Chris J Norwood I Am Not Cool State Fair
In the opening prologue Norwood tells us quite why he is not cool. “I am not cool, I don’t play rock ’n’ roll / I am just a man trying to sing what I know / I am just a man trying to sing what I know / there’s only two kinds of music what’s true and what ain’t.” Well, he does sings about what he knows and what’s true, but as for not playing rock ’n’ roll, that may depend on your definition of the up-tempo guitar-driven song The Final Girl that follows it. Norwood is one of the two electric guitar players listed in the credits, the other being co-producer (with Norwood) Guillermo Murillo. The rhythm section of Steve Moore and Randall Marsow, aptly deliver the bass and drums respectively. His wife Carrie Norwood completes the line-up on background vocals - a contribution that is notable on many tracks. Listening to the album there also appears to be some other instruments (steel and dobro) in the mix too.
There is a poignancy to the story of Good Guy With A Gun, one of the albums obvious highlights. It tells of a father doing the best he could with his lot but who liked to keep and fire some rounds from his gun. Then, giving in to the pressures of his existence, turns it on himself. In Norwood’s case it is based on personal experience and therefore all the more tragic and layered with realism. The title track in its full song take elaborates on the prologue version both lyrically and musically. There is sense of vulnerability and openness to Norwood’s reading of this statement of his being in which he opts for truth and honesty in a sometimes cruel and often cynical world. There is a range of self-effacement in Norwood’s writing revealing that his “uncoolness” is, in fact, something to savour in his outlook and identity.
There is restraint to Creature of Bad Habits, which has steel guitar under the acoustic guitar voice, allowing the words and mood the space to float freely. In a similar vein but from a very different perspective is the closing track I Wrote You A Song, which is an unashamed declaration of love for his wife Carrie. Leaving Louisiana Behind has a full sound with a determined rhythm under pinning its road travel theme and of returning home.
Another song that seems more personal insight and that has a nice jaunty country feel with its dobro and handclaps is Grandpa Was a Farmer. There is a John v Jane interplay in I Need You (To Quit Breaking My Heart) between the Norwood’s (Chris and Carrie) - or their later egos - to declare their need for each other but also the notion that that need is also tearing them apart. A relationship is central to Love And Mercy and it allows that ‘home is home’ wherever they are at a particular time. It relates to the nomadic touring lifestyle that this Dallas native and partner had in the past.
I had never previously come across Norwood but enjoyed this album. It may be a little difficult to pin down with its influences but, in this case, Americana seems an appropriate shelf to put it on, though a seasoned listener might detect several different influences that go into creating Norwood’s serious but often smile inducing songcraft. If you let the album speak for itself, I think you will find it pretty cool, if not, being uncool has its own merits.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Summer Dean Bad Romantic Self Release
The old adage of ‘following your dream’ comes to mind with this debut full album from rural Texan Summer Dean. Abandoning a ten-year career as an elementary teacher she bravely packed away the school books, dusted down her guitar and, togged out head to toe in denim, headed out on her musical adventure.
BAD ROMANTIC - the title says it all – tells her tale in her own forthright words from the opener Picket Fence. Unashamedly free of commitments and a free spirit, she announces on that song, ‘I’m all alone, a woman on her own, writing songs with no baby and no vows’. Further confirmation of her current status comes across on her signature song Blue Jean Country Queen and the Glenn Barber written Yes Ma’am He Found Me In A Honky Tonk, which is delivered in unapologetic style.
Dean put down a marker of where she was coming from with her six track 2016 EP UNLADYLIKE. An impressive suite of country songs, it earmarked her as ‘one to watch’. She followed that recording by booking herself shows at bars and dancehall and honing her act, sharing stages with Marty Stuart, Mike & The Moonpies, Asleep at the Wheel and Colter Wall. Fast forward five years from that debut EP to BAD ROMANTIC and her hard work has paid dividends. Dean here comes across as hugely more confident and rebellious with an entirely more muscular sound and the songs to match. She pours her heart and soul into each and every track and is complemented by a bunch of players that appear to be having every bit as much fun as she herself is.
Sharing the mic with Colter Wall was inspired, their duet You’re Lucky She’s Lonely is a delight. Other familiar names that lent a hand are Whitney Rose and Bonnie Montgomery, who both added harmony vocals and Robert Ellis, who plays piano on Dear Caroline. Elsewhere the atmospheric title track is a classic country ballad, bringing to mind the many equally moving border songs from her fellow Texan, Joe Ely. Her plea for ‘real’ country music Hey Mister, could be directed towards the lords on Music Row and she slips in the obligatory lovin’ and leavin’ song with the upbeat Three Timin’ Game.
Aside from Dean’s raw and natural vocalising and the wonderful players that support her, the greatest compliment I can pay the album is that it’s a fun listen that had me smiling from start to finish. I can’t think of any other female artist currently as outlaw as Summer Dean. With the swagger of Waylon and the attitude of Hag, this lady is the business. A late comer to her newly chosen career, let’s hope the fire she’s ignited continues to rage going forward.
Review by Declan Culliton
Leah Blevins First Time Feeling Crabtree
Kentucky born chanteuse Leah Blevins is blessed with a voice that lands somewhere between the quintessential country vocals of Dolly Parton and the soulful trilling of Dusty Springfield. With a childhood upbringing surrounded by gospel music at church and classic country at home, she incorporates both in FIRST TIME FEELING but on her own terms, pouring her heart and soul into each and every one of the ten tracks.
An inspired move by Blevins was calling on outlaw country artist Paul Cauthen to produce the album. With a similar upbringing to her own, Cauthen’s career, both as a recording artist and producer, has found him pushing out the boundaries with his bespoke amalgam of country, soul and blues. Blevins follows a similar musical path on her debut album, with the bones of the material and much of the album’s thread finding her lifting the veil on past personal troubles. Currently residing in Nashville, she describes the album as “a timestamp of my twenties”, recalling individuals encountered and situations lived through.
Those familiar with Cauthen’s work will recognise his stamp firmly planted on both the raucous opening track Afraid and the funky soulful stomp Magnolias. Blevin revisits her gospel influenced childhood on both Believe and Mountain and showcases her vocal versatility on the classic countrypolitan Beautiful Disaster. The super catchy power poppy First Time Feeling recalls Aimee Mann and Clutter is unadulterated country soul, both emphasising how difficult it is to shoehorn Blevins into any particular genre.
Notwithstanding her exceptional vocal talents, Blevins displays the flair to create songs that draw the listener in with their candour. With a family tree that includes grandparents, aunts and uncles performing in a touring gospel group, Leah Blevins is proudly following that family tradition. It will be interesting to note what musical direction she pursues going forward, but it’s fair to say that with her incredible voice, her musical horizons are limitless.
Review by Declan Culliton
Karen Jonas Summer Songs EP/Gumballs (Poetry Collection) Self-Release
It only seems like yesterday when we reviewed and loved Karen Jonas’s last album THE SOUTHWEST SKY AND OTHER DREAMS, which was followed earlier this year by her streamed standout performance at Americanafest UK. That album, released in 2020, and her remote performance at the festival, copper fastened our opinion of an artist that continues to improve with her subsequent recordings and has the stage presence to do her music justice in the live setting. Her kinship with long time guitarist Tim Bray, both on stage and in the studio, brings to mind a similar dynamic that exists between another Lonesome Highway favourite Eilen Jewell and her axeman Jerry Miller.
Jonas’ latest project is a four track EP titled SUMMER SONGS, which combines three self-written songs accompanied by a reworking of Don Henley’s The Boys of Summer. In addition to the EP, she is also launching a deeply personal collection of poems titled GUMBALLS. Incredibly, the poetry - thirty poems of sixty written by her are included - emerged from a week’s feverish writing in January of this year. The subject matter often marks difficult life chapters, with prose as painful as a wound not quite healed as yet. An embarrassing scolding from her father (Sit Up and Act Like a Lady), religious guilt (A Terrible Catholic, Swallow It), divorce (Marriage Counselling Dropout), and infidelity (Two Men At Once) are a sample of her confessions, which give the reader an insight into the minor detail as well as the big picture.
During the writing process Karen was reminded of songs previously semi composed by her, which she reconnected with and updated. Given her frame of mind, not surprisingly a somewhat melancholic mood prevails. She opens with the Don Henley classic, remaining true to the original but it’s on her three self-penned songs that her light shines brightest. They take place at a somewhat slower pace than that opening track, highlighting her sultry vocal styling on both the soulful Summer’s Hard For Love and the bluesy Thunder On The Batter. The final track, Summer Moon, is melancholic and stripped back to the bone, a solo performance of vocal and acoustic guitar.
Another tantalising flavour of what Kelly Jonas is capable of, SUMMER SONGS suggests an artist who is every bit as comfortable crooning soulful ballads as she is launching country and roots numbers. GUMBALLS is also well worth the purchase, it’s simply wonderful and an indication of a fearless and reborn artist with so much to offer and lots to say.
Review by Declan Culliton
Kayla Ray Songs of Extreme Isolation, Economic Crisis and Other Funny Things Self-Release
One of the most prolific performers during lockdown, the honeyed vocalist and astute songwriter Kayla Ray’s remote streams were a breath of fresh air, feeding punters starved of live events. Juggling between shows that featured cover songs, self writes, gospel and other selected themes, her confident and humour filled presentations put her splendid voice and skilled guitar playing on display.
A favourite album of 2018 at Lonesome Highway, YESTERDAY & ME was a compilation of strikingly evocative songs that ranged from country ballads to full-on honky tonkers. Understandably, given the resources available to her, this latest recording is an altogether different affair. Like many others, she found herself in uncharted territory during the past twelve months. By way of a reaction to the positive feedback of her live streams, she has recorded a selection of her songs on the aptly titled SONGS OF EXTREME ISOLATION, ECONOMIC CRISIS AND OTHER FUNNY THINGS. Armed with her ‘made for country’ voice, an acoustic guitar, a dobro and little else, she recreates the ambience of those live streams across eight tracks.
The songs touch on isolation (Brand New Way), optimism (Tree Of Life), nostalgia (May The Iron Horse Get Fed) and sly humour (Quarantine Can Bong). She raises the tempo on the upbeat protest song If Freedom Is What We’re After and sweet melancholic pedal steel enlivens both The Losing End and Good Enough For Me. An old head on young shoulders, the common denominator across the songs is Kayla’s capacity to timelessly trigger the sound of country music from bygone eras, while also sounding as fresh as morning dew.
It remains a mystery to me, and indeed a travesty, that Kayla Ray is not yet a household name in the country/Americana genre. This addition to her catalogue is further confirmation of her skill as a songwriter and also that she is the possessor of a voice that weaves, dips and twangs in all the right places. If you’re familiar with her music, this album is probably already on your radar. If she’s a new name to you, do track this album down and check out her outstanding back catalogue.
Review by Declan Culliton
Clint Morgan Troublemaker Lost Cause
Coming in just short of the hour, this album is a chocolate box of different flavours and hidden treats. Starting with the great band dynamic on Hangman Woman, with funky groove, guitar and piano excelling; we are then given the soulful Go Down, Moses, a traditional song given a fresh new take with the McCrary sisters (Ann and Regina) excelling on harmony vocals. The blues kick in with a vengeance on Ain’t That the Blues, with jazzy New Orleans piano from Kevin McKendree and mean harmonica from Bob Corritore. Wonderful, vibrant production from Morgan and McKendree helps of course, as this album delivers on all fronts.
There are the wonderful skills of Doug Lancio (baritone and slide guitar), David Santos and Tom Pell (various bass), Kevin McKendree (acoustic and electric guitar, piano, Hammond organ, Rhodes electric piano and percussion). Jim Hoke contributes on saxophones, with Kenneth Blevind on drums and Jimmy Stewart on fiddle. Wendy Moten sings background vocals and John Del Toro Richardson guests on guitar and vocals (Hurricane Harvey), plus there are star appearances from Watermelon Slim and Bob Margolin (The Cover Of the Living Blues) and Kinky Freedman (Somebody Put A Walmart On the Farm).
There is a great cover version of the Johnny Cash classic, Big River, with a nod to the Ray Charles hit, ‘What I’d Say’ included in the chorus lines. There is a Mark Knopfler guitar sound on Echoes, with atmospheric cello (Austin Hoke) and oboe (Robby Shankle), that pays tribute to the ties that bind family together and to ageing with dignity.
It’s Rough Out Here has a driving beat with spoken vocals and a mean groove laid down by twin guitar and keyboard attack. A song borne of frustration, with even a plea from God falling on deaf ears, ‘I gave you a book, Have you read it lately?’ There is a great Chuck Berry feel to the song ‘She Take My Money’ with more barrelhouse piano and horns dishing out the drama, ‘My honey take my money, She think that I’m a cash machine.’ Superbly delivered and a stand out track.
Too Rich To Sing the Blues is a tongue-in-cheek song about wealth not being the root to happiness in life, ‘I can sing like Lightnin’ Hopkins, But I spend like Howard Hughes.’ There are also name checks to Wille Dixon, Little Walter, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, as the guitar solo mirrors the best BB King groove you will hear, apart from the man himself. Such a clever song, followed by the equally impressive Hurricane Harvey that slows everything down to an atmospheric slow glide, with swapped vocals between Morgan and Richardson.
The Kinky Freedman cameo on Somebody Put A Walmart On the Farm is another highlight with lines such as ‘There’s a self-service express mart in what used to be the barn’ and ‘The front porch is right around aisle number three.’ Again, the band excelling on a Dr John styled groove and backing vocals to wrap around the beat. Stirring stuff. Freedman also does a nice bonus track version of The Cover Of the Living Blues, a send up of the ‘Cover Of the Rolling Stone’ classic written by Shel Silverstein. This is an album that celebrates life, having a good time and just letting your feet do the dancing. A joy from start to finish.
Review by Paul McGee
Craig Cardiff All This Time Running True North
This Canadian artist has proven himself to be both talented and versatile across a career that has seen multiple releases in his home country. He is not well known on European shores and more is the pity. Kicking off with the title track, All This Time Running, you are immediately struck by his sense of melody and easy way with words, ‘The head is a light, The heart is a compass.’.
The album has eleven tracks and they play out across thirty-five minutes, with six bonus tracks that deliver a further twenty-plus minutes of quality music (two tracks from the main album are given alternate takes). Of those six bonus tracks, a cover version of Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up is included but lacks some of the emotion that carried the original to such media acclaim and is perhaps just a bit too ‘clean’ in the production. Both Ymir, BC and Dirty Old Town are further proof of the honeyed vocal prowess of Cardiff and the confidence with which he leads these songs home.
Cardiff writes all the songs and gives production duties over to Steven Ryan and David Campbell, both of whom play on the album. Indeed, there are quite a number of contributors in the studio and a count of seventeen different players gives some idea of the scale and scope included here. Horn arrangements are muted and introduced for the first time on Yellowknife, Equally the string parts (arranged by David Campbell) are subtle in the mix and introduced on Wyoming. The acoustic sound of songs like Fire, Fire, Fire and Greyhound, SK are fine examples of the interplay between musicians with banjo, acoustic guitar, double bass and mandolin bringing great colour to the songs.
Another track, Wrong Place, Wrong Time, follows a similar path and the inclusion of clarinet and soft strings add greatly to the melodic swing and the wistful vocal delivery. Flugelhorn and trumpet, piano and keyboards/synths all find room in the arrangements, never sounding cluttered, even on bigger production numbers such as Moon and the celebratory Bryant Park.
Nick Roy contributes quite an impressive array of wind instruments (eight in total), in addition to working on all horn arrangements with Cardiff. The easy sway of The American is a change of direction with violin, viola and cello providing a sweet counterbalance to the rhythm, that echoes Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) in the vocal delivery. These are gentle songs that make for a very enjoyable listen. Certainly, an album that hits all the right targets and comes highly recommended.
Review by Paul McGee
Danny and The Champions of the World Los Campeones en Vivo Loose
Danny and the Champions of the World were formed in London in 2007 by Danny George Wilson. He started his musical journey in the band, Grand Drive, who released a number of critically acclaimed albums around the turn of the millennium, before borrowing the name from a novel by Roald Dahl and forming his current band. He has also released two solo albums (one this year), in addition to his work with the Champs. They now have a back catalogue of six studio albums, all of which have been released on Loose Music in England. They also released a live album, Live Champs! (2014) and now follow it up this year with another live offering, Los Campeones en Vivo, recorded in Northern Spain during a tour in March, 2018 last. The title translates as ‘Live Champions’ and that is just what they are.
Their line up on this record is Danny George Wilson (lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitar), Chris Clarke (bass guitar, vocals & percussion), Steve Brookes (drums and percussion), Paul Lush (electric guitar), Henry Senior (pedal steel) and Thomas Collison (keyboards and vocals) and it is a stirring, vibrant glimpse at the power they possess when playing together in this tightest of units.
It’s seventeen tracks with a running time of one hundred minutes plus – quite an experience on headphones with air guitars regularly accompanied by frenzied dancing around my desk. Their sound is right out of the Americana songbook, hook-laden arrangements, exciting guitar riffing and full of dramatic peaks as the music rises and falls in tandem with the energy levels expended on the night. Danny has enough soulful gravel in his vocal to add a layer of lived-in smoky tones to these songs. Springsteen meets Son Volt and the collective power is quite addictive.
The Brilliant Light album from 2017 is the most represented here, as would be expected, with ten of the tracks taken from it. A further two tracks are played from each of the albums What Kind Of Love (2015), Hearts and Arrows (2011), Stay True (2013) and one track is from Streets Of Our Time (2009). There are extended band workouts and the longest tracks, Let the Water Wash Over You, Brothers In the Night, Gotta Get Things Right In My Life and That Old Space Rocket all carry an exuberant energy and swagger, with a great band dynamic at play.
The production mix and separation are top drawer and the spirit of the Allman Brothers was walking tall with these impressive musicians as they displayed their collective talents across the stages of Europe. It is a document of the pre-Covid times and hopefully it will not be too long before Danny and the Champs return to the boards and are kicking up a lot of dust again. One of the best live albums you will ever hear!
Review by Paul McGee
Luke LeBlanc Only Human Self Release
This is the first full album release by Luke, using his actual name, with his two previous releases appearing under the performance name of Little Diamonds. There was an EP back in 2018, Time On My Hands, leading up to these ten songs that have been written over recent times.
All the tracks have a great band sound, with, Driving, setting it all off; a song for the road and getting lost in new experiences, pulling into different towns and the enjoyment of being anonymous. The Way It Goes has a really catchy melody and lovely violin runs from Kerri Joy. The acoustic, stripped back sound on Same Blues acts as the perfect vehicle to grandstand the subtle touch on guitar and the wry lyrics that LeBlanc conjures up, ‘Driving at midnight gets me lonesome, I didn’t know love until I had some, She didn’t like my occupation, It was a drive-away situation.’
Lowry Avenue is about owning a record store that no-one frequents anymore and wondering about selling up, with a nice Steve Miller vibe to the vocal and song arrangement. Too Early Gone has some subtle interplay and a gentle look at the death of a close friend and trying to make sense of a senseless situation. Water has LeBlanc promising to ‘take the dark away’ and ‘making promises I can’t keep’ in trying to express his love for a sweetheart. All very nicely wrapped up in a mid-tempo rhythm that dovetails around pedal steel and keyboard sounds. The title track, Only Human, is a slow ballad, considered and heart-felt, as LeBlanc wrestles with his inability to make the world feel the love and positivity that he wishes for all. Some atmospheric piano and harmonica set against organ swells and a dreamy arrangement. Good Time Gone and Oh My Lordy both continue the high standards with the first, a gentle lilting melody and a song about pending heartbreak, the latter, a bluesy workout about focusing too much on material success and not being able to negotiate matters of the heart.
These ten songs are all written by the very talented LeBlanc (with two co-writes) and it’s a really enjoyable experience across thirty -plus minutes of sweetly sounding melodies. LeBlanc plays guitar, organ, piano, harmonica and sings in a really engaging vocal style that colours the songs very nicely. He is joined by co-producer Erik Koskinen on electric and pedal steel guitar, plus bass. John Cleve Richardson adds piano, organ and vocals with Kerri Joy playing violin and singing, together with Erin Bekkers on drums.
Everything comes to a satisfactory conclusion on Nothing To Lose and the central message of this album, keep moving on and learning from life, leave the heartache and the pain in search for fair weather and happier times to come. ‘Think I’m gonna drive to the river tonight, see if I can make my tired mind right, watch that river flow, listen to the wind blow, try to learn something new.’
Amen to all of that, move on and stay positive. Luke LeBlanc is well on his journey to becoming a very well-known singer-songwriter of some talent, positive proof of his continued maturity as he takes his next steps. A real keeper.
Review by Paul McGee