Tiffany Williams All Those Days Of Drinking Dust Self Release
Tiffany Williams was already an award winning fiction writer and an English teacher, but she moved to Nashville a few short years ago to satisfy her longstanding strong desire to be a songwriter. Initially she couldn’t even contemplate performing her own songs, such was her self consciousness, but eventually she got a lucky break, and her special vocal talents have now become apparent to all on this, her debut album.
The title track, All Those Days Of Drinking Dust, proudly proclaims her family heritage of eastern Kentucky coal mining, but also details the horrors of such a heritage. Her father, grandfather and great grandfather were all coalminers and she feels guilty at what they suffered, ‘all those nights of feelin’ that he couldn’t breathe/all to give a different life to us’.
Despite the attractive folksy cover art, the rest of the songs, all penned by Williams herself, deal with standard themes such as love, relationships and self worth. The pace is generally gentle and slow, and that probably enhances one’s appreciation of her rich sultry voice. She has chosen producer, and fellow Kentuckian, Duane Lundy (Joe Pug, The Lumineers) to realise her chosen sound, which tends towards the slick side of Americana. The production features electric guitars (J Tom Hnatow) and drums (Tripp Bratton), as well acoustic guitars (Justin Craig), fiddle (Ellie Miller) and banjo (Taylor Shuck).
On No Bottom, she proclaims that she would do things differently if she got her time again, especially in one particular love relationship. Know Your Worth, is a straight down the line song of female empowerment, encouraging women to be strong and like her ‘to tune out all the noise that I don’t need’, the uptempo banjo driven tune being quite a contrast on a generally more contemplative paced recording. There’s a country duet with another Kentuckian, novelist Silas House, who is also a music journalist and an activist against mountaintop removal mining. On When I Come Back Around, his baritone complements her sweet vocals perfectly.
The standout song for this reviewer is the pedal steel laden slowburner Wanted it To Be, where it emerges that the protagonist knows that her lover wants to be with another woman, but that despite this, she herself is prepared to accept being second best. A complicated scenario on what is otherwise a collection of well constructed straightforward songs.
Review by Eilís Boland
Jake Penrod Million Dollar Cowboy Papaw
In the past Jake Penrod has shown an affinity with the music of Hank Williams Sr and was for a time working in a one-man performance show of Hank’s music - something that one can easily see why listening to this album (and, perhaps, even more so on the CDs of Hank’s music he recorded in 2009). Since then, he has released CLOSER TO ME in 2013 and OUT OF CONTROL in 2016. This current album was started in the following year but finally gets it release this year. It is without doubt one of the year’s highlights in terms of a contemporary take of traditional country mores.
Two particular tracks can be seen as compass points on the album; the opening If You’ll Be Mine allows a more concurrent feel while Little Mama sounding like it could have come from the repertoire of Hank Sr. However, Penrod is not about mimicking any one his influences, rather he has distilled their essence to create his identity and own path. He is, though, of course not the only artist currently recording their individual take on traditional sounding music that is kept relevant today by maintaining a positive link with the past but looking to the future. This is something to savour given that, in recent times, what has been, and continues to be, sold as country music is to many listeners far from what they would recognise or as “real-deal” country music.
Penrod shows that he is not only an exemplary musician (playing drums, piano, bass, harmonica, electric, acoustic and steel guitar) but that he also wrote the songs (bar two) and produced the album. That shows a level of commitment and understanding of how he wanted the music to be recorded. Those two tracks are equally considered by their choices - the late great James Hand’s In The Corner, At The Table, By The Jukebox and a cross-fertilised take on the Bobby Braddock/Curly Putman written George Jones recorded classic He Stopped Loving Her Today, which he decided should to be done as if Waylon Jennings was recording it. It features some of the additional players who contribute to the album including bassist Kevin Smith, Austin bedrock drummer Tom Lewis, guitarist Chris Reeves with steel guitar from James Shelton. Both add a footnote to the album’s original songs and so rounds it off as a complete package that shows how far Penrod has come since his last release.
Blues For Company is a slow, mournful song that shows that Penrod is a vocalist well capable of imparting some real emotion in his delivery. Equally introspective is Better Than Being Alone which again has a bed of steel (guitar) to rest its weary head on. There is the requisite sense of sadness, heartbreak and dis-harmony in the relationships Penrod writes about here, that for most fans of something approaching hard country, know that despite the music itself is indeed uplifting and illuminating. There are few, if any weak spots here, and many other top-notch inclusions including the well-sung So Goodbye or the honky-tonk ready (and able) Erasing You, I Bet She Hasn’t Cried or Have You Ever Been A Fool.
Million dollar moments and memories abound on this album, which will be at the top of the lists for the best of 2022 for those lucky enough to have encountered it and it is definitely worth seeking it out and savouring. What Jake Penrod does next will be of great interest as his skill and talent could be developed in a number of different ways but here’s hoping he keeps it, as they saying goes, country.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Teague Brothers Band Love & War Self Release
There is a unity to the sound that this band delivers in its country/folk/rock amalgamation, which is why the John Teague fronted band uses the ‘brothers’ part of their name to signify something akin to, but different from, a sibling alliance. It signifies, as defined by a commitment to a work ethic, that Teague works on a small ranch and runs a construction company as well as fronting this band. With a previous album and EP under their belt, they have taken things up a notch with this new album. Co-produced by Scott Farrs and Christopher Reynolds and recorded in Lubbock, Texas, it is a prime example of what has come to define contemporary Texas roots music.
The band; Teague, guitarist Kyle Villarreal, A.J. Hoffman on fiddle and a rhythm section of Ryan Cobb and Jeremy Hall, all obviously committed to giving their best performances on these Teague written songs that touch on a number of lyrical themes. Many relate to relationships and how tricky they can be. “Eggshells don't make good enough flooring” being one line in Love & War that sets the tone for a song that concludes that “there’s no love without war.” Last Thing You Heard takes revenge to its unnerving conclusion with the protagonist being “the last thing you saw, the last thing you heard.”
Pipeliner is about a man whose job is laying oil pipelines and his struggle to hold a bond together while keeping to the unrelenting work commitment and trying to also keep committed to those close to him. Moscoto Wine (written with Matthew Teague) similiarly finds the confusion of knowing that “there's days that I wish you were home / and there's days that I'm glad that you're gone.” This doubt and self-seeking sense of purpose seems to underline the thinking for much of the material. In January there is a recognition that things can change and that the new person in his life could be the “first line in chapter two.”
From the opening I Found Trouble you are aware that this band is not about to take prisoners, by aligning its lyrical stance to an equally robust musical platform, which has Teague’s strong lead vocals and harmonies over the propulsive bedrock of bass and drums, topped by some engaging guitar and fiddle performances. Throughout, the band equally know how to take their collective foot off the pedal on the emotive introspection of some of the tracks, such as These Days and again for the more uptempo Pretty Ugly. There is a balance here that works and keeps things interesting and aligned.
This album, independently produced, promoted and performed is an example of why Texas has been a fertile ground for the conjunction of numerous influences and styles that, here, meld in a cohesive album that is, no doubt, equally reflective of the band’s live sound and appeal.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Wesley Hanna Brand New Love Potion Self Release
Another name to add to the list of traditionally-minded Texas country troubadours. Hanna has a voice that immediately strikes you as fit for purpose as a country music singer. It has all the required resonance that you require to be convinced of the level of authenticity. There are ten tracks here that come from Hanna himself and they are good examples of songs that tell a story and take you places. Well Digger’s Lament tells of the life of those who work, meaning they end up missing a large part of their non-working life. It has a more acoustic delivery with the dobro and harmony vocals adding a certain folkiness, heard again in Concho Pearl, a love song. These are nicely balanced with the hardwood floor-fillers like the opening title track, or Back To The Honky Tonks which has a great opening lyric that tells so much about the life style of the protagonist. “Talking on the phone to some decent lawyer, he said I need to get my affairs in order, had I not had any affairs at all I probably wouldn’t have to be giving him a call.” Several locations in the Lone Star State are visited in the journey detailed in Texas Road Trip. There is some slow sweeping steel on the intimate songThe Waltz.
Another example of Hanna’s vocal adeptness is highlighted in the song Sundown Kid, with some fine guitar too from Newcomb. The somewhat different direction of Gulf Coast Moon, drawing on the gulf and western sound is, while not a highlight, a diversion.The oft referenced old school phase about ‘creeks not rising’ turns up in Creek Don’t Rise, which has a harder edge than other tracks but shows Hanna can rock when required. It again is surpassed by other tracks here but offers another possibility in terms of sound. The songs that relate more to the honky tonk attitude are the focal points here but the fact that, for a number of tracks, he explores some other options shows that Hanna is exploring what works for him.
Hanna is based in Fort Worth in Texas and plays the bars, honky-tonks and fairs in the region. So this album can only do him a lot of good and raise his profile a notch or two. I listened several times and was also impressed with the sound of the album so I checked the details and was not unsurprised to find the talents of Scrappy Jud Newcomb on bass and guitar, Lloyd Maines on pedal steel and dobro, the keyboards of Bukka Allen and the fiddle of Brian Beken, added to the drumming of producer and engineer Pat Manske, who has made this sound as good as it does. Pauline Reese adds harmony vocals behind Hanna’s to complete the picture. All this means it takes a few listens to fully take in the words and the stories which are, as one might expect, tales of hearts won, heartbreaks, honky-tonks and highways.
It is always a pleasure to discover a new album and artist who surpasses expectations with an all a powerful musical potion, one that’s easy to love.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Grey DeLisle Borrowed Regional
Such a pleasure to have this lady back recording. Two distinguished albums in 2004 and 2005 on Sugar Hill, IRON FLOWERS and THE GRACEFUL GHOST, respectively brought her critical acclaim, as did her 2002 debut, HOMEWRECKER. Since then DeLisle took the time out to raise a family and to remarry, but she now has found the time to return with this album of wide ranging covers with interesting and, at times, some perhaps less than obvious covers - but then again maybe not, considering the scope of her output.
None more so than the opening take on Roger Water’s Another Brick In The Wall, which contains its anger gracefully and features strings that have been arranged by Tammy Rogers (one of the arrangers featured on the album, alongside Eric Gorfain and Sasha Matson). It also use horns, arranged and performed by David Ralicke. This is alongside DeLisle on vocals and autoharp, Murry Hammond on acoustic guitar, Jonah Tolchin on electric lead guitar and Marvin Etzioni on mandocello and drums. Etzioni also returns to the production chair, as he had done with the three previous releases.
It lets you know that what will follow will be equally interesting and diverse. Alongside the choices there are a couple of songs written by Etzioni (Borrowed And Blue) and DeLisle with Etzioni (You Are The Light - a song covered by Lone Justice) and also included is Valentine, written by her ex-husband Murry Hammond. The latter has gentle forcefulness relating to the nature of love and loss.
Of the other tracks the eclectic picks are, perhaps, best exemplified by versions of You Only Live Twice, which features The Satellite 4, and the Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell classic Georgia On My Mind. The latter is graced by an understated and considered vocal over the sensitive arrangement of strings and Mickey Raphael’s harmonica. The former give a cinemascopic delivery, with the quartet of players hitting the right tone with electric guitars, bass and drums in what is an effective reimagining of the theme, that seems more like a Mediterranean romance than a spy thriller - though maybe the combination of the two would be equally suitable.
Calvary is given a slightly jazzy New Orleans feel with Ralicke’s trumpet, trombone and bass sax added to the atmosphere of the crucifixion tale. Another notable version is that of Julie Miller’s All My Tears, another song tinged with melancholic religious overtones. A bonus track has been taken from the 2004 compilation Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs Of Stephen Foster - Willie We Have Missed You, again featuring Etzioni alongside Greg Leisz on pedal steel. It fits with the overall concept of the songs and arrangements, which sees this collection highlighting, as does her previous recordings, the timelessness and uniqueness of the distinctive vision of DeLisle and Etzioni, something that anyone acquainted with those releases will, no doubt, wish to hear as much as I did.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Various Artists A Tribute To Johnny Cash - Vol 3 Hillgrass Bluebilly
Compilation albums can often be something of a mixed bag, with some tracks getting the balance right between giving the song an individual twist and making a fairly straight ahead copy of the original. They can also afford the opportunity to listen to an act you may not have been acquainted with previously. A lot also has to do with the curator of the compilation and the artists chosen to feature. In my collection, I probably have more Johnny Cash tributes than for any other artist. The songs are often well know from Cash’s unique delivery, whether they were written by him or not.
Here we have a selection of sixteen cuts that range from Public Enemy’s Chuck D’s version of Man In Black, featuring Bob Log III through to (new to me) South Filthy or Willy Tea Taylor. None-the-less the album, collectively, keeps one’s interest and the ear attuned. Ten Pole Polecats are featured back to back on two hard edged takes of Redemption and Big River, the latter more of a punkabilly-inspired account, while the girlish voice of Amanda Jo Williams gives a different gendered, small town perspective to Country Trash.
Ballad Of A Teenage Queen, written by ‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement, a tale of seeking fame and realising it may not be what it was thought to be, is given a run-out by RestavRant. The version of Nick Lowe’s The Beast In Me by Delaney Davidson is not that far from the author’s own recording, though the vocal delivery favours Cash’s darker tone. Darren Hoff and The Hard Times give the opening track, There You Go, a sense of purpose that suits its place in opening the album - it has an agreeable roots/garage country/rock energy. Let The Train Blow The Whistle When I Go, by Tom VandenAvond, channels early Dylan. While Austin Lucas’ raw version of Tennessee Stud brings it back to the soil, with just his voice and guitar. The closing track on the album is Charlie Parr covering Were You There When They Crucified My Lord has a gospel feel, with Parr adding harmony vocal to his bittersweet take on the religious side of Cash’s output through the years.
In a similar mode, but full of fervour and with an anguished overtone, is the stripped back vocal, guitar and fiddle of Give My Love To Rose by Willy Tea Taylor. The banjo-infused ‘anger is an energy’ of Apache Tears by Los Duggans is full on in a good way, with an expansive rock guitar solo to boot. Wreck Of The Old 97 by Left Lane Cruiser is cruising in James McMurtry territory. Straight A’s In Love is another example of Cash’s influence on the ‘three chords and the truth’ punk leaning bands. More twangy by far, with echoes of Luther Perkins, is Karen Jonas’ rendering of Understand Your Man, which has a touch of June Carter’s sassiness. As you may expect, the late James Hand is pretty true to form and honest in his rendering of Get Rhythm, that has the feel of Sun era Johnny Cash down to a T.
There is undoubtedly a rhythm to this record which is not towards the polished end of the spectrum, but rather it has a raw passion and purpose that pays tribute to an iconic individual whose body of work should not be forgotten. The fourth volume of this series (as visualised on the cover) will be a tribute to R.L. Burnside and will be equally varied and valuable as a measure of the magnetism and majesty of both performers.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Native Harrow Old Kind Of Magic Loose
Currently residing in rural Sussex, having moved to the U.K. from Pennsylvania via Brighton, OLD KIND OF MAGIC is the fifth full-length album from musical and life partners, Devin Tuel and Stephen Harms. A classically trained vocalist and ballerina, Tuel’s vocals have regularly, and deservedly, drawn comparisons with Sandy Denny and Joni Mitchell. Combining that gift alongside multi-instrumentalist Harms, and Tuel’s wherewithal to pen ageless folk songs, is a potent recipe and one that works spectacularly on this album.
OLD KIND OF MAGIC follows their 2020 release, CLOSENESS, and is focussed very much on the strength and intimacy of their relationship. Crashing waves and cawing seagulls, recorded during a field trip to Brighton beach, introduce the album’s opener, Song For Joan. With every word perfectly expressed, it paves the way, both vocally and instrumentally, for what follows.
For me, the album’s tour de force is the quite stunning and hypnotic six-minute love ballad, Heart of Love, described by Tuel as ‘a song that slowly drifted its way to me and sunk in deep, it sings of the passion in soulmate love. The deep love that you may search the world over for’. With an enthralling vocal performance by Tuel, delightfully understated guitar work by Harms and pedal steel by Joe Harvey Whyte, the track has had me hitting the repeat button more than once. Long Long Road, awash with strings courtesy of Georgina Leach, brings to mind Nick Drake and the organ lead As It Goes, which also features Leach, has a distinctly 60s vibe. Magic Eyes, which follows, is a throwback to the same decade, with echoed vocals and fuzzy distorted finger picked acoustic guitar. Not adverse to crossing folk with modern jazz, Used To Be Free ticks that particular box and shades of Sandy Denny are to the fore on the title track.
Self-produced by Native Harrow, OLD KING OF MAGIC is brimming with gorgeous vocals that perfectly convey the messages within the songs. With one song tumbling effortlessly into the next, the music flows freely throughout from Harms, long-time collaborator Alex Hall, Georgina Leach and Joe Harvey White. With magic both old and new in abundance, this contemporary alt-folk record is another superlative effort from Tuel and Harms.
Review by Declan Culliton
Joseph Shipp Free, For a While Self Release
‘I’m an American man, whatever that means’ sings Nashville -based singer songwriter Joseph Shipp on his debut album FREE, FOR A WHILE, which is based upon the writer’s relocation to Tennessee after having lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco for six years. Very much a pandemic album, Shipp’s intention of a family holiday in 2020 was scuppered for obvious reasons, leaving him with time and disposable income, which he redirected into purchasing home recording equipment. Originally envisioned as a solo undertaking, as the songs developed Shipp decided to call on the services of old friend, Grammy nominated and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Sovine (Ashley McBryde, Jaime Wyatt, Ian Noe, Kelsey Waldon) to co-produce the album. The resulting eleven-track record was recorded at Sovine’s home studio, The Back Room in Savannah, Georgia.
An accomplished and award-winning graphic designer and photographer - he grew up in a small town in Tennessee where his parents ran a photography business - Shipp and his wife moved to East Nashville to start a family in 2016 and he continues to work remotely in graphic design with his San Francisco colleagues.
With a vocal style that lands somewhere between Dylan and Conor Oberst, the album navigates its way around a variety of personal emotions. Brooding ballads such as Rest, Assured and American Man sit comfortably alongside more experimental and, for this writer, standout tracks Only The Moon and Dod. The latter two account for twelve minutes of the album’s total playtime. Following in the footsteps of Bonny Light Horseman, who included a selection of traditional folk songs from the book FOLKSONGS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND on their debut album, a reworking of the love lost ballad Green Grows The Laurel is also included.
An album of many moods and definitely one for the slow cooker, FREE, FOR A WHILE is a potent serving of contemporary American roots music dealing with the challenges and plights of parenthood, separation, and uncertainty. It’s also an album that reveals more and more to the listener with each subsequent visit.
Review by Declan Culliton
Sylvie Self-Titled Full Time Hobby
This project is the brainchild of musician Ben Schwab and was inspired in part by his father, John Schwab who had a 70s band called Mad Anthony. Their debut album fell victim of a record deal that never happened and all these years later, son Ben has taken the essence of the songs he unearthed to create a superb album. The album title is taken from the song released by Matthews Southern Comfort back in 1970 and Schwab pays tribute to the easy flow of the melody while adding swathes of beautiful pedal steel and gentle keyboard swells. The ethereal music continues across the seven songs included here and the running time of twenty-eight minutes just leaves the listener wanting more. The sweet melodies drift along and land in the sweet spot where inspiration meets talent.
Further Down the Road and Falls On Me feature the alluring vocals of Marina Allen while the retro arrangement of Shooting Star features the sweet tone of Ben Schwab and a sound that reminds me of Mojave 3 meets Gram Parsons. 50/50 features an old recording of Ben’s father, John Schwab speaking about a song that he was working on and the instrumental that follows the spoken part is just beautiful and conjures up passing days of youthful memory.
Final song Stealing Time is a paean to the old Californian sounds of Lauren Canyon and the close harmonies are so perfectly judged against the easy cadence and wistful vocal of Sam Burton. The use of pedal steel throughout the record is wonderful with Conor Gallagher excelling. He is joined by Sam Kauffman Skloff on drums and JJ Kirkpatrick on horns, but it is the overarching talents of Ben Schwab that shine through on all the tracks. Playing an array of instruments he draws upon the experience gained over years of honing his craft in bands like Drugdealer and Golden Daze. This is certainly a rich reward and the timeless music comes highly recommended.
Coda - The original songs of John Schwab that had lain idle in a forgotten part of memory until rediscovered by Ben are now in the process of finally gaining a release. Ben is acting as producer on the reworked songs, all these years later.
Review by Paul McGee