Our Man In The Field The Company Of Strangers Rocksnob
The plaintive voice and gliding pedal steel that grace this album would not immediately lead one to think that it was recorded live in London. This whole album is an enticing listen that reveals more with each play of its eleven original songs. There is a similarity with albums I have admired recently by artists like Ben De La Cour, although the current media comparison seems to be with Ray LaMontange among others - a comparison that is understandable in terms of a vocal likeness, although each has their own overall soulful, understated delivery. The album was produced by Jim Wallis and recorded in the live room at The Rattle in London (a venue that is a musician’s collective). Recording it in this way gives it a certain spontaneity that works well. There is little additional further information with the review copy other than to identify the origin of the lucid pedal steel playing as being from Henry Senior. The rhythm section and keyboard contributions also play their part in the album’s overall identity and sound.
It is not always easy to access these poetic songs other than to ascertain that they are about relationships and reflections. There is a detailed explanation of one song, If I Ever Was (the recent single), on the website. It relates the tale of how Boris Johnston’s closing of twelve London fire stations affected the crews who had worked within, how one crew was forced to leave out of uniform by the back door, and the negative effect this has had on their psyches. Closure is not just about the physical building but also about the attitude that it evokes in part. I’m sure all the material has a similar thoughtful genesis, although it is not necessary to have that depth of background to appreciate the writing and the songs.
Our Man In The Field is in fact the working nom de plume of Alexander Ellis who, as his working name suggests, is out there taking notes, making observations and writing songs. Not a lot of information is available on his website, but this would appear to be his debut album, in which case it is one worthy of note and investigation. He has stated that it is his intention not to change the world but rather the next three and a half minutes or, as in the case of the entire COMPANY OF STRANGERS, a mere 45 minue and 27 seconds. Well, with the titles here like Swansong (Don’t Play With Matches). Don’t Speak and I Like You So I’ll Kill You Last he will certainly engage you for that amount of time and that’s something you can enjoy alone or in the company of those strangers who are listening elsewhere.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Jay Stott Wreckage Of Now Self Release
Some solid roots rock from Colorado singer/songwriter Jay Stott. Scott has held down numerous and varied jobs in his working life, and songs like the title track deal with the details of his current existence. “Some folks struggle with the wreckage of the past/trying to figure out how the die is cast/I’m a little different, not sure how/I’m always trying to deal with the wreckage of now.” In his current day job he is a high school English teacher, which perhaps provides him with material for his characters, both real and imagined. Wreckage Of Now is alongside many other tracks that are delivered with a satisfying hard beat, although on a song like Desert Heat there is a more nuanced approach to the songs. One immediate standout is the song that opens and ends with fiddle (from Enion Pelta-Tiller) before erupting and rocking’ out. Electric Guy (In A Bluegrass Town) details a man slightly out of place but does so with some humour.
Stott co-produced the album with his rhythm section of Brain McRae (drums) and Brian Schey (bass) while he himself plays electric and acoustic guitar as well as supplying lead vocals. Arthur Lee Land adds lead guitar and John Stenger provided keyboards throughout.Overall this is the kind of roots rock that draws from a lot of influences and generates similar bands in every city and state, but that doesn’t detract from the potential of the enjoyment that can be found here. The delivery is satisfying, with all the components parts working. Stott has a previous album DIRT AND HEARTACHE which suggest that this recording is a continuation of an existing outlook and theme. Never Did Learn How To Dance has a retro feel with a touch of ‘shubee -do-wah’ female backing vocals to underlined the mood. This overall is an up album that suggests that Stott and the band are a good live experience (when they can).
There are also moments that run deeper like with the closing Dying In Droves that looks at the plight of small towns, loss of jobs, dignity and depression, best summed up by the line “No food, no job and no hope, but hey it’s the land of the free.” This demonstrates that Stott can also write something that reflects what he has seen looking at the world around him, as much as at his own characters, all of which suggest that he can emerge from the wreckage of now with a view of tomorrow that sees everyone in a better place. But hey, he can still rock out to that.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Daniel Meade & Lloyd Reid If You Don’t Mind Self-Release
The concept of an album from Glasgow duo Daniel Meade and Lloyd Reid had been on the cards for a number of years but somehow, due to work commitments and other distractions, it always seemed to remain on the back burner. The pair have shared numerous stages as part of the country/roots band The Flying Mules, both as headline act and supporting international acts such as Old Crow Medicine Show, Sturgill Simpson, Diana Jones, Willie Watson and Pokey LaFarge. Meade also has several solo albums under his belt alongside his recordings with The Flying Mules.
With the imposed lockdown resulting from Covid -19, the duo decided to take advantage of the down time and finally bring the album to fruition. Availing of both of their home studios, they developed a number of demos Meade had on the shelf, fleshed them out, added the final touches and completed the whole venture in sixteen days. The end product is a nine-track gem of country flavoured songs, all written by Meade. The tracks were recorded acoustically by him and sent over to Reid who added harmony vocals, electric guitar and pedal steel. Some overdubs and a final mix by them both applied the finishing touches.
Meade has been at the forefront of roots and Americana music in the U.K. for the best part of a decade and that’s well justified after a few spins of IF YOU DON’T MIND. It’s very much an easy listen, offering a combination of blues tinted roots songs and swinging country jewels. The somewhat tongue in cheek It’s Hard To Be A Man These Days and Give This World A Shake are cracking honky-tonkers and the Gram Parsons sounding piano-led Sleeping On The Streets Of Nashville also hits the sweet spot. Mother Of Mercy swings along with harmony vocals and tingling piano and the tears in your beer song comes courtesy Choking On The Ashes (Of The Bridges That I’ve Burned).
The music flows freely from start to finish on an album from a dedicated flame carrier for roots and country music. Suffice to say that the songs would sound just as impressive from the stage at Robert’s Western World in Nashville, as they will no doubt at a venue in Glasgow and elsewhere, when the world returns to normality.
Review by Declan Culliton
Native Harrow Closeness Loose
HAPPIER NOW, the last album released by Native Harrow, featured in Lonesome Highway’s Best of 2019 listings. Native Harrow are former ballerina and classically trained vocalist Devin Tuel and her musical partner Stephen Harmes. While HAPPIER NOW highlighted the quality of Tuel’s writing and vocals, together with musical talents of Harms, its theme was quite downbeat and sombre. CLOSENESS, their fourth album, is somewhat more upbeat, although dark sentiments do surface on occasions. The material is also more expansive, with the duo sounding intense without any hint of melancholy. At the core of all the songs is Tuel’s lush vocals and the adept instrumentation that complement those vocals.
The album was recorded in six days in late December 2019 and early January 2020 at Reliable Recorders in Chicago. As was the case with HAPPIER NOW, they engaged engineer and drummer Alex Hall (J.D. McPherson, Neko Case), resulting in a similarly impressive production.
Much of the album’s material reflects on the passing of time, both from their personal perspectives and also in broader terms. The individual reflections consider the triumphs and struggles the couple have encountered in recent years. ‘Time’s getting harder but you’ve gotta carry on’ Tuel repeats on Carry On, as if reminding herself of brighter days ahead and the need to support others who may be temporarily in difficulty. The hypnotic TurnTurn captures a particular moment in time for Duel as she pleads ‘Sundown take it slower, won’t ya? Show me how to fall in love for a lifetime’.
The up-tempo and spiralling Shake, which opens the album in fine style, reflects on the anxieties and challenges that life offers. The punchy Same Every Time examines inner feelings and insecurities, with Joni Mitchell styled lyrics. The calmative Even Peace recalls the classic Laurel Canyon country/folk sounds, with Duel’s layered vocals giving depth to the song. They sign off the album with the optimistic and ethereal Sun Queen.
With songs that grapple between darkness and light, Native Harrow have produced an album of thought provoking and tastefully formed songs. It’s an intoxicating mix of contemporary folk and Americana from a group growing in confidence and maturity.
Loose Records have the happy knack of unearthing some gilt-edged talent in the slightly left of centre Americana genre. Native Harrow, with their second release on that label, certainly fit that bill.
Review by Declan Culliton
Brennen Leigh Prairie Love Letter Self Release
Written about her beloved birthplace on the state line between Minnesota and North Dakota (‘I’ve lived away for eighteen years and been homesick every one of them’) PRAIRIE LOVE LETTER is the sixth solo album from Brennen Leigh. A gifted guitarist and mandolin player, she began touring at the age of fourteen, performing as a duo with her brother Seth Hulbert. The siblings also opened for bluegrass supremo Ralph Stanley on a nationwide tour while she was still in her teens.
Currently residing in Nashville, her songwriting credits include songs recorded by Rodney Crowell, Sunny Sweeney, Charlie Crockett and Lee Ann Womack. By way of a side project, Leigh is also a member of the bluegrass band Antique Persuasion.
Don’t You Know I’m From Here, the first track on the album calls to mind a return to the town of your childhood many years after leaving, and feeling like a stranger. It sets the theme for what is essentially a concept album, with much of the material drawn from joyful memories from Leigh’s childhood, together with a number of outpourings on some more contemporary events.
A spectacular thunderstorm, witnessed by Leigh while travelling with musical partner Noel Mc Kay to a festival in western Texas, was the inspiration for I Love The Lonesome Prairie.
She recalls her father on The John Deere H. As if spoken by him, the song proudly recollects his first tractor ride as a boy. The bluegrass tinged Little Blue Eyed Dog, written about her own dog Bjorn, is a catchy upbeat delight and The North Dakota Cowboy features a handsome older boyfriend, fictitious or otherwise, from her childhood. Billy & Beau addresses sexuality in a rural environment and the leaving of home for a new life in Chicago by a gay friend. More recent times and events are explored on You Ain’t Laying No Pipeline, which addresses the issue of the Native lands at Standing Rock Stone Camp and You’ve Never Been To North Dakota. The latter sympathises with an 88-year-old resident forced from her hometown by a major corporation.
PRAIRIE LOVE LETTER lands at the crossroads between bluegrass and country. As you would expect, the playing is sublime from Leigh and a host of Nashville’s best players including Tim O’Brien, Alison Brown, Noel McKay and Jenee Fleenor. The production duties were carried out by Robbie Fulks who, along with Leigh, captured the perfect balance between her crystal clear and impassioned vocals and the stellar playing that accompanies her. It’s a delightful album of songs that sit comfortably alongside each other, from an exceptionally talented musician and vocalist.
Review by Declan Culliton
Diana Jones Song To A Refugee Proper
As a writer of Appalachian influenced songs, Diana Jones’ 2006 album MY REMEMBRANCE OF YOU established her as one of the leading lights in old timey folk influenced country music. She had released two previous albums but that breakthrough recording and subsequent albums BETTER TIMES WILL COME (2009) and HIGH ATMOSPHERE (2011), brought her music to wider audiences and generated successful tours of her home country and Europe.
Regrettably, her career was put on hold in 2016, when she became seriously ill following a gas leak at her apartment. That setback, coupled with the emerging political environment in America, left Jones physically and emotionally drained, and without the motivation or inspiration to continue writing.
The stimulus to create the material for SONG TO A REFUGEE came from scenes at the U.S./Mexican border of parents being inhumanely separated from their children in 2018. Having been given up for adoption herself, these viewings were particularly distressing and upsetting for Jones. She was raised in Long Island, NY, and when she felt the time was right, she searched for and discovered her birth family in the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee. Learning that her grandfather had formed a teenage band with Chet Atkins went a long way towards explaining Jones’ love of country music as she grew up.
A chance meeting at a park in New York with famed actress and activist Emma Thompson and a subsequent discussion over lunch unlocked Jones' writing block. Thompson is President of the Helen Bamber Foundation, which is a human rights charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers. The common denominator that links the thirteen songs on SONG TO A REFUGEE is the desire to reverse the dehumanisation, so brutally exposed in those harrowing border scenes of families being randomly torn apart.
Titles such as Mama Hold Your Baby, Ask A Woman and the title track Song To A Refugee leave little to the imagination and give a voice to refugees, not only at the Mexican border but worldwide. The first single taken from the album is We Believe You and it is the most powerful song on the album. Its inspiration was a visit by U.S. Representative for NY's 14th congressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a US border detention centre last summer and her subsequent testimony to a Congress committee. When questioned about the asylum seekers' motives for fleeing their homes she simply replied ‘I believe the women’. The song features vocal contributions from Steve Earle, Richard Thompson and Peggy Seeger, each of whom sing a verse.
We hear of a refugee ship that offered expectations of freedom, only to sink at sea in The Sea Is My Mother. The cherished memory of a simple childhood amongst a loving family is recalled on The Life I Left Behind, only to be fractured by the advent of civil war and the resulting devastation.
Jones' vocals are crystal clear and intense throughout, challenging the listener to pour him/herself into the songs. She’s joined by splashes of piano, mournful fiddles, gently strummed and plucked guitars, which combine to offer a calming and meditative ambience to a beautifully constructed and performed collection of songs.
Review by Declan Culliton
Sofia Talvik Paws of the Bear – Unplugged Makaki
Lockdown has provided many challenges and a lot of time for introspection, reflection and new thinking. When faced with an uncertain future, one constant remains, that of returning to the internal rudder that has steered you through your life to date. During this time, Swedish artist Sofia Talvik has looked at the arc of her career and decided to rely upon her instincts to bring fresh insights to her most recent release, 2019’s Paws of a Bear.
By investing time in reviving the songs as unplugged interpretations, there is the risk of losing something in the process. The original album was very well received and the plaudits were richly deserved for a songsmith who has built her career steadily since a debut release in 2005. Gone are the additional instruments that added colour and subtlety to the original arrangements, piano, electric guitar, pedal steel, dobro, piano, trumpet, bass and percussion. In their place stands simple acoustic guitar and the hauntingly beautiful voice of Sofia Talvik, at once intimate, tender and bare. Taking the decision to strip everything back to the essence of the songs brings a different quality to the fore, the understated guitar talents and the poignant lyrics, wrapped up in an emotional honesty that is very compelling.
Mixed and mastered by husband Jonas Westin, all songs are written by Talvik, who also added two bonus tracks, both featuring her long-time music colleague and friend, Tim Fleming, who sadly passed away in April last. Meanwhile In Winnsboro was written as a result of a concert at the Winnsboro Centre For The Arts in Texas, one of the last gigs Talvik performed before the corona virus shut everything down - including her tour. It had been such a peaceful day there, while all the headlines were shouting about the virus threat. Broken (Steelguitars in Heaven) was written specifically with Fleming in mind and celebrates their bond. On both songs, the emotion is quite palpable with recorded pedal steel parts interwoven into the arrangements.
Elsewhere the core of the personal songs revolves around the opening song and look back at lost youth, Take Me Home, all the way through ten tracks to the closing, Die Alone and a reflection that we all will indeed face our end in a singular fashion. The love songs, California Snow and Wrapped In Paper, are both written with an obvious devotion for Jonas Westin and all they share together as a couple. Reflections is a song about looking back and the years of life passing along, almost unnoticed, “I look in the mirror and all I can see, Is my mother's face staring back at me.”
Siren Song is to someone close who is leaving for new horizons and the imaginings that it may not always be blue skies and an easy road, while the isolation and loneliness of Blood Moon carries the refrain, “you're so far away.”
We may indeed find ourselves far from each other in this present wrestle with our inner demons and the reality that surrounds us, but with music of this quality there is at least a willing companion to walk the winding path with us. A superb artist delivers yet another wonderful statement of her humanity and refinement. Please support her music at https://sofiatalvik.com
Review by Paul McGee
Christa Couture Safe Harbour Coax
The six songs included here were released just as the pandemic struck in March last and given that these piano based musings are all about HEALING, there is a subtle irony in their arrival. As always, this wonderful talent delivers beautiful, hypnotic melodies and vocal harmonies to wrap around and tuck carefully under your pillow as the dark night descends.
With a background in the Indigenous community (mixed Cree and Scandinavian), her roots in no way pointed to a life as an award-winning performing and recording artist, nonfiction writer, and broadcaster. She is also proudly queer, disabled (with a high-tech robotic leg) and a mother.
Her piano playing and clear vocal delivery are key reasons why this music is filled with both a quiet power and a sense of undiscovered mystery. There are hints at similarities to Tori Amos and Kate Bush on the terrific Rebuild, right there, under the surface, but as always, Christa Couture is very much her own creative centre, glowing with an assured confidence. Rebuild is about moving on from the past, learning and getting stronger from the events that occur to shape you. It was also inspired by the book, The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
Water To Sail (Safe Harbour), the title track, has a wistful delivery, understated playing and all wrapped in the message that what doesn’t kill you makes you strong. Stay the course. Far Far Light Of the Stars is clever wordplay, distance and isolation from real and meaningful communication. For those who are misunderstood or treated badly by society. Written for QT and 2Spirit transgender people.
Like Water Like Earth has gentle vocal tones and repeated lines, interlocking harmonies, layered voices, building so beautifully. A song about holding close to loved ones and trusting in the power of love to overcome all doubts and fears. It was written for Louis Esmé (artist, writer, and illustrator), a Two-Spirit, non-binary person who has created the work, Maldewin Weskijinu/Blood Soaked Soil, as a reminder that the land haemorrhages with the blood of their People.
Tiptoe, a song that suggests a secret to be kept, quietly shared and held close. Waitlist Lullaby is a dreamscape that references sternotomy and thoracotomy operations that Christa underwent during her periods of illness and there is contained the hope of revival and enduring beyond.
Jim Bryson produced the album in addition to contributing on, acoustic, electric guitars and piano. He was joined by Philippe Charbonneau on upright bass, Kinley Dowling on violin and viola, Philippe Charbonneau on bass, Ansley Simpson and Michelle St. John on vocals and Keri Latimer (theremin). A stellar cast that does justice to these absorbing songs.
Review by Paul McGee
Greg Copeland The Tango Bar Hemifrán/Paraply
A gently restrained album, both quietly brooding and sweetly uplifting. There is a slow-burn dynamic on these tracks that mark the journey of an artist that has experienced life, both bright days and dark nights, along the winding paths he has taken.
This release highlights a welcome return from a musician who was part mentor to a young Jackson Browne, while growing up in Los Angeles, learning to play music and developing his song craft. Greg Copeland retreated from the music machine back in 1982, after the release of his debut album, REVENGE WILL COME. Many years later he was persuaded back into the studio and recorded DIANA & JAMES in 2008, with the assistance and production of Greg Leisz.
Now aged 74, Copeland has called upon the talents of a troupe of musicians, including Tyler Chester (piano, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion), Greg Leisz (lap steel, acoustic & electric guitars, pedal steel), Jay Bellerose (drums, percussion), Val McCallum (electric guitar), Don Heffington (drums, percussion), Davíd Garza (piano, harmony vocal), Rob Burger (accordion), Stewart Cole (horns), Anna Butterrs (acoustic bass) and Madison Cunningham (harmony vocal). These quality players gathered at Winslow Court Studio, Barefoot Studios and The Coach House – all located in and around Los Angeles.
He sings/speaks the lyrics on 5 songs and also uses the vocal talents of Inara George on I’ll Be Your Sunny Day, plus the superb Caitlin Canty on a trio of songs; Mistaken For Dancing, Better Now and Beaumont Taco Bell, all performed with subtle restraint and a quality of ethereal, transcendence in her tired, other-worldly delivery.
Scan the Beast is a tense, taut arrangement that lingers over the dark side of this complex world, duelling electric guitar and lap steel heightening the sense of alienation. Copeland speaks of a ‘predatory future looking for you, think it’s gonna find you, whatever I do’ on the acoustic blues of Coldwater Canyon and his additional whispering into the microphone gives added sense of unease. Lou Reed has an atmospheric groove in honour of the New York icon who blazed a trail through the decades with Greg Leisz excelling on angry guitar chords.
The title track brings matters to a close with a beautiful arrangement and a sense of time passing as we grapple with the lessons learned and the wisdom gained. Reflective and resonant. A very enjoyable reunion with a talented old friend.
Review by Paul McGee