Jake Blount Spider Tales Free Dirt
A casual listen to this first solo recording by 24 year old banjo and fiddle player Blount could suggest that it is a sparsely recorded collection of mostly unfamiliar old time songs and instrumentals. However, dig a little below the surface and one uncovers an eye-opening introduction to the history and legacy of his African-American ancestors and their contribution to the old time, bluegrass, blues and folk music which so many of us enjoy. This music enriches our lives, but how many of us realise its true origins, and the pain and suffering that it was born of?
If you’re still with me, be reassured that there are detailed notes on the origins of the 14 tracks in the well designed packaging that accompanies the recording, and a little time invested in them is most rewarding.
On the familiar Roustabout, Blount (banjo/vocals) is joined by fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves who is another young rising star in old time circles. She adds her haunting vocals and fiddle to this and many other tunes here. Another notable contributor is Nic Gareiss on “feet” - the much lauded percussive dance artist (who is no stranger to Celtic shores) supplies percussion in the traditional way, and very effective it proves to be. Where Did You Sleep Last Night (originally collected from Led Belly by Alan Lomax) is reinterpreted as a mournful lament on homelessness, probably its original intention.
Another important source of this music is from the Native Americans of the Appalachians. Blount and Hargreaves’ rendition of Old-Timey Grey Eagle, an instrumental collected from Manco Sneed who was a Cherokee, is raw to the point of evoking intense pain - a testament to the playing of the two.
As an ethnologist and tutor, Blount has not shied away from the sense of doom and loss that was being transmitted in these tunes. Many of the references to the horrors of slavery or lynchings, for example, had to be covert in this musical culture, for obvious reasons, but Blount has managed to convey the darkness with his playing and arranging. In addition to being a member of an ethnic minority, he is an LGBT activist and has used mainly queer artists on this recording.
One of the finest releases of the year so far - not to be missed.
Eilís Boland
Bai Kamara Jr & The Voodoo Sniffers Salone Moosicus/MIG
Desert blues combined with passionate, clever story telling, soul and passion, and all delivered in a rich warm baritone (that voice!) make for an introduction to Belgian based artist Bai Kamara Jr. A name new to us, but this is the 6th album from the Sierra Leone born artist, whose mother was that country’s Belgian ambassador, and who himself grew up and was educated in England. Previous albums dealt in blues, rock, soul and jazz, but he has truly found his calling with his first conscious exploration of his North African roots, with a guitar sound reminiscent of that first brought to our European ears by Ali Farka Toure and Tinariwen.
Although credited to his road band, The Voodoo Sniffers, Kamara Jr wrote, produced and performed all 15 excellent tracks here, and the production is faultless.
He kicks off at a metaphorical crossroads in his life with Can’t Wait Here Too Long, and goes on to explore themes including love, relationship breakdown and even the much dreaded school run in Morning School Run Blues. Particularly memorable is the tongue-in-cheek Lady Boss, where the protagonist appears to complain about being at his female boss’s beck and call, ending with the memorable line “She’s into the ‘Me Too Movement’ ... and me too”. Black Widow Spider is a chilling exploration of a metaphorical threat to his family, realised by the clever use of percussion to realistically evoke the scuttling of a giant spider - not for the faint hearted! Stand out track has to be Homecoming, which movingly recalls his first trip back to Sierra Leone (known as Salone in the Krio language) in 15 years. (Check out the superb video of that trip that accompanies this song). An added bonus is the slick digipak, with excellent photography and a lyrics booklet.
Eilís Boland
Jim Pelz & The Firewalkers Another New Morning Self Release
This country influenced songwriter and singer is based in Cincinnati, Ohio and has just released his second solo album. LOSER ANGELS came out in 2016. His subject matter is common in Americana and talks of love, loss, family, friends, faith, recovery and redemption. Eleven songs bring those topics to life, in the company of his band The Firewalkers and some guests in Greg Martin from the Kentucky Headhunters, and the renowned steel player Lloyd Maines.
He has a warm, easy to listen to voice that allows the song to be assimilated and heard clearly. A good example is Lifelong Spree wherein he outlines the story of a boy whose father was incarcerated at an early age in his life and whom he never heard from again, but seeds were sown and he subsequently “took my direction from the house of correction.” It is a slow song with some sublime pedal steel playing. There is a diversity here too - the delivery on a song like When Mavis Testifies benefits from a more soulful gospel production with backing vocals and organ, an example of the versatility of all involved to keep this interesting overall.
The pace can also pick up quite nicely too with songs like Queen Of The Last Lost Cause, that has banjo to the fore in the mix or with the tale of Cynthiana, a lady tied closely to “the rhythm of the road.” The title song follows a similar path with the protagonist, know here as “Lonesome Jim,” being on the receiving end of a sudden departure.
Otherwise songs like Oleander, Fare Thee Well and Saddest Boy In The World take a more reflective turn, in their consideration of the way that life places choices and obstructions in one’s path that need to be overcome - in the best achievable way. ANOTHER NEW MORNING is also a testament to the songwriters and performers out there who can deliver a set of songs worthy of exposure to a wider audience, but they may never get that opportunity. Often what they are recording is not pushing back the barriers of their chosen genre but rather reaffirming our own taste and liking of such music. Jim Pelz has produced such an album, one which has the capacity to reveal and grow on you with subsequent listens and that in itself is an achievement.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Charley Crockett Welcome To Hard Times Thirty Tigers
With a background that includes homelessness, street busking and prison stretches, Charley Crockett’s fortunes appeared to have been heading in the right direction in recent years. He released five albums between 2015 and 2019, earning him invitations to perform at Austin City Limits Musical Festival, The Wheatland Music Festival and Oregon’s Pickathon. However, his good fortune was short lived. Following a routine doctor’s check-up in January 2019, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition, which resulted in open heart surgery.
That life changing experience became the motivation for this his second release of 2020. It follows closely in the footsteps of FIELD RECORDINGS Vol.1, which was a collection of thirty lo-fidelity songs that was available on download only for a limited period.
Although marketed as a country artist, Crockett is not your proto type candidate for that camp. With Creole, Cajun, Black and Jewish lineage, his musical roots have always been diverse, a reflection of both his bloodlines and his nomadic existence. WELCOME TO THE HARD TIMES is as close as he’s ever gotten to recording an unadulterated country album. In keeping with its title, the songs address collective misfortunes and predicaments, in addition to personal ones. The album also revisits the history of America in places, and it is not seen through rose-tinted glasses either.
He kicks off with the album with the title track, which is delivered at a pedestrian pace with semi-spoken lyrics alongside tingling piano. It’s an imposing and no-nonsense introduction to what’s to follow. It’s also the first single from the album and the accompanying video features Crockett in the wild landscape of the Sierra Nevadas, a theme he intends to replicate in future single/video releases. There’s little to cheer about either on the delightful old timey Heads You Win, a tale of the ‘unlucky in love’ practitioner accepting his fate (‘If you’re looking for her, she might be in Santa Fe, forgetting about me and changing her last name’). Run Horse Run and Black Jack County Chain are two treasures that sounds like they’re taken from the soundtrack of a Spaghetti Western. The former depicts the outlaw, continuously on the move. The latter celebrates the escape from a chain gang by the mob, by murdering the sheriff with the chains that shackled them (‘Now the whip marks have all healed and I am thankful that there's nothing but these scars around my ankles, but most of all I'm glad no man will be a slave again’). Rainin’ In My Heart - no relation to the Buddy Holly song of the same name - is a country blues lament for lost love.
The album contains fifteen tracks in total and closes with When Will My Troubles End, a plea from Crockett for normality and closure to the misfortunes that have haunted him. It’s a fitting appeal from an artist that has experienced many hard knocks in life but continues to forge on, using these misfortunes as ammunition to challenge his creativity. WELCOME TO HARD TIMES is, for me, a career highlight from an artist who is joining the elite assembly of younger artists who are acting as caretakers of real country music.
Declan Culliton
The Texas Gentlemen Floor It!!! New West
Originally formed as an all-purpose studio and touring band, The Texas Gentleman have backed a host of household names including Kris Kristofferson, George Strait and Joe Ely, together with some of the more recent crop of Americana acts such as Nikki Lane, Shakey Graves and Leon Bridges. In a similar vein to The Band, The Swampers, The Wrecking Crew and Booker T. & The M.G.’s, they initially concentrated on their collective musical expertise to provide the support to others, rather than as a recording act in their own right. That all changed in 2017 when they recorded their debut album TX JELLY in less than a week at the iconic Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals.
FLOOR IT!!! was recorded at Echo Lab Studios in Denton, Texas under the supervision of producer Matt Pence who, in recent years, has worked with John Moreland, Paul Cauthen, John Grant, and Josh T Pearson. Pence has also played drums on recordings by Centro-matic, Jay Farrar, Nikki Lane and Justin Townes Earle. Recorded live with only a few overdubs, the thirteen tracks are held together spectacularly by a strong rhythm section, great horn segments and vocals that included divine harmonies.
The Texas Gentlemen are co-singers and frontmen Nik Lee and Daniel Cremer, both of whom also play keyboards and guitar. Ryan Ake is their guitarist; Scott Edgar Lee Jnr. plays bass and Aaron Haynes is their current drummer, having recently replaced Paul Grass who was on drums for the recording.
They describe their sound as ‘woozy brass fuelled Dixieland styled jazz, slinky chicken scratch country funk and lushly orchestrated pop/soul balladry.’ A less elaborate description would point the listener in the direction of Little Feat, Leon Russell and Jefferson Airplane, to gain an idea of where they’re coming from.
The short instrumental opening intro Veal Cutlass sets the scene perfectly, and is an introduction to the carnival of music that follows. In fact, we don’t hear a vocal until the third track Ain’t Nothin’ New, as the second track Bare Maximum is also an instrumental with echoes of Frank Zappa in its core.
Densely layered melodies are the order of the day on Easy Street and She Won’t, the latter a Steely Dan sounding delight. They sign off with the title track which is a boogie woogie triumph and the proper conclusion to what is best described as a good time listen from start to finish.
Review by Declan Culliton
Kyle Nix Lightning On The Mountain & Other Short Stories Bossier City/Soundly
‘They unstrap their pistols and soak the fields, throw dynamite into the barn. He winks at Billy as he slowly kneels and lights it all with his cigar’ announces Kyle Nix on the brilliant title track on his debut solo album. The song races along, fiddles, guitars and drums colliding alongside his clear and unadulterated vocal. It’s one of seventeen tales, yes seventeen, on an album that grabs you by the lapels from the word go and doesn’t let go until the last track fades out.
Nix is the fiddle player in Turnpike Troubadours, Oklahoma’s finest purveyors of country music. His grandfather was a fiddle maker, so the instrument was part of his childhood. His formal teacher was Oklahoma bluegrass player Shirley Landrum and his exceptional playing is stamped across many of the album’s tracks. The players on the album are Nix’s bandmates in Turnpike Troubadour so, as you would expect, top notch playing and picking feature from start to finish.
The album is a story book of tales both imagined and experienced by Nix and will no doubt delight lovers of his band, as they wait for their follow up album after 2017’s hugely successful A LONG WAY FROM YOUR HEART.
Shelby 65 and If Ruby Ain’t Happy are also electrified toe tappers in harmony with the title track, and the instrumental bluegrass whirlwind Old Joe Clark is every bit as sprightly.That said, it’s not all rampant and full on. Nix can apply the brakes and does so on a number of occasions. Blue Eyes and Sweet Delta Blues are mid paced ballads, the latter a weepy delight, awash with dreamy pedal steel and an ode to his loved one while the writer is on the road.
Josephine is an unhurried rocker with a few killer guitar breaks. Some neat fiddle playing kicks off Graves - it’s absolutely old-style country and western, creating cinematic images of dusty saloon bars, uncorked whisky bottles and dancing girls. The Wolf at the Door is a punchy ‘shoot out tale’, rockier around the edges than much of the album’s material, but none the worse for that. You can feel the biting old Oklahoma winter and the crumbling marriage that are depicted on Woman of Steel.
Turnpike Troubadours have earned the reputation of one of the most spirited and dynamic live acts presenting real country music, alongside their impressive studio recordings. LIGHTNING ON THE MOUNTAIN & OTHER SHORT STORIES will be lapped up by their supporters and if you’re not yet on board, I’d highly recommend you join that club and pick up this album for starters. It’s an absolute gem!
Review by Declan Culliton
Steven Adams and the French Drops Keep It Light Fika
This artist has been categorized in the alt country stable since his initial activities with the The Broken Family Band in the early 2000s. Adams has released two previous solo records in addition to also performing with indie-rock band Singing Adams, a 4-piece with two releases to their name. He also performs under the name, The Singing Adams, which is confusing to some, no doubt. His craft as a songwriter has been acknowledged with commissions to write for specific events, plus he has written for both the Guardian and the Times newspapers. So, quite the rounded artist in many senses.
This new project is definitely a breath of fresh air and the musicians played live in the studio, with the spontaneity of bouncing off each other lending a lightness and vivid colour to much of the music. The ten tracks create an infectious groove across the 40-minutes that wrap the listening experience and drive the overall impression of an artist having a lot of fun with his new creative direction. Adams is joined by Daniel Fordham, Laurie Earle, David Stewart and Michael Wood in the recording process and the review information received doesn’t tell me who played what, a trend that is increasingly the norm – frustratingly so for this reviewer!
Originally from South Wales and now living in London, Adams tackles personal matters despite his vow to keep things light on this record. The track, Canary, is really excellent and refers to his being ‘so serious all the time.’ It contains some superb sax playing and a tension in the arrangement that grabs the attention. Soft Landings is a simple love song while Bring On the Naps is an enjoyable melody and features some backing singers who sound very much underage! Oh Dear is a slow lament for an enduring crush that is not returned and the lonely feeling of disappointment.
My Brother the Racist is a very personal song in which Adams calls out his … own brother. Doesn’t get more raw and close to the bone than this one; “My brother, the racist will die and I won’t know when/Guess I’ll find out later/I can hold on till then.” The track, Note To Self is an analysis of lack of ambition and a suggestion that it is not necessarily such a bad thing in trying to live our days with a certain balance to everything. A strength and not a weakness? Mr Sunshine has a great tempo with a hint of a MGMT beat and great lines, such as;”I found the last patch of sunlight in the city/I saved it on my phone” There is also a refrain that repeats “I miss you, I miss the kids.”
This is genre hopping in the best way, filled with superbly crafted, melodic tunes that impress and delight in equal measure.
Review by Paul McGee
Taylor Kopp Found Self Release
One of those albums that sneaks up on you from nowhere and catches your attention with a ‘play me one more time’ whisper in your ear. I like those moments when they come along and this debut album is certainly one of those!
All the music on these ten tracks is performed by Kopp; vocals, guitar, piano, vibraphone, tenor sax and harmonies. On the website, Kopp says that “the songs on the record exist somewhere in the place between the death of my brother, and my need to carve out a bigger life.”
In trying to reconcile his loss, Kopp moved to the woods to write at a cabin in the foothills of Mt. Hood, Oregon. The songs are reflective and they never rush, but rather take their time to settle into the space that is created by the gentle arrangements and melodies. A Dream I Had is a very personal observation of what happened and his reaction to his bereavement; ‘You came to me in a dream I had, And you said “brother what have I done to us? Man, I got lost, tryin’ to find my mind, And when I found it, it had all turned to dust.’ Poignant and nakedly honest. Equally, High Desert Nights is a wistful look at what was lost in the brotherly relationship ‘Out of the blue that song came on the radio, And all I wanted to do was talk with you about it, Just like we used to do when we were young.’
Music can be the best therapy and Kopp certainly has used his gifts to try and heal the sadness and the attempts to make sense of it all. In another fine song, Boy On the Bank, he sings “I’m still tryin’ to figure it out/ I’m getting closer I guess/It depends on the way that I feel on the day that you ask”:
The album was recorded and mixed by Josh Powell at The Map Room in Portland, Oregon and there is an intimacy and a feeling of expansive skies under the stars, The soft vocal delivery perfectly complements Kopp’s easy guitar style and the 35 minutes slide by in an easy reverie, like settling in at your feet, by a warm campfire.
An old flame appears back on the scene in Hometown Kid and the reflective strum has the singer thinking of second chances; :”I never thought I would be that hometown kid/That dreamed about busting out/but never did/But here I am, thirty five/Spend every damn night in this same old dive.” We all know how easy it is to get stuck in a rut and how hard it can be to move on.
Under the Pines is about feeling one with nature and finding a connection with your partner in the silence of the forest –”All I need is a little more time/A little more luck and a little more wine/And one more night under these pines with you.”
As debut albums go, this is very assured, quietly captivating and laced with interesting songs.
Review by Paul McGee
Cody Landress Gibson Self-titled Self Release
Having released an E.P. in 2018, this singer songwriter delivers a full debut album and it is a quietly confident effort, with some excellent songs across the 12 tracks included.
It’s a fully formed DIY project; just Cody and his guitars, with some overdubs, minimal shaker and tambourine backing and some bass guitar with added harmonies. He is one of the new breed of independent artists who want to have complete control over their music production and distribution, which is a positive approach if you can continue to juggle all the balls in the air.
The songs have a resonance and the clear vocals add enough character to the words that tell tales of love gained and lost, road trips, wanting to get out of small towns and setting up a new life - all running for a generous 50 minutes. There are relationship songs that explore the challenges and the need to stay the course, Beginners Luck and Brave the Storm. His dreams of an enduring love are considered in other songs, Broken Heart Beats On and Smoke - growth through having faith in another and wanting connection, rather than a life of aimless drifting along.
There are songs of real connection where there is a need to just be with another, Lovin’ To Give and Nights In Arkansas; where a road trip brings a feeling of being in this thing called life, for better or worse, together. Blood Moon Rising is an acoustic blues that tells of the omens that can steer a soul into the grip of dark forces, devil women and coyotes, crows and gypsy fortune tellers. Jenny Lee tells of lost love and feelings of a broken heart – “Just another night to sleep by your side/that’s all I need to make things right/But it’s another night/smoky bar room lights/.cheap beer and drinking myself blind.”
Whiskey Nights is giving up on a failed relationship and striking out for new beginnings “Don’t think I didn’t love you so/but the road won’t let me go/No chains gonna tie me down/so I’ll see you the next time around.” Old 53 references a stretch of highway and an old flame that reveals how you can get away but you can never really leave - past memories remain.
Misery is just that; a song about never getting ahead of the curve and feeling fated to live out this beaten path, “Should've known it wouldn't be too long/you'd find a line in an old sad song/Same motifs played out on and on/'til you're dead and gone.” The final track, Before I Disappear, recounts a tragedy and the death of a close friend, attending the funeral and wrestling with all kinds of questions - a turning point for Coady in his own life.
Coady is from Piedmont Province which borders the Appalachian Mountains and his sound contains elements of Americana, Country, and Roots music. There is an honesty in the performance that is very appealing and the authentic feel to these songs bodes very well for the future. Recommended.
Review by Paul McGee