Charlie Marie Ramble On Soundly Music
"I wanted the record to sound like if Patsy Cline and Dwight Yoakam had a child,” explains Charlie Marie on the release of her debut full album RAMBLE ON. It’s a sentiment that she successfully mirrors on an album that offers so much to enjoy for lovers of bona fide country music.
Writing songs since a teenager when she fronted her own country band, the Rhode Island native’s passion for classic country is at the forefront of the album. If her self-titled 2019 five track EP was a flavour of an artist with a striking country vocal styling and a deft lyricism, RAMBLE ON raises the bar a number of notches.
She called on Tyler-James Kelly, the frontman of rock band The Silks and also a resident of her own hometown Providence, to produce the album. It was an inspired selection as he gets the mix spot on, complementing Marie’s sublime vocals with polished playing from a host of Nashville session players.
Tackling the standard country music topics of love lost, family and alcohol, Marie may have played safe with her subject matter, but across the twelve tracks she injects her own intuition into those topics. The toe tapping honky tonkers El Paso and Cowboys and Indians may detail broken relationships, but they’re delivered with defiance by an author intent on moving on without regret. They’re also decorated by a wistful border sound, adding to the essence of both songs.
No shrinking violet, the classic drinking songs Tequila Lime and Heard It Through The Red Wine, find the author in control and calling the shots. She reminds her ex-suitors of their shortcomings on the autobiographical Tough Kitty (‘good looks don’t mean anything when you act like an asshole ‘). She’s equally at home opening up her heart and not afraid to display her vulnerability as evidenced on the tear jerker Lauren. It’s a song that any of her musical heroes would be proud to claim, effortless and aching vocals further emphasised by mournful pedal steel.
Her soulful side is paraded on both 40 Miles To Memphis and Soul Train before she signs off with the smooth ballad Kiss My Boots. It offers closure to a past relationship and closure to a quite exceptional country album. Yet another standout album from 2021 by a female artist unapologetically applying modern touches to classic country music.
Review by Declan Culliton
Katie Jo Pawn Shop Queen Self Release
‘Even if you ain’t leaving me, it’s just a matter of time’ Katie Jo spells out on the song I Don’t Know Where Your Heart’s Been. It signposts the album’s direction and is a snapshot of the insecurity, lack of self-confidence and regret that is at the core of her most impressive debut album PAWN SHOP QUEEN.
A suite of songs born out of personal struggles suffered in isolation, the album came about by way of a coping mechanism for Wichita, Kansas born Katie Joe (Oberthaler). With a back story that is every bit as dark and guilt ridden as the material that makes up the album, she confronted her inner secrets head on to create the nine songs on the recording that clocks in at just under thirty minutes.
Following a diagnosis of a bicornuate uterus, which left her prospect of motherhood at best remote, an unexpected pregnancy followed. To further complicate matters, her relationship was breaking apart, leaving her alone and vulnerable. Having sought professional advice, she decided to have an abortion and what followed was two failed procedures and life risking emergency surgery. She struggled through this period, alone and without emotional support, and not surprisingly fell into a state of depression which clouded five years of her life. To make things worse and at her most defenceless, she entered into a relationship with someone she felt that she could depend on by way of emotional support, only to be let down once more when he cheated on her.
Emotionally crushed, and by way of dealing with her dilemma, she confronted her demons and penned the songs alone in her bedroom. Not surprisingly the tales that emerge are raw and heartfelt, undiluted dark country stories visiting depression, betrayal, religion and self-examination. Notwithstanding the origin of the songs, the recordings are mostly upbeat and extremely easy on the ear. The classic country flavours are particularly dominant on the previously mentioned I Don’t Know Where Your Heart’s Been, I Know I’m A Fool and Are You Coming Home Tonight. All three are outstanding cuts and all the stronger for the delicate subject matter visited. She heads down a rockabilly path on Bad Religion and shows off her bluegrass roots on Timber. The title track is an instantly catchy and fun anthem, disguising the hurt and rejection it details. The album is bookended with the tender and unhurried Little Bird. It’s a story of acceptance, healing and recovery and mirrors Katie Jo’s journey from rock bottom to rebirth.
In many ways PAWN SHOP QUEEN is a genuine country album, soul searching and written from the heart. It conveys fractured emotions and melancholy, yet behind the self-pity and hurt there is a sense of cleansing and moving on with a degree of optimism. Let’s hope that is the case and that this most imposing collection of songs acts as closure on troubled times and is a launching pad for an artist with vast potential.
Review by Declan Culliton
Ted Russell Kamp Solitaire Continental Record Services
Producer, solo artist and bass player with Shooter Jennings band, Ted Russell Kamp’s thirteenth album was written and recorded at his home studio The Den in Los Angeles during quarantine. With his normal routine of over two hundred shows each year shelved, and a tour to promote his 2020 release DOWN IN THE DEN scrapped, the concept for this album was simply a means of remaining positive and focused throughout a most uncertain period.
The multi-instrumentalist produced the fourteen-track album himself and contributed up to fifteen instruments on the recording. Unsurprisingly, this amounted to the lion’s share of playing on the album, the only other musical contributions came from Jim Doyle (drums) and John Shreffler (pedal steel), both of whom provided socially distanced recordings on a few of the tracks. Despite working remotely, Kamp also invited a number of his friends to co-write, not an easy task to achieve successfully while in quarantine. The artists that aided Kamp in constructing the material for SOLITAIRE included Don Gallardo, Brian Whelan, Shane Alexander and Ed Jurdi, to name but a few.
The bones of the material, in the main, are folk songs which would also work in a solo acoustic setting, resulting in the album being very much in the singer songwriter genre, rather than Kamp’s trademark classic southern rock meets country output. It’s an interesting and successful diversion, no doubt driven by his circumstances and environment while in quarantine. The upshot is a more laid-back groove, in contrast to last year’s rockier DOWN IN THE DEN.
Songs such as Path Of Least Resistance, Birds That Sing At Dawn and the title track are particularly classic singer songwriter ballads. Livelier are the bluesy Be Your Man and the standout tracks The Spark and the bonus track Lightning Strikes Twice. The album’s opener My Girl Now, is a co-write from the archives, written with Micky Braun from Mickey and The Motorcars and also a highlight.
Kamp consistently releases easy on the ear music, often recalling a vibe harking back to the early 1970’s. On this occasion SOLITAIRE is forged from both modern and traditional roots, giving it a more present day feel than many of his previous recordings and a most enjoyable listen for all that.
Review by Declan Culliton
Eddie Seville High & Lonesome Self Release
This is a follow up to Seville’s previous well-received album RAGGED HEARTS. It is a 5 track EP that, by its nature, is one without any dead weight. His music veers towards the more rock fuelled end of the roots spectrum and his writing and voice are both highpoints of this all too brief collection. Production was handled by Isaac Civitello, a musician who has worked closely with Seville in the past and here he also handled the drum and percussion duties, as well as keyboards and backing vocals.
All Night Radio is something of a roots perennial - a song dealing with long distance travel and listening to the radio to keep awake but in the end, despite that, slowly drifting off. The title tracks deals with the subject of being caught by the twin aspects of being High & Lonesome, revealing “that mescal is the best gal I know.” It has some effective pedal steel from Peter Adams and is the most country of the titles. One More Guitar is a song that is aimed at every guitarist who wants to add that “must-have” to an every growing collection. Billy K plays a guitar solo here which is on the nose. The pedal steel is back for the more thoughtful restlessness of Seeds In The Wind which talks about how one can easily be blown around when trying to find a way forward. There is some inner soul searching on the subject of one’s own nature in the closing song Talking To Myself. Here the duo of Seville and Civitello ably handle all the instrumentation.
Often playing with his band Steel Rodeo and with some upcoming live dates, Seville is remaining active and with six release to date there is more to come from him. This release will tide things over until the next full album. In the meantime, these are prime examples of his music and what he has to offer.
Review by Stephen Rapid.
Doug Schmude Mileposts Lost Hubcaps
The Baton Rouge born roots musician follows up his last album BURN THESE PAGES with a new mini-album of seven tracks. Schmude is very much a roots Americana player, mixing elements of blues, rock, folk and country in his songs. The folk/singer-songwriter’s influences are most evident in A World Without John Prine, which is a heartfelt lament for the loss of this towering figure and an artist who maintained a sense of truth throughout his career and whose songs were never delivered with negativity. Old Crow has a folkish feel though it has with a rhythm section playing behind the prominent fiddle as it seeks to find a way for the said bird to fly away and take the author’s troubles with it. The bird also turns out to “listen better than most folks I know.”
The opening song Milestones In The Rear View adds to those many genre tales of those who put in long miles on the road for work. It also highlights Schmude’s skills with his handling of all the vocals alongside guitars, keyboards, dobro and mandolin. He has a nasal intonation to his vocal that suits these songs and has with a distinctiveness to it that gives it that it a little more of an edge that its often needed to standout. There are some additional players involved such as Gee Rabe, who adds accordion to The Ballad Of Early, a story of boats, winds and lost cocaine. Boris Bengin’s harmonica features on Feels Like Texas, a decidedly roots-rockin’ confection, that benefits from a loose groove and an appreciation of the music from that state. Branden Allen drives the song with his drumming, as he does on number of the other tracks.
All The Lines On My Face looks inwardly at the way a relationship’s downturn and its associated life struggles can end up being etched on the face staring back from the mirror. Equally offering an unsettled outlook is the closing song Maybe I Just Won’t Go Home Tonight, which is about a man who having lost his employment is afraid to face this fact with his wife and children and considers other equally difficult alternatives.
Schmude produced the album as well as engineering and mixing it plus adding the aforementioned instruments when he recorded it in a California studio. When you add that to the fact that he also designed and photographed the cover you can appreciate his all round talents. Here’s hoping it becomes another milestone in his career to date.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Stephen Flatt Cumberland Bones Self Release
So far this year there have been several exceptional country/roots albums released. This album is one to add to that list as it brings together the skills of an engaging singer/songwriter, a selection of the best and most supportive players around and a large helping of country/roots music. Music that is not trying to recreate a particular time frame, but rather one that celebrates its continuing legacy and relevance. As a part of a musical family legacy (his great uncle is bluegrass legend Lester Flatt), Stephen Flatt he grew up with the authentic deep-rooted traditions of country storytelling. His music combines elements of bluegrass, country, folk and rock, initially performed as Flatt & Elvis, a duo with a fellow musician Shane Alvis. From there he continued to perform in a blues/rock band (The Tolleson Experiment), broadened his horizons, something that was captured on the two albums they released. All of this experience and road work have been channelled into his debut solo album CUMBERLAND BONES. The songs are drawn from a style of southern-located tales that are largely based on personal experience, observation and insight.
This album was recorded in 2020 at Seven Deadly Sins Studios in Tennessee. It was co-produced by bassist and former Johnny Cash sideman Dave Roe, who worked alongside Flatt for the recording. They were able to hire some top-notch talent who brought their magic to the sessions. These included Kenny Vaughan on guitars, Steve Hinson on pedal and lap steel as well as dobro and bluegrass stalwart Charlie Cushman. Flatt’s intention was to let each songs find its own musical setting, something that brings a level of diversity and energy to the ten tracks on the album.
Having listened to the album many times now it is a joy from start to finish - one that has the foot tapping and the melodies spinning around. You soon forget that each track comes at you from a different angle and begin to appreciate the ability all involved to tell you a tales of woe, regret or resolution and love. From the opening moments of the first track Brother, you appreciate that Flatt has a voice for the ages. He is joined throughout by Ronnie Bowman, Kassie Jordon, Dave Roe and Shane Alvis, who add sterling backing vocals to enrich the tales even more. That first song talks of family ties and lies. Hold You Tonight is the tale of a long distance trucker who wants to be back home with his girl. The banjo and fiddle that take the lead instrumentation in White County Shine are more than a nod to his heritage and the spirit that was often at the heart of the songs theme. Another song that brings the banjo out front and adds to an insistent rockin’ beat is El Camino, a tale of a bad boy and girl on the tear, which is similar to parts of Robert Earl Keen’s catalogue. A hint of Southern country rock pervades On More Time. Against that there’s the classic country of You Would Like To Hide which is full of fiddle and steel. The deeper, darker aspects of a relationship gone bad and ending in murder are the subject of Logan Creek. Satellite is another moment that sticks in the mind with all the elements coming together to immediately resonate.
This is one of those debuts that have arrived this year that would be worth picking out as something special in any year, but more especially right now when we all need some music that engages the mind and makes the feet tap. Stephen Flatt is a worthy addition to his family legacy and this is a very fine release.
Review by Stephen Rapid.
Garrison Starr Girl I Used To Be Soundly Music
This talented artist has seen all sides of the music industry over her impressive catalogue of albums. In addition to writing for film and tv, she has been releasing solo records since 1993 and regularly works with Neilson Hubbard, who appears here as musician/producer, and who assisted on that major debut release. Growing up in Hernando, Mississippi was a challenge when you are part of an Evangelical Christian community and coming to the realisation that you are naturally drawn towards girls, as a young gay woman. Coming out was not an easy choice during those teenage years, when she was made to feel like an outsider and not welcomed by her local Church.
Garrison moved to Los Angeles in the 1990’s and started to forge a very successful career which led to the release of a number of critically acclaimed records into the new millennium. On this new collection of nine songs, there is a track, The Train That’s Bound For Glory, that seems at odds with other messages on the record, with Garrison singing ‘I will meet my Lord above.’ With other songs, such as Don’t Believe In Me, she questions the existence of God with lines like, ‘How Can I believe in something that don’t believe in me.’ Also asking why ‘people tell me I should pray to a god I’ve never known,’ and wondering, ‘what’s the point of praying if there’s nothing left to say.’
In fairness, the Gospel flavoured Train… song is one that has been released on a previous record, appearing on the 2012 release, Amateur. The rest of this current record delves into the past, her feelings and emotions and looks with insight at many of the questions she now has answered for herself. Perhaps the perspective gained lies in the message on Make Peace With It, that says ‘I gotta make peace with it, Try to see the grace in it, Be a little more patient, Even when it breaks my heart.’
This is the real dilemma in trying to reconcile with a world that does not understand the basic right to live openly as a gay woman in the modern age. The opening song on the record, The Devil In Me, addresses this very point and questions all the heartbreak involved with growing up in fear and inherited shame for having such feelings, ‘I lost my youth, Hiding the devil in me, Broke in two, Fighting the devil in me, Is that really all you see?’
This is an important record for Garrison Starr, coming as her first full release of new material since 2012. Having always been a prolific creative force, Garrison found her energy and direction aimed more towards collaborative song-writing for film and tv over more recent years. Her ability to produce consistently strong work has never been in doubt, perhaps the only limiting factor being her own belief in whether to record a full-length solo project again.
Well, the wait was certainly worth the effort involved, taking these deeply personal songs and deciding to put them out for media scrutiny at a time when the fragile nature of the world has never been under greater examination. These are not songs of self-pity, nor of approval seeking. Rather they are a bold statement from a mature artist who has reconciled a lot of issues from her past and has come to terms with how the journey has shaped her into the person she is today. This is a vibrant record, one that impresses on every level and comes very highly recommended.
Review by Paul McGee
3hattrio Lost Sessions Okehdokee
The deserts that surround Zion Canyon in Southern Utah are home to this trio of musicians who have been playing together for the past 10 years, ever since jamming with a then-15-year-old, Eli Wrankle at a school fundraiser. The substantial talent on display testifies to some of the most innovative and ground-breaking music I have heard in the last few years and Al Cannon (banjo, guitar, Weissenborn, fretted Oud, vocals), Greg Istock (acoustic bass, foot percussion, piano, vocals), Eli Wrankle (violin), emerge as pioneers of a unique sound that is hypnotic in composition and engaging on every level.
American desert music is what this trio of musicians describe as their sound. It conjures up images of open landscapes, rugged terrain, sparce vistas of singular vegetation, coupled with hot sands, blowing across wide desert spaces of both beauty and obvious hazard. Listening to the eclectic arrangements reminds me of the music made by their spiritual brothers in other parts of the world, like the Tuareg travellers in their Mali desert surrounds, where native instrumentation like the Calabash (Gourd), the Tama (talking drum) and the N’goni (the ancestor of the banjo) are to be found.
Much of the free form sounds created by 3hattrio walk in parallel with this spirit and in honour of the earth and the wonderful interplay of violin, banjo, double bass and percussion makes for quite an addictive cocktail of sound. There is a natural proximity to jazz in much of the free form playing and riffing, and it takes a deep understanding between these players, allowing each other off the reins of contemporary music structure, only to return to shared rhythm again, as a cohesive whole.
In the dynamic playing of upright bass player, Greg Istock, I am reminded of Danny Thompson and his melodic soloing over many years with diverse artists such as John Martyn, Songhai and so many more. The musical bow is another instrument that creates much in atmospheric sound and the use of pedals and synth sounds on the violin by Eli Wrankle, echoes this ghostly presence in the atmospherics and soundscapes. Subdued chants, both worded and improvisational vocals, are also mixed with the compelling rhythms, created by these gifted musicians.
The song titles, such as Lost In the Woods, No In-Between, In Or Out, Pushin’ You Down, Miss Tilly, On the Run and Attack Of the Shadows each carry their own individual resonance and the occasional semi-audible lyrics simply add atmosphere to the already compelling music. Meditative and inventive, channelling atmospheric exploration, the ten tracks display an intuitive sense of freedom and experimental joy that resonates long after the album has ended. An essential purchase.
Review by Paul McGee
Morning Bride Goodbye, Seaside Danny Wilde Self Release
This trio of Amity Joy Dunn, Mark James Pearson & Pete Bennett has released two previous albums, Lea Valley Delta Blues (2008) and The North Sea Rising (2013). Last year, during the lockdown, they recorded these songs at home, bringing a 7-year itch to an end on this third album.
These are very engaging songs, played with a minimalist approach, few instruments and a stripped down atmospheric. Entertainer, Danny Wilde, plays a large part on the album, both with the title and in the two separate tracks dedicated to him. As a well-known performer in the seaside town of Scarborough, the largest holiday resort on the Yorkshire coast, Wilde depicts that entertainer that we all remember as children on summer holidays, a larger-than-life character who could sing, tell a joke and generally create an air of having a jolly time in the company of assembled strangers.
The cover is a spin on the 19th Century J.M.W. Turner painting, The Fighting Temeraire, with an old battleship being towed by a paddle wheel steam tug. In the foreground, however, is a beach ball, bobbing in the waves, depicting perhaps the decline of the old seaside towns of yesteryear and their faded sheen as holiday destinations. The music here also speaks to a largely forgotten past where things may well have been a little more innocent.
The Storm Clouds looks at beating depression and looking towards a new sunrise, ‘To close the door on the darkness that took so many years away’ and ‘sometimes you have to put the light out to let the darkness free.’ Wise words that wrap the theme of self forgiveness and banishing the demons of mental illness.
Just Visiting could be a look at the presence of spirit, a profession of faith in a higher power, or taken as the memory of a close friend who has passed on, but still lingers in the ether and in the memory. It could also be a call to Jesus to return and clean up the earthly mess he left behind. ‘I see you when I search the sky, for a single guiding star.’ Also, on Dear Hazel, the lyric, ‘But He sees everything in broken promised land, and castles made of sand,’ again could refer to a Deity in a song that suggests locked-in syndrome and a life spent trying to shake off crippling depression, ‘Dear Hazel, oh, did he save your soul, or take it for his own, Dear Hazel.’
Greek mythology is the core image on Leucothea, a song that references the sea goddess, who shall rise from the deep to claim her revenge on those that dealt her such a bad hand in causing her insanity while on the earth. The Good Seed is a tribute to Mother Nature and a wish to stay outside of confining convention, that rigidity of trying to define and restrict everyone and everything.
The drift of passion to coldness could be at the core of Apollo 13, where the days of lustful pleasure turn to something more routine, with ‘It's too cold here to call it home, It's too cold here, to be alone.’ It could also be the words of an astronaut speaking from his lonely spaceship! Better to leave the listener guessing and having to make up his own mind.
The title song looks back through the lens of memory and that holiday camp entertainer, Danny Wilde, keeper of memories, guardian of the eternal flame of youth. The instrumental track, Reprise Danny Wilde, plays out in a more nostalgic and understated fashion.
Amity Joy Dunn (vocals, melodica, an old Casio keyboard), Mark James Pearson (vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitars, percussion) and Pete Bennett (lead and slide guitar), make up the collective and the sense of longing in the vocals, coupled with the feeling that the pain is worth the price that sometimes must be paid, gives this album great appeal and comes highly recommended.
Review by Paul McGee