Curtis McMurtry Toothless Messiah Self Release
Those who like a challenge from their music should seek out this fourth album from Austin’s Curtis McMurtry (and yes, he’s the son of singer-songwriter James and grandson of Larry, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist). A full on exploration and forewarning of the dangers of authoritarianism, this does not make for an easy listen, but its rewards grow in proportion to the time spent in its company.
Written exclusively on banjo and banjolele, those percussive instruments are perfectly balanced throughout the recording by the cello playing and backing vocals of long-term collaborator Diana Burgess. It’s no surprise then to realise that she and McMurtry are partners in life as well as in music collaboration. Muted horns are liberally used to great effect to help convey menace in this socio-political commentary, and Mike Meadows on percussion goes heavy and persistent on the bass drum, adding to the atmosphere of foreboding.
Praise Caesar tells the dictator story from the perspective of a sycophantic follower - ‘I guard you like a dog’, and the ominous atmosphere is palpable. That same atmosphere informs Lion on A Leash ‘they want a winner, not a saint’ and ‘our weapons demand to be used’, the leader exhorts his followers. Although Trump appears to be the obvious target of McMurtry’s warnings, he sees it as being about the bigger picture, around the world and throughout history. Power corrupts, he reminds us, but he aims to inform us from a variety of perspectives. The mildly skeptic are given a voice in You Need Me To Betray You - ‘My teachers taught me not to trust my teachers’ while the protagonist in the menacing Around My Neck is a former follower who now sees reality.
Evan Kaspar’s pedal steel must be mentioned in particular for contributing to the sinister and dystopian musical landscape of Dinosaurs, a stark reminder to not repeat the mistakes of history.
The short but intense album, a combination of songs, instrumentals and spoken word pieces does end on a somewhat positive note (thankfully!), with Flowers Through The Stone - ‘to the fire we surrender ... from the ashes we return’.
Review by Eilís Boland
Two Cent Revival Demons Self Release
The man behind the moniker is Matt Jones, a New York City and Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, who has combined a myriad of different influences into his writing and music. He is an adept storyteller who has recorded this new album with producer Dan Devine and a group of musicians who give each song its own identity, some of which reflect his influences in a slightly more obvious way, while on others he performs tracks that are more his own thing.
Perhaps because he was adopted from Brazil by parents who raised him in Texas before his move to the East Coast, Jones’ music is a reflection of those people and places he has encountered along his journey. His last release under this name was in 2011. Since then, he has been working on these songs, which move from the confessional to the complications inherent in the human race. These are delivered with thoughtfulness and consideration.
Jones has a variable voice that has a baritone edge that bends to suit the mood and structure on the saxophone led closing track Violin. The opening song and single Crow relies on some subtle ensemble playing from the bass and drum combination of Tom Welsch and Davine. Brian Axford adds much overall with his keyboard skills, while on guitar Elijah Tucker makes his presence felt throughout. There’s a certain desert ambience applied to the song that may be a reminder of the Giant Sand/Calexico ethos. Without the benefit of a lyric sheet the songs have to speak for themselves. Candy is a “why does a girl like you like a guy like me.” It opens with ominous bass and drums that herald an obsessiveness of mind that develops into a keyboard jam which underlines the dark nature of the song. In a more laid-back setting Happy Hell and the more forceful It Look Like Blood makes the Nick Cave comparisons more apparent with its Biblical connotations and the dualism of light and dark.
The upbeat Julia, musically and lyrically, is by way of contrast and makes an unashamed assessment of love. Guerrilla Love has twangy guitar, a solid beat, some saloon piano and a story to tell. Another track that has an energy, an edge, an attraction and a touch of the Attractions is Never See The Bullet - life never lets you see what might hit you at any time. It is also a reminder that we often head for a different place with the realisation that we are all being used to some degree, even if we are not sure in which way. Likewise, the song shifts between reflection and rebellion.
Those two seemingly opposing attitudes might be a pretty good way to sum up the diversity that DEMONS offers to the world. My two cents is that this, while it may flirt with the fringes of Americana, is an album that marks the arrival of another name to add to a growing list of artists who are developing in to something a little bit special.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Rod Picott Wood, Steel, Dust & Dreams Welding Rod
This latest release from Rod Picott is a limited double CD of songs that Picott has written through the years with his good buddy and fellow master songwriter Slaid Cleaves. So, this collection is Picott’s rerecording of songs that they have written together. In his notes he talks of the different backgrounds the two writers come from, but how their common interest in observing and understanding their fellow man has served them well as thoughtful and evocative writers. When we look for the writers with the skills to measure up to the likes of Guy Clark and John Prine, these two are likely candidates. Though their work differs in many ways to those lost and loved icons, it has the same degree of pursuit of the art of telling a story in the best way to chase the magic of creating great songs.
The material, in the main, has come from the albums released under their individual names on preceding recordings. Some of the songs included here have never made it to the public previously. Overall, they are delivered in a stripped-down setting with voice and guitar front and centre. Picott possesses an aged and evocative delivery that is entirely right for this material. However, there are other players here who add touches that bring much to the songs under the guidance of producer Neilson Hubbard, who is also the percussionist here and is joined by guitarists Matt Mauch and Will Kimbrough. Both also provide the harmony vocals on some tracks. Lex Price is the final component adding bass and mandolin. All of these have appeared on some of Picott’s previous albums and are players, therefore, that he is comfortable recording with.
However, aside from the work of these fine musicians, there is no doubt that the words matter and over these twenty-six tracks there’s much to savour in the detail. Here are just a couple of examples to illustrate that point: “I don’t need to read the news or the tea leaves to understand / That this world’s been shaved by a drunken barber’s hand.” Taken from the song Drunken Barber’s Hand it is an obviously poetic way of saying how much is wrong with the way we live today and the people who effect the way we exist. Then there is the simplicity of Primer Gray, a song about the love of cars, their maintenance and the intertwined relationships of family. Words that manage to reveal much about a life in those short verses. “I pulled the engine with a block and chain / got the oil pump in just before the rain / in the gravel drive there’s a Pontiac / come the weekend I’m down at the track.”
Of course, aside from this particular project, their partnership and perception, both writers work with others as well as on their own. As a result, there is no lack of maintaining the high lyrical standard in that capacity either. Rather this is something of a summation of friendship and the shared love of creating something special in song. While this may not be the ideal starting place for anyone unacquainted with Picott’s writing craft and voice, it will be a welcome addition to anyone who considers themselves a fan of either writer, but of Picott in particular.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Holly Macve Not The Girl Modern Sky
GOLDEN EAGLE, the 2017 debut album from Holly Macve, certainly struck a chord with us at Lonesome Highway. That album was a snapshot of the huge potential of the young Galway born artist with her distinctive and stylish quavering vocal delivery and well-constructed songs. Country, old time, blues and jazz influences all emerged on that album, fuelled by an early exposure to Hank Williams, Big Bill Broonzy and Billie Holiday, courtesy of her mother’s record collection. The songs were quite skeletal, a fusion of the Brighton based artists vision of country noir. That musical landscape is revisited on NOT THE GIRL, although on an altogether larger scale both vocally and instrumentally.
The stunning Be My Friend, the first single from the album, was released a few months back and its surreal and dreamlike treatment offered a sneak preview of a more sophisticated and full-blown sound. On a similar theme, she probes for lasting love on the emotive Eye Of The Storm. Both tracks find Macve pushing out the boundaries without leaving behind the notable gothic template of the album’s predecessor. The arrangements are also more intricate and the subject matter even darker this time around. A case in point is the misty opener Bird and the grisly murder ballad Behind The Flowers. The latter features musician, producer and founder member of The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones on guitar. He also guests on the soaring and quite exquisite You Can Do Better. Other notables that contribute include Fiona Brice (John Grant, Placebo), whose string arrangements add depth to many of the compositions, particularly on the evocative slow burner Little Lonely Heart. Equally essential in fashioning Macve’s thrilling sound is pedal steel guitarist C.J. Hillman.
Two albums into her career, Macve has created musical landscapes that call to mind artists as diverse as Bobby Gentry and P.J. Harvey and bands equally varied from The Velvet Underground to Mazzy Star. She has also passed the difficult second album syndrome with flying colours, with a body of work that is delivered with a confident swagger and that blends all the key elements of classic panoramic alt-country noir.
Review by Declan Culliton
Volk Cashville Romanus
With a sound self-described as ‘equal parts rock-roaring, twanging, honky tonking, acid-tripping, American-ing, and spaghetti western-ing’, it’s no surprise that CASHVILLE, the explosive debut full album from VOLK, offers the listener a multiplicity of sounds to take on board.
A musical marriage that came about following an open mic session in a brothel cum bar in Berlin, Volk is Chris Lowe on guitar and vocals, alongside Eleot Reich on drums and vocals. That early encounter in 2013 found the duo performing acoustic folk songs, quite a distance from the sonic eruption that they deliver on CASHVILLE. Leaving Berlin for Nashville in 2016, on arrival they loaded the van and hit the road, honing their skills and developing their cowpunk savviness in any dive bar that would book them.
The album explodes into action with the opener Welcome To Cashville with raging guitars, thumping drums and shared vocals, landing somewhere between The White Stripes and AC/DC. They seldom take their foot off the gas on the eleven tracks that follow, only slipping down the gears slightly mid album with Old Palestine and the closer Simple Western Song. Elsewhere it’s an onslaught on the senses with bruisers Honey Bee, Snake Farm and the toe tapping bluesy Yorkshire Girl.
A comparison with the The White Stripes may be a little obvious, but VOLK do display similar energy levels, intensity and spiritedness that would, no doubt, come across even more strikingly in the live setting. In medieval Germany the term Volk was a reference to a large crowd or army. On the strength of this album, I expect it might also describe the growing fan base that this powerful recording could spawn.
Review by Declan Culliton
Rachel Baiman Cycles Signature Sound
A masterly violin and banjo player, Nashville resident Rachael Baiman’s 2017 album SHAME also exhibited her skills as a songwriter, with a particular emphasis on social and political issues. Alongside her solo work, the Chicago born artist also performs with fiddle player Christian Sedelmyer in the acoustic duo 10 String Symphony. Her third solo recording CYCLES finds her contemplating matters closer to home, with the bulk of the songs created from both personal and family happenings.
Those events recalled are often achingly sorrowful. The opening and title track confronts the loss of a baby suffered late in pregnancy by her sister-in-law and the trauma that such an event sets in motion. Her own rejection is confronted on Hope It Hurts, where she comes to terms with being unceremoniously and unexpectedly dropped by her booking agent. No Good Time For Dying finds her fondly recollecting her grandmother, an independent soul finally overwhelmed by the passing years, which forced her to end her days in a nursing home. She is joined on backing vocals by Melbourne based singer songwriter Dan Parsons on Ships In The Night. The song considers the artist’s dilemma of personal freedom to pursue their vocation alongside the need for emotional and spiritual support. Young Love explores the various stages of a relationship, from the starry-eyed beginnings to the more challenging undercurrents that inevitably follow.
Less personal are the socially conscious Wyoming Wildflowers and Rust Belt Fields. The former contrasts the beauty and tranquillity of that landscape, set against an horrific murderous white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The latter, a cover of the powerful Slaid Cleaves/Rod Picott song, bemoans the creation of ghost towns in the Midwest due to outsourcing and globalisation. It tells an all too familiar tale of the demise of industrial employment, which paid a decent wage and supported so many American towns both socially and economically.
As you would expect the instrumentation is impeccable throughout with Baiman’s fiddle, violin and acoustic guitar playing augmented by a host of session players. However, it’s her maturity as a writer that shines through with her tales of troubled times catching your attention and holding it.
CYCLES is a worthy follow up to SHAME. It’s also an album for the slow cooker, so don’t expect to connect with the songs on first listen. They do, however, reveal themselves on repeated plays to be the work of a seriously mature wordsmith as well as a gifted musician.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Green Line Travelers Baker’s Bog Blowout Ella Ruth Instutet
Sweden has become a ‘go to’ destination for many touring Americana and country music acts in recent years, with artists such as J.P. Harris, Tyler Childers and Whitney Rose all playing the Nordic country. Together with having a thriving support base for traditional country music, Sweden has also got its own homegrown roster of artists and bands. First Aid Kit are now a household name and The Country Sound of Harmonica Sam are making a well-deserved breakthrough. The Swedes have also adopted American Doug Seegers as one of their own, following his appearance on a Swedish TV show in 2014.
Another act from that part of the world giving the thumbs up to classic old style country honky tonk is The Green Line Travelers. A five-piece combo from Stockholm, they consist of David Ritschard on lead vocals, Agnes Odén on fiddle, Daniel Björkander on lead guitar, Anders Höjlund on upright bass and Fabian Ris Lundblad on drums. Pedal steel player Daniel Wigstrand also guests on BAKER’S BOG BLOWOUT. The band borrows its title from a subway in their native city and their album is a delight from start to finish, delivering toe tapping originals alongside a number of well-suited cover songs.
The original songs include the album’s standout track Honky Tonk Saturday Night, which features Nashville’s Kristina Murray sharing honeyed vocals with drummer Fabian. It stands shoulder to shoulder with any classic country duet. The rocking Honky Tonk Tuesday Night is most likely a thumbs up to the weekly Tuesday night honky tonk sessions at the American Legion in East Nashville. Other originals that impress are the classic old timey Pretend Girlfriend and the rockabilly Last Last Time.
As you would expect, the album also delivers on ‘the tears in your beer’ front. Connie Smith’s The Hurtin’s All Over and Conway Twitty’s This Time I’ve Hurt Her (More Than She Loves Me) are both included with treatments that are sympathetic to the original versions.
The Green Line Travelers don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel and BAKER’S BOG BLOWOUT is simply no-nonsense old-school country, providing a glimpse of a band dedicated to that genre and wearing their heart on their sleeves. If you like your country super twangy, this one’s for you.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Accidentals Time Out (Session One) Self Release
A five track EP born out of quarantine finds three-piece band The Accidentals collaborating with a number of established songwriters. Their world seemed to fall apart in March 2020 when, following a successful twenty-three date tour, they were on the road to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas. What promised to be the perfect opportunity to further showcase their talents was aborted when they learned that the festival was cancelled and they had to turn their van around and head back to Nashville.
The Accidentals are multi-instrumentalists Savannah Buist and Katie Larson, whose friendship dates back to high school in Traverse City, Michigan. The female fronted band also includes third member Michael Dause, who plays drums. TIME OUT (SESSION ONE) follows their highly acclaimed debut album ODYSSEY released in 2018. Alongside their band duties the members host master classes and workshops for music students. Buist and Larson are also in high demand for their stringed instrumental skills by numerous artists and bands in Nashville.
With their committed work ethic, it’s not surprising that they took full advantage of the Covid-19 enforced lockdown to record this album. Furthermore, on the realisation that others would also have time on their hands, they reached out to a host of respected songwriters to collaborate with. The result is an introspective set of songs that drift between folk and country, beautifully harmonised and performed, bringing to mind the music of Nickel Creek. The songs were composed via numerous Zoom calls starting with the opening track Wildfire, written with Kim Richey. The spirited anthem All Shall Be Well, was penned with Mary Gauthier and Jamie Harris. Two harmonised voices and two acoustic guitars feature on the song, which is the most stripped back of the five tracks. Dar Williams, whom they had opened a show for early in their career, came on board for the fuller sounding Night Train. A series of weekly remote writing sessions with folk legend Tom Paxton yielded Anyway. Written at the lowest point of the pandemic, its lyrics reflect fear, the unknown and the ongoing loss of life. The final song Might As Well Be Gold was composed pre-pandemic and is a co-write with celebrated songwriter and recording artist Maia Sharp. It’s an optimistic and hugely catchy inclusion, beautifully orchestrated.
All in all, a most enjoyable listen by a team of young musicians, hugely gifted, totally committed and with the world at their feet.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Deep Dark Woods Changing Faces Six Shooter
The album title CHANGING FACES may be a reflection of the moving parts of The Deep Dark Woods as much as it may be a reference to the band’s frontman Ryan Boldt’s relocation from the rural prairies of Saskatchewan to his current residence on the east coast of Canada. Line-up changes may be regular but the musical landscapes brought to pass by Boldt remain absorbing. The band’s seventh album has a particular emphasis on alt-folk, moving some distance from the band’s more Americana sound on their earlier releases. It’s a path that Boldt has travelled more frequently on the band’s more recent work and one that featured exclusively on his debut solo album THE BROADSIDE BALLADS in 2014. That recording was Boldt’s rendition of traditional American, Irish and U.K. folk songs. On this occasion he has created his own similarly themed songs, laced with bruised and tender lyrics and brought to life by some fine musicians.
Boldt has acted as a father figure and chaperone to Kacy (Anderson) and Clayton (Linthicum), bringing them along as a support act and also band members since their teen years. The talented duo feature prominently on the album, collaborating on six of the eight tracks. Clayton plays bass, pedal steel, cello and various guitars with Kacy contributing violin, acoustic guitar and angelic backing vocals. The duo’s input is particularly striking on the perfectly tailored and standout track In The Meadow. It offers a sound that brings to mind the finest Richard Thompson has to offer and is packed with left of centre folky diversions. Cello, harmonica and harmonium, (both courtesy of Geoff Hillhorst) and percussion by Mike Silverman, all work hand in glove with Boldt’s well defined vocals. How Could I Ever Be Single Again? also impresses with its classic English folk sound and romantic heartbreak also surfaces on the Nick Drake like Everything Reminds Me. Closing the album is the slightly more acoustic Yarrow, which Deep Dark Woods fans will recognise as the title of their 2017 released album.
Recorded at The Sugar Shack in London and Ghetto Box Studios in Saskatoon, six of the eight songs were written by Boldt, with the previously mentioned In The Meadow co-written with Clayton. The final song is the Hungarian folk song Anathea, previously recorded by both Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell
CHANGING FACES places Boldt very much in his comfort zone and doing what he does best. His folk sensibilities emerge with flying colours on a suite of songs that lean heavily on dark gothic themes, missed opportunities and previous romances.
Review by Declan Culliton