Doug Adkins A Cowboy’s Life Self Release
This appears to be Adkins tenth album of down-home country music, music that is not troubled by the ambitions or allure of mainstream country radio. Rather, this is music that plays well in the honky-tonks and festivals in Europe where, judging from the dates listed on his website, he is predominantly playing this summer in Europe (this includes shows in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, alongside other countries). Doubtless he would equally be welcomed in Ireland, especially up in the North, as his sound is eminently suited for dancing and having a good time. It won’t confuse the listener as to what genre it is supposed to be. He had success appearing on The Voice of Germany in 2020 and subsequently charted with the title song from his then album, WHISKEY SALESMAN. So the concentration on playing Europe makes a lot of sense.
However it is this album, his eleventh, that we are focusing on. It was produced by Montana native Adkins himself, and features some solid playing from the assembled band which sits comfortably behind Adkins’ comforting vocal and makes the most of his songwriting. Such notable players as Brent Mason, Bruce Bouton and Lonnie Wilson have appeared on previous recordings, which gives an indication of the standard involved. He has writing numerous songs during his career but notes that the final track here is the first time he has recorded a cover version. He has chosen Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, a song best known from its version by Willie Nelson. It was written by Ed Bruce and his wife and Adkins chose it in tribute to him after he passed away recently. Adkins’ arrangement fits his overall style and sounds different enough to comfortably sit alongside his own songs, some of which allude to the theme of the album title in relating to the ups and downs of the life of a cowboy, both in work and dealing with different relationships. In Jesse James there is an association between the famous outlaw and a modern day proponent that juxtaposes the pair’s lives. Adkins also references some earlier western songs in his story of a ranch hand loyal to his lifestyle and brand in Country Certified. Many of the other songs detail the high and low roads of romance and of lust, topics that fit easily the bar-rooms, festivals and CD players for this solid no frills country.
So songs such as Stand For Something, Too Much Worry, Billy Wants To Dance and Tail Lights In The Mirror all tell their own tales, the latter about the constant movement required of a working musician looking into his rear view mirror as he moves on. One Kiss details an instant bar room romance. The perennial tale of Saturday night versus a regretful Sunday morning is at the heart of Amen. So it goes through the album, the work of a man in love with the more traditional aspects of the country music of the 90s. Adkins may not be doing anything that is radically different than any number of hard-working musicians. Equally he has the balance right on his own terms and that counts for a lot with those who have already embraced Adkins in whatever form they have encountered him - and this album is as good a place as any.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Dave Goddess Group Back In Business Self Release
New York based Dave Goddess makes his music for one of the most valid reasons of all, which is to satisfy his desire to make honest truthful music for himself. He fills his songs with aspects of rebirth, religion, time, freedom, and gratitude but also allows for a little fun to be part of the mix. It is solid roots-rock that has the influence of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, to name but three, in its DNA. For this album Goddess was deep in pandemic times, so was largely working from his imagination and experience. That inward look produced eleven songs, all of which are delivered with heart despite have been recorded under Covid conditions. His long term rhythm section of bassist Mark Buschi and Chris Cummings on drums provided the base to build the songs on. Goddess add vocals and guitars while the additional instruments including steel guitars, keyboards and violin were overdubbed under the watchful eye of Goddess and co-producer/engineer Konrad Carelli. A half-dozen singers added background vocals to complete the business of making this new album.
Much of the material has a strong sense of structure and melody that rewards the listener. While the template used here has been around for some time now, these players bring a good sense of commitment that gives the whole album its sense of life and love of life, something that exists in spite of the many vicissitudes being faced in recent times, though the overall feel is largely positive and potent. Perhaps best summed up in the lyrics of Better Days - “forgive yourself, go on forgive the world / unshoulder that burden, seize the day.”
Standout tracks include Back In Business, Blessing In Disguise,You Can’t Get There From Here, I’d Do It Again, One-Way Ticket. These songs often highlight the skills of each of the musicians with keyboards, accordion, pedal steel and guitar riffs making their presence felt throughout. The vocals are also crucial to the process with Goddess’ lead leading the way, and the background vocals also being used effectively. There is light and shade and everything is not taken at the same tempo, which gives it a stronger listening experience.
The truth is, as Goddess has outlined, he makes this music for himself and his team essentially and indeed they should be satisfied. There is nothing stopping it reaching a wider audience other than the fact that it is so hard for an independent act to make itself heard amid the many distractions, and the many levels of media that clutter the consciousness. The Dave Goddess Group are not the new Tom Petty Band, but they are what they are and that puts them back in business to build on what they have already achieved previously, with this solid, satisfying album.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Harley Kimbro Lewis Harley Kimbro Lewis Midnight Mango
‘All songs written and played by Harley Kimbro Lewis’ it states on the cover, which pretty much sums up this self contained trio of English guitarist Martin Harley, and Americans, the double bassist Daniel Kimbro and singer/songwriter Sam Lewis. Each has their own individual history; Harley is an award winning acoustic blues guitarist with several albums to his credit; Kimbro, as well has being an integral part of this combination, also tours with John Hiatt, the Jerry Douglas Band, the Earls of Leicester; Nashville-based singer/songwriter Sam Lewis has worked with such diverse artist as Leon Russell and Chris Stapleton and has also released albums under his own name. However even though Harley and Kimbro have worked together previously, this trio should be considered separately and this as their debut release.
The first song that gained my attention was the humorous contemplation of those who share a logistic closeness, that is Neighbors. Set against a simple subtle bass and guitar backing, it reveals the peculiarities of those next door or living on the same street. This line can perhaps sum up the joys and jeopardy of such relationships “I got neighbors who don’t realise that they got neighbors who like to sleep at night.” Throughout the remaining eleven tracks, there is an engaging mix of expert musicianship combined with observation and insight. Who’s Hungry asks the question about what is at the heart of a break-in and the possibilities that might result from such an incursion. But for the most part the balance is towards the lightheartedness of humanity, in all its light and dark moments. I Gotta Chair with a helping of banjo to the fore again “Well I gotta chair at home that kinda squeaks / I got a rug at home that stinks / a hardwood floor that kinda dips / a kitchen tap that always drips.” The song is a list of all the things that are wrong with a home but are those very things that make a home what it is, for better or for worse.
The song Cowboys In Hawaii is a loving tribute, both to the source of the slide guitar sound that became a staple in country music, and to a character who might swap his pony for a life on the island paradise and white horses in the waves. The guitars which sum up the mood perfectly are by Kimbro and Christian Sedelmyer. Indeed most of the songs are full of such individual thoughts and actions that relate to the oddities that pass for normal behaviour in some individual cases.
This continues throughout the album which seems to also include a couple of uncredited guest spots. It’s easy to see why this trio fit together so well, and make these songs that make you smile, as well as appreciating the seeming simplicity of the execution of the material. The interaction of the three have definitely created a sound that is both the sum of its parts and more. The previous Harley Kimbro releases were all worth listening to for many reasons, but the addition of Lewis has added a dimension that offers a whole bunch of new possibilities while marking out a territory that is both fruitful in musical terms, while also being a load of fun.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Joshua Hedley Neon Blue New West
Four years after the release of his debut album MR. JUKEBOX, Joshua Hedley returns with another suite of songs that pay tribute to his beloved classic country. If that debut album, in the main, admirably replicated the country ballads of the 50s and 60s, his latest offering moves on a few decades to the country stylings of the late 80s and early 90s. Hedley describes that era as ‘the last bastion of country music,’ before the more cannibalised pop crossover sound became the music of choice thanks to the movers and shakers on Music Row.
Hedley has been the kingpin for classic country music in Nashville for nearly two decades. From the age of twelve, he had been playing fiddle every weekend in bars in his native southwest Florida, before relocating to Nashville seven years later. By now he’s been playing at Robert’s Western World for seventeen years. His residency at that famed honky tonk on Lower Broadway consists of four-hour shifts belting out country covers and self-written tunes, earning him the title ‘Mr. Jukebox’, in recognition of his encyclopaedia-like knowledge of country songs. He’s also a regular performer at Acme and Seed and AJ’s bar on Broadway, together with appearances at the hippest out of town honky tonk, Dee’s Cocktail Lounge, at Palestine Avenue in Madison.
As was the case with his debut album, each of the twelve tracks on NEON BLUE have a familiar ring to them. Although all original songs, they sound like resurrected classic country treasures from three decades ago. All the familiar country themes are covered here, from sad-eyed ballads (Old Heartbroke Blues), love found (Found In A Bar, Let’s Make a Memory), cheating (Down To My Last Lie), and first-night dating (Wonder If You Wonder). It’s as danceable as hell also, in particular the opener Broke Again and the title track.
With a collection of Nashville’s best session players and with the production duties shared by Jordan Lehning (Rodney Crowell) and Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle), the end result is flawless. The final mix was by Kyle Lehning, whose previous employers include Randy Travis, George Strait, George Jones and Bobby Bare. Unlike his debut album, Hedley teamed up with other writers this time around. Carson Chamberlain, who was pedal steel player with the late Keith Whitley, and two other writers, Wayne McCubbin and Zach Top, penned the songs with Hedley. One cover was also recorded, the Roger Miller written River In The Rain. Hedley invited Jenee Fleenor, the first woman to be crowned the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year, to take the fiddle parts, allowing him to focus entirely on the vocals.
‘I studied all the legends and learned from what they done,’ announces Hedley in the autobiographical song Country and Western. You’re left wondering just how successful he might have been had he been born thirty years earlier. I expect that most likely he’d have his own name over the door of a Nashville honky tonk by now. In the meantime, tune in to NEON LIGHT and open a door to some musical delights from a torchbearer for real country music.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Waymores The Stone Sessions Chicken Ranch
Career musicians Willie Heath Neal and Kira Annalise hooked up in Georgia a decade and a half ago, when they were both performing in a covers band and side project called No Count Palookas. That encounter led to them combining their talents to play locally as a duo initially, prior to spreading their wings, touring and recording as The Waymores.
Now husband and wife, the self-managed duo are back on the road and as things get back to normal, they expect to return to their two hundred plus annual shows of pre-pandemic times. Their individual backgrounds are like something plucked from a film script. Neal’s mother was an occasional country singer. Her son’s checkered upbringing included regular exposure to the music of Patsy, Elvis and Hank, together with spells in foster care. Unsurprisingly, he was a rebellious teenager and his saving grace was a career decision to join the Navy. Unlike others, rather than pursuing a dynamic and nautical related career in the Navy, Neal formed a band and played gigs when docked at every available port. On leaving the Navy he played in a number of punk and country groups, before launching his own outlaw country band, Willie Heath Neal and The Damned Ol’ Opry. That venture resulted in five albums but was disbanded for a new, and less hectic, adventure as The Waymores in 2013.
Annalise’s background was somewhat less volatile. She sang in her brother’s band for a couple of years before meeting her future partner in the No Count Palookas. What was initially a professional liaison eventually became romantic and they decided to follow their dreams by spending as much time together on the road, doing what they love best.
With nods in the direction of Loretta and Conway’s lush harmonies, THE STONE SESSIONS is a ten-track album packed with catchy hooks and wicked humour. Bat Shit Crazy follows a similar sentiment to Loretta, marking her man’s cards, but with lyrics that wouldn’t go down too well at The Grand Ole Opry. Sharing the lead vocals, Neal takes the honours on the similarly bawdy and Johnny Cash sounding Roll That Chain. I Don’t Like The Liquor is a Hank influenced romp and Annalise is at her twangiest on the lively Even When. Dale Watson and Katie Shore of Asleep At The Wheel guest on the album’s standout track, Caught.
Although THE STONE SESSIONS is laced with and humour innuendo, it’s much more than a novelty record. The combination of twang and raspy baritone vocals, combined with fine playing, is really engaging. The musicians that feature are Steve Stone who plays pedal steel and produced the album, Cody Jung on electric guitar, Eddie Martin on bass and drummer Shawn Thacker.
Review by Declan Culliton
Rain Perry A White Album Precipitous
The somewhat undistinguished album cover on Rain Perry’s seventh recording does little to highlight the treasures contained within.
Hollywood-born artist and activist, Perry’s whirlwind childhood included spending her early years in a fundamentalist hippie cult with her mother, who died at a young age from Toxic Shock Syndrome. She was then raised by her actor/writer father, residing in over twenty houses in both California and Colorado. Surrounded by musicians and artists during her childhood, it’s hardly surprising that Perry gravitated towards the arts and in particular towards songwriting and performing. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of twenty-two and losing the ability to play guitar, she formed her own record label Precipitous Records and outsourced various musicians to feature on her recordings. One of those musicians, Mark Hallman, has appeared on the majority of those recordings and produced this album, together with playing most of the instruments. Others who guest on the album include BettySoo, Akina Adderley, and Wilko’s Mikael Jorgensen
The multi-talented Perry has collaborated in the past with a host of household names including Chuck Prophet, Eliza Gilkyson, John Dee Graham, and Victoria Williams. She also produced and directed the documentary The Shopkeeper in 2016, which highlighted the detrimental effect that the streaming economy was having on artists attempting to survive in the music industry.
This album - as the title suggests - visits issues of race across the nine tracks, seven of which are originals, the two covers being Stevie Wonder’s Visions and None of Us Are Free from the pen of Barry Mann. The gorgeously funky The Money, complete with rap vocals, considers the less than equal opportunities between white and black Americans. In the song she recalls advice given to her by her grandfather (‘If you’re smart and put your money away you can be part of the American dream someday’), but articulates how that principle hardly applies to all races. Two tracks particularly stand out, Yarddogs/Morning Dew and the epic Lady of The Harbour. Awash with strings and choral harmonies, the latter is simply a delightful listen. The former, equally impressive, finds the author revisiting her family history of bygone times.
It’s little surprise to learn that Perry is working with director Kim Maxwell on a stage version of this album. The material is topical and intelligently written, laced with passion and impeccably articulated with truly touching lyrics. Reflecting on and questioning the social and racial issues at large in modern America, it’s a body of work with zero misfires. Hugely impressive.
Review by Declan Culliton
Jefferson Ross Southern Currency Self Release
Eleven songs, all based around the southern states of America and produced by the fine talents of Tomm Jutz. Having worked in the past with Jutz, notably on ISLE OF HOPE (2013) and STABLE SUITE (2015), Ross asked his old friend to produce this new project. All songs are played beautifully by a group of musicians that includes Jutz (guitars, harmonies), Timmy Rogers-King (fiddle, harmonies), Mark Fain (upright bass), Lynn Williams (drums, percussion), Mike Compton (mandolin), and led by Ross himself on guitars and lead vocals.
The organic interplay is so fluid and natural, with the songs lifting the collective spirit and warming the soul. It’s reminiscent of a campfire get-together, where everybody contributes, and the overall feeling of being in the moment is everything. The songs are spread out across eleven different states and they give a sense of the magic that exists in these regions and the rootsy sounds that arise. It’s a joyful listen and songs like, Baptise the Gumbo (Louisiana), The Nashville Neon Waltz (Tennessee), Turquoise and Tangerine (Florida) and the title track, in tribute to Virginia; highlight this impressive collection, fuelled with acoustic blues, cool country and a celebration of the varied cultures that co-exist in the deep south.
Now on his seventh album, Ross sings with authenticity and his take on life in southern USA is not all candy coated for the folks; rather a genuine tribute to those who have influenced the rich tapestry of life there, the joy and the pain, the celebrations and the struggles. An impressive album and one that has much to recommend it.
Review by Paul McGee
Mark Joseph Vegas Motel Self Release
The title track kicks off this eight-song new release from Minesota-born Mark Joseph. It’s a fine example of classic Honky Tonk, with the pedal steel of Jeff Waldeland prominent in the mix. It reflects on a lonesome guy, drinking off the memory of a lover, and soaking his self-pity with yet another shot. The traditional country sound of Hard Workin’ Man has the fluent fiddle playing of Ryan Young (Trampled By Turtles), leading the melody and a tale about doing what is necessary to make ends meet in raising a family.
Joseph plays acoustic and electric guitar, in addition to taking all lead vocals. Nate’s Garage is a fast tempo work-out for the musicians and is reminiscent of early-Eagles in the country-rock feel and the driving beat, pedal steel and fiddle joining with the guitars to deliver impressively. The Life Of A Pipe Welder is another tribute to blue collar workers and takes things down a notch in an easy acoustic arrangement that includes some nice alto flute, courtesy of Stanley Behrens.
Early Riser is an instrumental that highlights the superb talents of Ryan Young, as he solos with gay abandon, perfectly in synch with the fine acoustic guitar playing of Joseph, as they interweave across the melody. I Love You ‘Till I Die has some sweet Hammond organ playing by Toby Lee Marshall, together with the soft trumpet of Jake Baldwin, and the soulful vocals of Joseph. On a number of songs, we are lifted by the harmony vocals of Steph Devine and Jill Mikelson; all tastefully engineered by Alex Proctor (Grace Potter) and steered in a creative fashion by co-producer, JT Bates (Hiss Golden Messenger), who also contributes on drums and percussion. Cody McKinney anchors the sound on bass and plays in the pocket at all times with Bates.
Little Lucy is clearly a song written for his daughter and is filled with heartfelt love for her presence on the earth, ‘You are my sunshine, you are a rainbow, Always smiling in the light.’ Such a gentle song, with bass trumpet from Baldwin and guitar from Jeremy Ylvisaker, complimented by understated keyboard melody from Proctor. The final song, My Friend, Stella Blue is a fitting way to end the album and it clocks in as the longest track included here. It looks back at an old friendship and contemplates the passing of someone who left a real mark in Joseph’s life. This third album really impresses over thirty-seven minutes of quality and refined musicianship.
Review by Paul McGee
Kate Klim Something Green Self Release
This is the fourth album release from a singer-songwriter who debuted back in 2006, after qualifying from the Berklee School Of Music in Boston. Klim has lived through lot of life experiences since those younger days and now finds herself at something of a crossroads. Her youthful dreams have been put to the test and examined forensically by the in-between years. Having moved to Nashville in order to follow her muse, Klim found herself getting married, having two children and taking a step away from the music machine. Ever thus, the conundrum faced by many females when trying to prioritise family over career.
After seven years of balancing motherhood and the need to find a creative outlet again, Klim started to record some of the songs she had been writing; her world changed dramatically with the news of the tornado that caused havoc in East Nashville in early 2000. Returning from her Dallas base at the time, Klim found herself caught up in the wave of Covid-19 that effectively shut everything down for the music industry and led to her questioning the fragility of all that she held as providing stability. Add to this a gradual decline in her marriage that led to a break-up with her husband, and the need to display fortitude and resilience in the face of the gathering storms was never more apparent.
The good news is that Klim is not only fighting back against these odds, but in the process has delivered an album of great depth and resonance, across these ten songs and forty-three minutes of superbly crafted music. But You Can’t talks about how fleeting all this living seems, trying to hold onto things that we can never fully keep, all the while growing older and taking on new interests, new experiences and searching for something to ground us, ‘All our books have torn up pages, all our pants have torn up knees, Doesn’t matter you’ll outgrow them in another couple weeks. It’s like we’re racing down a hillside and we’re only gaining speed and then we’re done.’
Head To Toe channels a river as a metaphor for life and the decisions that sometimes seem forced upon us, ‘I don’t know what’s wiser, or what ends up better, Oh to wait out the weather or to grab my things and go, Neither way is what I wanted, either way I'm getting soaked head to toe.’
Nobody Told You is a true song about a Japanese soldier who was discovered on a pacific island, not aware that WW2 had ended and, some thirty years later, still clinging to the belief that he is under attack. It stands as an example of the intransigent beliefs we often hold to be unshakable and it is, sadly, a truism. God and Magic, questions a relationship and how it develops, or dies, over time, while the sublime, Lines, couples the image of a halting teenager, trying to remember her part in the school play, with the sense of devastation felt in the aftermath of that Nashville tornado, ‘Piles of what used to be, the thing about storms like these, Is you’re still feeling them for years after they’ve passed.’
Having successfully navigated a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for this new project, Klim took stock of her new reality and decided to press forward with using these songs as a way to reconcile the past while moving forward into her new life. Andrew Delaney produced in his Texas studio, while Michael Briggs engineered and mixed the tracks. A fine job they made of it too, with a warm sound and lots of space in the arrangements to enjoy the understated musicianship. Kate Klim plays piano and sings beautifully, her soft vocal tones calling to mind Sarah McLachlan in part. Josh Blue (drums, percussion), Scott Davis (guitar, bass, synths), Alyssa Cortez (trumpet), Mia Rose Lynne (harmonies, backing vocals) and Emerald Rae (string arrangements) make up the team of players who contribute to what is a look back at a life lived, lessons learned and a hope towards a brighter future. This is both an engaging and impressive album.
Review by Paul McGee