Blake Brown and the American Dust Choir Don’t Look Back Self Release
This five-track EP follows the release of a debut album (2018) and a follow up EP (2019). Originally from Denver, Colorado this talented musician/songwriter took stock during Covid and put his energies during lockdown into creating these sweet sounds. A period spent in Nashville is always good for the soul and Brown decided to hook up with renowned producer Ken Coomer (Uncle Tupelo/Wilco). The results are quietly accomplished with a laid-back feel to the song arrangements. The understated playing is skilful as the melodies seep into the consciousness and leave quite an impression.
With Tiffany Brown (keyboards, piano, vocals), Blake dove-tails perfectly with his wife on both vocals and guitar; their harmony vocals adding another level to their gentle sound. They are joined by producer Ken Coomer (drums), Scotty Huff (bass) and Sam Wilson (guitar, pedal steel). The songs were recorded at Cartoon Moon Studios in East Nashville and the sense of keeping a perspective on everything that was happening around Covid is never far from the surface.
Opener, Head In the Clouds is a pep talk to keep a positive attitude and to retain your sense of self, ‘Keep your head in the clouds, Keep your feet on the ground.’ Good advice for the perplexed to never lose sight of your dreams. The second song, Hold On, mines similar territory and speaks of keeping your spirits high, even if the feeling is one of time ticking away.
Rearview is a song about new beginnings, packing the car and heading out for another adventure. Leaving town can be bittersweet but not if you are sharing a common dream and never looking back. Hopefully Two Ghosts which follows, is not the actual result of the lovers adventure as it tells of two people who no longer share that dream and who have lost the will to fight for each other ‘I don’t even ask where you’re going’ sings Tiffany in an arresting co-vocal, with Blake answering ‘It’s no place we haven’t been before.’
Final song Wait For Me is a plea to keep a relationship vibrant, despite the distances between two people – can long-distance love endure over the miles? In the case of this husband and wife, there is a clear bond that is manifest in the music that they play together. Whether inviting friends to share their musical vision or simply performing as a duo, both Blake and Tiffany have forged a path that is increasingly leading towards greater success.
Review by Paul McGee
KB Bayley Flatlands Self Release
There is a space that we can try to occupy where time stands still. Some get it through a gentle evening stroll, others through quiet contemplation. However, should the spirit visit you through the medium of music then your sense of place doesn’t matter as the timeless nature of being in the moment captures you.
For all the rich gifts that have been bestowed upon KB Bayley, the Weissenborn guitar is his weapon of choice. The deep resonance and simple power of the instrument is best captured on the standout song, The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore, originally penned in 1965 by Jean Ritchie as a tribute to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad that used to be called “The Old Reliable.”
Another deeply felt cover is the tribute to the late Kelly Joe Phelps on his song The Black Crow Keeps On Flying, with its prophesies of doom, fear of darkening skies and the sense of an unknown presence… There are two further cover songs on this second album by Bayley, the gorgeous ode to pure love, Johnsburg, Illinois (Tom Waits) and the enduring mystery of it all, captured on final song, Maybe It’s Time (Jason Isbell).
The other six songs are all written by Bayley and they capture his impressive fingerstyle guitar prowess as various renditions of acoustic blues are woven into the arrangements. The title track is a reflective look at lost love and Driftwood Avenue is a look back at early days, old memories and friends remembered. Gavin Thomas contributes atmospheric harmonica on this song and also on the equally immersive Year Zero, a song that speaks of new beginnings and starting over.
With such stripped-down songs, there is a tendency to veer towards a feeling of melancholy. However, Bayley tends to point as much at a knowing understanding and message of hope, despite all the fall out of bitter experience. Time Machine wants to capture a moment and freeze the feeling of being in love, but then we are faced with the possibility that a special someone has passed on in the song, World Without You ‘Everything is different in a world of all those things you left behind, everything you had, apart from time.’
This is another testament to the sublime guitar playing of Bayley and his vocal carries a resignation in the sweet delivery that has you wishing for a happy ending to this journey through the past, the ghosts in our heads and the dreams of tomorrow. Well worth your time.
Review by Paul McGee
Jake Blount The New Faith Smithsonian Folkways
This musical artist is a keeper of the flame. Paying due reverence to all that have gone before, Blount mines the deep seams of traditional Black music and finds a rich vein of inspiration with which to point forward to future directions.
The album is conceptual in nature, split into three separate Psalm sections, each of which contains four tracks… Basing it somewhere in a dystopian future where the earth has been rendered useless by the forces of climate change, we are equally plunged back onto the past of the black struggle to overcome slavery and contrasting feelings of despair and hopefulness that walked with generations on the freedom road.
Starting out with a deferential bow to the past, we are introduced to a rendition of the old Gospel standard, Take Me To the Water, mixed with a prayer, recounting the actions of ancestors who succeed in destroying much of the abundance offered by nature in their greed and thirst for material gains. We are plunged into the spiritual essence of the sacrifice and suffering of both the past and present in the ongoing search for freedom to live unencumbered lives.
Traditional banjo and fiddle are mixed with rap verse and handclaps on Downward Road and the hypnotic rhythm gives the sense of frustration inherent in the attempt to make sense of this new world. Didn’t It Rain looks at struggles to assert independence and to move towards higher ground and a more enlightened understanding. It’s both heartfelt and soulful and leaves an impression of Tom Waits conversing with Solomon Burke as two sides of the RnB canon.
Section two of the album tells of the journey undertaken by the survivors of the apocalypse and their journey towards a new utopia. People die, twenty-seven in all, to a combination of storms, disease and hanging, the small band of survivors finding and settling on an island. Death and a path to Heaven feature in the following three songs, Death Have Mercy, City Called Heaven and They Are Waiting For Me, the fragility of life explored in a combination of frustration (Rapper, Demeanour), soulful praise for the afterlife and the hope inspired in meeting loved ones again beyond the veil.
The concept is very much the singular vision of Blount. He plays all the instruments on some songs, focusing on vocals and banjo, fiddle and guitar on other arrangements. He mixes old standards into the songs, using segments of field recordings by Alan Lomax, Son House, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson and enslaved Africans in Jamaica in 1688.
The jazz inflected rhythms, strings and percussive handclaps feature regularly as the album songs unfold towards an ending which asks that we don’t, Give Up the World, and another strong performance from rapper, Demeanor. The reflection that the earth once had to be born, or brought into existence, gives the message that life will persist and the resilience shown by humans will always endure.
It’s a brave departure in terms of establishing a modern Folk expression for African American history. The message is universal in theme and the urge to break the chains that bind will always compel the human spirit to move in a forward direction. The Gospel sources in many of these songs deliver a message that not only echoes the past, but points to the real depth of spirituality that runs through us all. It’s country blues, social commentary, and rap entwined with the poetry of anger and resilience.
Label, Smithsonian Folkways, stands for supporting cultural diversity and musical heritage. Blount himself is dedicated to extensive research of Black and Indigenous mountain music and he reflects own experience as an LGBTQ activist in his roots inspired creativity. Certainly, an album that leaves a lasting impression.
Review by Paul McGee
Florence Dore Highways & Rocketships Propellor Sound
Confession time first. I was totally unaware of Florence Dore or her music prior to witnessing the Nashville-born and North Carolina-based artist’s blistering live set at Dee’s Cocktail Lounge in Nashville during AmericanaFest 2022. That dynamic performance was discharged with outright confidence and no end of wit by Dore and a killer three-piece band. As her act progressed, the penny dropped as to who her band members were. Her drummer and husband, Will Rigby, was a founding member of the ace power poppers The DB’s, as well as being Steve Earle’s drummer for many years. Her bass player Gene Holder, was also a member of that New York combo and completing the line up was Mark Spencer, a long-time member of Son Volt and whose guitar and pedal contributions to their 2009 album, AMERICAN CENTRAL DUST, was a major factor in that album being an all-time favourite of mine.
On completion of their set, Dore presented me with a copy of the album for review, and I was left wondering if the studio versions would match the intensity, gusto, and infectious enthusiasm of what I had just witnessed. The answer is a resounding yes with a capital Y.
Firstly, a Ladybird version of Dore’s intriguing back story: Her previous album, PERFECT CITY, dates back to 2002 and in the intervening decades she excelled academically, earning a PhD in English at The University of California at Berkeley, fellowships at New York University, and is a member of the Steering Committee for Post45, which is a group of scholars that have been working on American Literature and Culture since 1945. She also found time to host a conference at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, write a book and, most importantly, raise a child with her husband.
It's hardly any wonder that it has taken Dore over two decades to return to the studio and put down the ten tracks that make up HIGHWAYS AND ROCKETSHIPS. Her core sound falls somewhere between the striking melody of Sheryl Crow and the rawness and attitude of Kathleen Edwards. The title track kicks off proceedings at full pace and is followed by the gloriously loose and smouldering Sweet To Me, complete with swirling guitars, perfectly positioned behind Dore’s grained vocals. The brooding Cut The Spotlight, could be Aimee Mann covering The Velvet Underground and the raunchy Rebel Debutante, one of many standout tracks, tells a tale of the demise of an individual born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Thundercloud (Fucking With Your Heart), as the title would imply, is aimed at an unfaithful Romeo.
She signs off with And The Lady Goes, which includes the line ‘meteor comes in ruin, leaves its crater in the ground,’ which pretty well sums up the blistering head-on impact of this reservoir of jaw-dropping tunes.
Each year unearths previously unknown exceptional artists to us all at Lonesome Highway, it’s one of the joys of our enterprise. For this writer, Florence Dore is most certainly one of the discoveries of 2022.
Review by Declan Culliton
Adam Hood Bad Days Better Soundly
With a musical repertoire that lands somewhere between country and southern blues, the Opelika, Alabama born artist Adam Hood has been recording albums for over two decades, starting with his debut release 21 TO ENTER in 2002. During that period, he has toured with a host of artists including Miranda Lambert, Todd Snider, Leon Russell, and Pat Green. The aforementioned Miranda Lambert is somewhat responsible for Hood’s standing as both a songwriter and performer, having stumbled upon him performing solo in a near-empty dance hall in Texas. Hugely impressed by his performance, she put him in contact with her producer Frank Liddell, who signed Hood to his publishing company Carnival Music, which resulted in him having his songs recorded by Lambert, Little Big Town, Anderson East, Whiskey Myers, and Lee Ann Womack.
Hood’s status amongst his peers is further acknowledged by the contributors on BAD DAYS BETTER. Backing vocals are added by both Lambert and Texan singer songwriter Courtney Patton, and his studio band for this album was Blackberry Smoke. Completing the input of luminaries was Brent Cobb, who handled the production duties at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia.
Whereas the record’s opener, with its upbeat declaration, is laid back acoustic blues, Hood’s country leanings are represented on Harder Stuff and Low Road, complete with vocal contributions from Lambert and Patton respectably. Both the country and blues genres blend seamlessly into southern rock on the album’s other eight tracks, with Business With Jesus and Livin’ Don’t Give A Damn being particularly standout selections.
There is an honesty and realism embedded in Hood’s lyrics throughout, akin to a middle-aged man looking over his shoulder with some degree of regret, but with an inherent positivity going forward. With those razor-sharp lyrics and contributing musicians that rise to the occasion, there’s much to savour on an album that is well worth your investigation.
Review by Declan Culliton
Courtney Patton Electrostatic Self Release
I find it incredible that Texan Courtney Patton’s profile still remains somewhat understated, given the quality of her writing and honeyed vocals. My initial introduction to her was by way of her solo acoustic performance at Americanafest a number of years back, when she appeared in the back yard of The Groove Record store on Calvin Avenue. Her recorded output from her debut album TRIGGERING A FLOOD from 2013, up to her 2018 release WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FLY ALONE, reinforced my opinion of an artist who should be a household name in roots and country music.
Married to fellow singer songwriter Jason Eady, she divides her time between her art, touring and raising their family. Those familiar with Patton would no doubt have tuned into her Sequestered Songwriters live streams during Covid, when she and Eady invited a number of their close friends, including Jamie Lin Wilson, Cody Jinks and Suzy Bogguss, to entertain us during those dark and uncertain times.
Her latest recording finds Patton stretching her musical horizons while continuing to take things at her customary relaxed pace. Her writing and vocals are as formidable as ever but the melodies and musical contributions reflect more universal influences, with more soulful (Night Like the Old Days), bluesy (Do You Feel Love, Dog Getting Blues), and often jazzy (So Flies The Crow) overtones on display than on her back catalogue. That’s not to say that she’s abandoned her country roots, tracks such as Hold Fast, This Heart, and the title track, more than adequately see to that.
Sharing the production duties with her husband and Gordy Quist of Band of Heathens fame, she invited a host of seasoned players to join in the fun. Her regular partner in crime, Jamie Lin Wilson, adds vocals, as does Kelley Mickwee, a fellow band member of Jamie’s in The Trishas. Geoff Queen (Kelly Willis, Reckless Kelly) plays guitar and pedal steel, piano and keyboards are by Trevor Nealon (Rodney Crowell, Jack Ingram), Heather Stalling (Old 97’s) plays fiddle, the bass is by Naj Conklin (John Dee Graham, Jason Eady) and Richard Millsap (George Strait, John Fogerty) plays drums. Each play their part in complementing Patton’s perfectly paced vocals throughout.
A tantalising flavour of what Patton is capable of, ELECTRSTATIC may very well be the album that results in her reaching a wider audience. If this is your gateway into her music, savour the pleasure of sitting back with your headphones on and enjoying these ten tracks, and don’t forget to pass the word on.
Review by Declan Culliton
John Fullbright The Liar Blue Dirt
A decade ago, with a Grammy nomination under his belt for his debut studio album FROM THE GROUND UP, Oklahoma born and raised John Fullbright was hailed as the most likely to reach dizzy industry levels amongst the many singer songwriters being pigeonholed in the Americana classification. However, the intervening years, prior to the release of this album, yielded only one recording in the equally impressive SONGS from 2014.
An introverted individual - the album’s cover image speaks volumes in this regard - and one that appears to balk at rather than cherish the prospect of fame, you’re left with the impression of an artist most content behind a piano, playing his full-hearted songs in isolation, rather than performing to rooms full of adoring fans. ‘So, I drink this gin and I take these pills, just because I don’t have social skills,’ claims Fulbright on Social Skills, which is possibly more literal than tongue-in-cheek.
Whether the eight-year gap between THE LIAR and its predecessor was due to striving for perfection or otherwise on his part, the resulting twelve songs are a reminder of the intensity and fervour that he possesses as a writer and musician. The intervening years between albums found him relocating from small town Bearden (population 136), 80 miles north to Tulsa and immersing himself in the local music scene there, both as a solo performer, and fronting and playing in bands. To that end, his latest album does represent a collective rather than solo presentation, with the musical chemistry provided by a host of fellow Okies and close friends including Stephen Lee, Paul Wilkes, Jesse Aycock, Aaron Boehler and Paddy Ryan. That sense of musical community is reflected in the gloriously loose playing on the album as well as Fulbright’s depiction of the recording process as ‘just like playing music in Tulsa. Everybody kind of does whatever they do, and it works.’
As if to introduce himself to an audience unfamiliar with his work, he begins business with Bearden 1645. Not surprisingly piano-led, it’s an autobiographical account of his fascination with the piano from an early age and the comfort and escape that it presented him (‘I found that if you’re feeling down it can help you. If you’re feeling lost it can ground you and if you can’t say it you don’t have to’). Far from an acoustic ballad, the band kick in mid-song, a pointer towards what is to feature on many of the eleven tracks that follow. Paranoid Heart, both lyrically and musically calls to mind early career Warren Zevon. Fullright’s capacity to display anguish, truthfulness and reliance all in one song comes into play in the prayer like title track, even if the sentiment is unlikely to be preached in any substance or alcohol abuse recovery programme (‘God grant me whiskey and I promise I'll be good. They say you help the needy, I think it's understood’). Tenderness and forgiveness surface in the gently seductive Lucky and a sense of impending doom is never far from the surface on the thunderous Poster Child.
Bolder than his previous albums and a deeply satisfying listen, THE LIAR endorses Fullbright as one of the most astute writers of his time. With zero misfires and loaded with emotional honesty, it’s a body of work well worth investing in.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Wynntown Marshals Big Ideas Wynntown
Edinburgh, Scotland-based band The Wynntown Marshals have, over fifteen years and four albums, created their own unique brand of roots music. It’s not difficult to pinpoint their influences, each of their recordings has traces of Son Volt, Springsteen, and closer to home, Teenage Fanclub. Their fusion of country-influenced power pop is a throwback to the burgeoning U.K. pub rock scene of the early 70s, when bands like Brinsley Schwarz, Bees Make Honey and Clover ruled the roost and played weekly residencies to packed music pubs.
It's very much business as usual on BIG IDEAS, with the current line-up of key songwriter Keith Benzie (guitars, vocals), David McKee (bass, vocals), Ali Petrie (keyboards, piano), Iain Sloan (guitars, pedal steel, backing vocals), and Brendan O’Brien (drums, percussion) recreating their hallmark sound, sometimes laid back and other times with driving rhythms. The production and engineering were overseen by Andrew Taylor, and the project initially kicked off in 2018. Line-up changes and the pandemic delayed the completion until this year.
Navigating its way across a number of emotions, the title track addresses the increasing quandaries associated with dependence on social media. Lovelorn despair is visited on the tuneful Keys Found In The Snow and the chirpy opener and stand-out track, New Millennium, is laced with cut throat energy. Bookending the album on a somewhat gloomy yet pragmatic note is the less animated but equally stirring Full Moon, Fallow Heart, (‘Nothing in the world is ever perfect, really think I like things that way’).
Fifteen years into their career and with a number of changes in personnel, The Wynntown Marshals remain the flag bearers for Americana in the U.K, further evidenced by this highly enjoyable album.
Review by Declan Culliton
Caleb Caudle Forsythia Soundly
Reading the liner notes that accompany Caleb Caudle’s latest album, you’re left in little doubt that the North-Carolina born singer songwriter has poured his heart and soul into this ten-track recording. The list of contributors reads like a ‘who’s who’ of Nashville’s finest bluegrass players, with household names like Jerry Douglas (dobro, lap steel), Sam Bush (mandolin, fiddle) and Dennis Crouch (bass) all credited, together with Forrest Cashion (organ), Fred Eltringham (percussion) and backing vocalists Elizabeth Cook, Carlene Carter and Sarah Peasall McGuffey. Caudle carried out all the he guitar duties throughout.
Written during that period of universal bewilderment and uncertainty and with his income stream amputated, Caudle approached the song writing on the basis that it may very well have been his final recording, not surprisingly resulting in songs that gave thought to his innermost retrospections, and his appreciation of the simple beauties that surround us. Much of the material took shape on his daily hikes in the mountains of Stokes County, North Carolina, where Caudle and his wife took refuge during the lockdown.
The production was overseen by John Carter Cash, who gathered all those Nashville- based musicians at the legendary Cash Cabin post-pandemic to work on the arrangements for the songs. Working with that talented crew, it’s little wonder that the playing is top-notch, integrated in every respect with Caudle’s chilled vocal deliveries. Snatches of J.J. Cale can be identified in the spirited Texas Tea. In contrast, the slightly slower paced I Don’t Fit In may reflect on a disturbing period in the author’s existence, a sentiment which may also be mirrored on the track Crazy Wayne. More relaxed episodes are recollected on Whirligigs. A co-write with Brennen Leigh, it revives memories of the simple things in life, such as Caudle’s elderly uncle working the fields on his tractor.
In choosing a flowering plant as the title of the album, Caudle draws a line in the sand from a period of often unfulfilling life choices to a regained energy and rebirth. Another album conceived under the pandemic umbrella, FORSYTHIA presents the listener with a comforting suite of well-constructed and perfectly executed songs.
Review by Declan Culliton