 2017 at Magnetic Sound Studios in Nashville. With the album unfinished and uncertainty at large due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Swift decided to record the final two tracks at her home in East Nashville. One of these songs I Contain Multitudes was only released by Dylan in April of this year during the enforced lockdown. Its impact on Swift was overwhelming (“To me this song has become an obsession, a mantra, a prayer. I can't hope to eclipse it, all I hope to do is allow more people to hear it, to feel comforted by it, and to love it the way I do.”) and it became the motivation to complete the album despite being housebound. The track became the lead single from the album and was released by Swift in May, earning very positive reviews.
The production duties on the album were undertaken by Patrick Sansone (Wilco) and the playing was provided by her Nashville neighbours Thyer Serrano (pedal steel), Jon Estes (bass), John Radford (drums) and Swift’s partner Robyn Hitchcock who contributed guitar.
Queen Jane Approximately is the opening track and it gets a redressing similar to what Turn, Turn, Turn received from The Byrds. Jangly guitars alongside Swift’s mellow vocal combine to create a sonic delight. Suggesting that certain covers of Dylan songs are superior to the originals is entering dangerous territory. Chapters have been written, and friendships lost, on that thorny debate. The delivery of Going, Going, Gone here, for me, could merit a discussion along those lines. The other songs included are One Of Us Must Know Sooner, Simple Twist Of Fate, The Man In Me, You’re A Big Girl Now and Sad Lady Of The Lowlands.
The essence of this release is its simplicity. In contrast to Dylan’s distinctive coarse vocals, Swift’s deliveries are both gentle and soothing, unhurried and patient, drawing the listener to the lyrical content. What originally was a personal initiative has resulted in an outstanding album by an artist blessed with a stunning voice. Thankfully, we’ve been given the opportunity to savour that voice combined with inspired song writing, resulting in an album that, Dylan lover or not, you really ought to hear.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Weight Band Live Is A Carnival CRS
Based in Woodstock and keeping the music and spirit of The Band very much alive and kicking, The Weight Band consists of former members of that historic group of musicians, alongside three other equally talented players.They came together originally to play at Levon Helm’s Woodstock barn when former members of The Band, Jim Weider, Randy Ciarlante and Garth Hudson got together to perform previously recorded material.
Weider decided to bring the music to a wider audience and added Brian Mitchell (keyboards, accordion, harmonica, vocals), Michael Bram (drums, vocals), Albert Rogers (bass, vocals) and Matt Zeiner (keyboards, vocals). All these musicians have impressive pedigrees, having performed with household names such as Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Al Green over the years.
Rather than relying totally on The Band's back catalogue, they began to add original material to their sets, culminating in the release of WORLD GONE MAD in 2018. This recording featured eight self written songs and three cover versions.
LIVE IS A CARNIVAL includes five tracks performed live from that album - Don’t Do It, Deal, Heat Of The Moment, Big Legged Sadie and Common Man - along with classic songs from The Band's archives such as Rag Mama Rag, Ophelia, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and encoring with The Weight. A well delivered version of Springsteen’s Atlantic City also features. The album was recorded live at the Brooklyn Bowl by the band’s own sound engineer Mark Rudzinski in January of this year, just prior to the lockdown.
The Weight Band certainly can’t be branded simply as a tribute band, they are much more than that. Their own songs impress in these live recordings and fit snugly alongside the ageless material of their masters. As you would expect the musicianship is exemplary, a fitting tribute to a band that many would consider to be the foremost collection of players, writers and vocalists in the history of what is now branded as Americana music.
Review by Declan Culliton
Jeremy Garrett Circles Organic
Eight songs and 30 minutes that will impress a waiting audience that know Garrett from his involvement with bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters. Not prepared to rest on his reputation with them, Garrett produces his third solo record and highlights his superb musicianship across guitar, mandolin and fiddle. He included a loop machine to assist in the arrangements and the build of melodic layers is very impressive, especially on I Can’t Lay Your Lovin’ Down, where the sonics are quite compelling. He also sings while creating all this special music and the only other musicians are Josh Shilling who plays clavinet and sings on one track, plus Prisca who adds harmony vocals on two other tracks.
What Would We Find? I Am Who I Am, The Highway and the title track are all fine examples of the magic at work and the engineering, mix and co-production of Billy Hume also deserves great praise; bright and clean sounds throughout. Baker’s Jam is an instrumental highlight where everything gets thrown into the pot, with hints of Irish jigs mixed into free form soloing and wild sweeps of melody and tempo. Oracle is another instrumental with a new age arrangement that borders on experimental jazz leanings.
Review by Paul McGee
Wide Mouth Mason I Wanna Go With You We Are Busy Bodies
Album number eight from this duo who formed in 1995 and called themselves after a famous glass jar! Shaun Verreault on vocals and guitars, together with Safwan Javed on percussion and vocals, make up this dynamic team and the twelve tracks included here are pure blues bliss.
As with any innovative approach to music genres, the more creative the ideas, then the greater the risk that everything could just crash and burn. To quote the recording process from the band’s website; “Wearing three slides with rounded tips on his left hand, Verreault is able to simultaneously play chords and sliding melodies on resonator/dobro guitar and electric lap steel.” Sounds difficult…but fun.
The results are very impressive with plenty of stirring arrangements to excite the listener and innovative grooves that demand to be danced along with. The old-time sound of tracks like High Road channel bygone eras when recording techniques were primitive and gritty; the authentic feel of the music coming through the speakers like a steam train. The more electric sound of Erase Any Trace and Only Child brings things into a modern perspective as these brothers in arms whip up quite a racket.
Their body of work is a breath of fresh air and the duo has never been afraid of taking chances with their sound over the years as they experimented and played around with different genres. Never more illustrated than with the terrific cover of the David Bowie song, Modern Love, complete with Shawn “The Harpoonist” Hall on funky harmonica. Elsewhere, there are turns from Tonye Aganaba (vocals) on Every Red Light, Darren Parris and co-producer Ryan Dahle playing bass guitars with a further contribution on harp by Kelly “Mr Chill” Hoppe on the track, Outsourced.
This is a return to blues-based roots for the band and the vitality of the sound was captured from the musicians never taking more than a few plays at any one track before moving on. The blues has never sounded so authentic, laid back bare, raw in the delivery and just down-right essential. It brings a smile to your face that is hard to shift.
Review by Paul McGee
Mark Rogers Laying It Down Self Release
This release from last year found its way into my review pile and I was immediately taken with the superb production on initial listen. Such a bright, vibrant sound and co-produced by Mark Rogers himself, in addition to the talents of Rob Ulsh.
Rogers had played around the L.A. music scene of the 1980’s before taking a decision to return to Washington DC and focus on other things, like raising a family and paying the bills. Dreams never go away however and thankfully Rogers eventually returned to his old guitar and started playing again for the joy of it. A number of song ideas started to form and now, with plenty of tender loving care, come the results, all these years later!
There are twelve tracks on the album and the sound is very much rooted in Americana with plenty of great ensemble playing from the gathered musicians; Tommy Detamore (pedal steel guitar), Andrew Payne (drums & percussion), Ryan Gaujot (mandolin), Larry Berwald (electric,12-string & resonator guitars), Dave Hufstedler (electric & upright bass), Jamie Lewis (piano & B3 Hammond organ) and guest slots from Lori de los Santos (vocal harmonies on 3 songs) and Powell Randolph (drums on 2 songs).
The easy swing of I Know It So Well is beautifully delivered with tinkling, understated piano linking with pedal steel and the jazzy lines of Rogers on guitar. Equally, the bossa nova rhythm of The Blues Are Passing By is infectious with the honeyed tone of the lead vocal from Rogers just perfect for a late-night reflection on those heady memories of days past. The more upbeat sounds of Right Here and No Bigger Fool are just as impressive, as is the shuffle beat to You Can Lead Me On, with pedal steel and mandolin gently coaxing the melody along. Wishing Well closes everything nicely with a simple acoustic arrangement and Rogers singing of following that dream and not losing sight of the horizon.
Review by Paul McGee
Narcoluptuous Sugar Lime Blue Self Release
In 2011, this band released their debut album, FAR FROM THE TREE, which announced their mix of American Roots/Blues and Country sounds to the market. This third album was released last year and doesn’t stray far from that original sound, with twelve songs that are steeped in that same Americana, Blues and Country mix.
Husband and wife team, Ashley and Dave Beth front the band in impressive style and this project was produced by Dave at Bluebird Studios, Lebanon, Tennessee. He plays guitars, mandolin, keyboards and sings, providing an array of interesting sounds for Ashley to unleash her superb lead vocals, all smokey and controlled emotion in the delivery. The early songs give way to the slower, smooth grooves of Keep On, Keeping On and Gypsy River with the bass playing of Russ Dean and the drums of Jeff Gaylor shining through.
There is a jazzy feel to the title track which features some fine guitar lines from Dave Beth. In contrast, the blues of Fool’s Lament allows Ashley to cut loose on impassioned vocals. Brickbats features some excellent riffing between Russ Dean and Dave Beth, not for the first time, as the ensemble really lock into a tight delivery.
Junior Padilla guests on keyboards and percussion, with Cleveland McPhee adding harmonica and Victoria Beth guesting, also on vocals. A very solid release, excellent playing throughout and an enjoyable listen.
Review by Paul McGee
Kaurna Cronin Glitter Or Dust Self Release
An Australian Folk artist who has toured extensively in his home country, Europe and Canada, arrives with his latest recording and quite a confident offering it proves to be. Self produced at his home studio in Australia, Cronin displays an innate skill of knowing exactly what fits where in the song arrangements and the separation of different instruments is very impressive in the mix.
Using a group of musicians in the studio to bring an added dynamic to the arrangements sees an array of talent, including Tom Kneebone (electric guitars), Kiah Gossner (bass & backing vocals), Kyrie Anderson (drums), Matt Morison (piano, organ, synths), Rowan Harding (saxophone), Lauren Henderson (backing vocals), Jess Day (lead & backing vocals), Delia Obst (backing vocals), Ryan Martin-John (backing vocals) and Simon Cohen (backing vocals).
The eleven songs are combination of up-tempo numbers, like Head Above the Water, Gotta Get Out of This Place and Only An Illusion, to the social commentary of Don’t You Wonder Why and the easy flow of Roll On. Caught Out In the Rain is a more commercial sound and features Jess Day on co-vocal singing about love slipping away. The political message of Losers On the News is laced with frustration and final track All Grow Old Together is a song of hope to the present, family, friends and a future that points towards a better tomorrow.
Review by Paul McGee