Daniel Meade Down You Go From The Top
Like a lot of musicians whose trade was curtailed during the Covid lockdown, Daniel Meade recorded some new songs at home. As with all his previous work, they showcase a talented singer/songwriter performing in a stripped back recording process that is none-the-less full of rich detail, such as the violin on the tender love song If I Didn’t Have You which sits comfortably under his guitar playing. He also adds some harmony vocals to enhance the overall solidity of the song. The opening track Fixing Quicksand utilises piano and harmony vocals in a similar fashion, adding texture to the simplicity of the song’s sense of the futility of trying to understand how a relationship works.
Meade, of late, has released a couple of albums that aim for a bigger and somewhat more electric sound with a good deal of success, but here we find him looking inward in a somewhat more contemplative manner. The title song seems on the surface to advance the feeling of sadness and emptiness associated with an isolated existence, but has a buoyancy that offers something brighter than the lyric might suggest. Meade has written six of the songs on the album and included two cover songs, including a folk-styled interpretation of the Bros song, When Will I Be Famous, with an alternative interpretation of the lyrics that ends up being less assertive and more questioning. His friend and colleague Lloyd Reid joins him for Cocaine Jane, a song that pretty much sums up a past lifetime and attendant misdemeanours.
The second cover comes from the pen of Mark May, written a quarter of a century ago when he was a member of Glasgow band, The Pedestrians. He died at a young age and this song is a tribute to him, adding a sense of nostalgia, as both Daniel and his brother Raymond played with the band as teenagers. Will You Still Love Me When It Rains? has some delicate piano to underline its poignancy, a song that has a harsh sense of reality and an awareness of the uncertainty that often creeps into the psyche in a relationship. “How can I miss you if you won’t go away?” has the perception of a person deeply in love but always afraid that they may not deserve that love. The album closes with Little Birds, another message to a loved one with the song being a little message flying home to the person in question.
One can only applaud Meade’s insight and invention, his toughness and tenderness that comes from his heart, as well as his ability as a musician to give these the depth that makes them rewarding and appealing and not just some throwaway lockdown missives done to pass the time. Listening to these recordings is time well spent.
Review by Stephen Rapid.
Silver Lake 66 The Space Between Us Self Release
Bun E. Carlos is the opening salvo on this roots rockin’, somewhat bluesy and countrified third outing from the duo Silver Lake 66. Something of a paean to the female half of this duo and the album’s drummer Maria Francis, it was penned by partner Jeff Overbo and uses the title of Cheap Trick’s former drummer. Each tends to take the lead vocals on the songs they wrote. The title song has a nice California country sound that shows that Francis is as capable a singer as she is a versatile percussionist.
The album follows in the long-established tradition of some of the finest male/female partnerships in Americana and the the three songs that Overbo takes the lead vocals on serve as a nice contrast to those of Francis. They co-produced the album with Bryan Daste, who also adds background vocals and pedal steel guitar on certain tracks. They also bring in guests to add keyboards, bass, strings, saxophone and trumpet, the latter played by Portland music scene stalwart, Paul Brainard, who played with Richmond Fontaine.
Relief is a gutsy plea for some of the same, with Francis at her most blues motivated. Easier has a more Americana sound that is subtle and piano-led and marks the strength, as do other tracks, of the collective ability on show on the album. The dobro and bass used in When You Fall has a different feel again, using the two voices on alternate verses before the two join together for the chorus, which overall emphasises the caring nature of the song’s lyric.
There is something of a Southern feel to Take Some More Of These, with the B3 keyboard sound behind the solid guitar riffs. Sweet Compassion uses the keyboards again to set the tone with the melodic guitar for the slow paced mood of the soft-hearted nature of the lyrics. Much more back in the roots/country vein is Blue Sky and it works well again, with its steel guitar and danceable rhythm section behind the robust vocal.
The closing song is summed up by its title I’ll Sing The Blues. It is again more thoughtful in its use of a restrained arrangement which features a string section that highlights the emotion of the song.
This is Silver Lake 66’s third album and it continues a trajectory that, while it won’t make them household names in the current climate, serves to show their overall commitment and accomplishments and how regional acts are sometimes ignored despite the quality of their output.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Shawn Williams Wallowin’ In The Night Self Release
The trials and tribulations of a man always on the prowl sets the tone for this album with the opening Someone Else, a combination of lyrical nouse, driving rhythm and gritty guitar. Williams continues the relationship theme with Buzzed, where she wants to have her partner come on over, given that she is feeling the “buzz” for them to be there, which opens on a low key acoustic guitar before the scene shifts gear to a greater full-band intensity, befitting the candid carnal nature of the title. Overall the album offers a perfect combination (story songwise) of broken hearts, hell-bound hedonism, hung over mornings and moments of something approaching happiness.
Williams handles the production duties and pushes her band of New Orleans-based musicians into the darker corners of her reality with skill and empathy, for the thrill and turpitude of light nights, dark streets and the pursuit of something to keep her. That band includes Dr John guitarist John Fohl, keyboard player Casey McAllister and the Iguanas rhythm section, to which she adds contributions from Dave Easley on pedal steel and Lynn Drury on harmony vocals.
Don’t Go is an emphatic plea for a best friend to stay and not move away to Texas. It uses the pedal steel to good effect to highlight the sadness that might follow. Its classic country affiliations make it a fine diversion from the more charged, energised tracks. The mid-tempo tale of being let down in love despite a strong sense of that emotion in Everything You Stood For has again some turbulent guitar that stands out, giving life to a sense of agitation within a liaison. Throughout, the guitar playing of John Fohl and, on occasion, Casey McAllister are the backbone of the songs, with driving riffs and hardened edges that allow Williams to deliver some incisive and emotive vocals. McAllister’s keyboards are also an important texture in the overall soundscape.
Rare Form has two sections in the song that goes from a sombre mood to something that sounds more hopeful and countrified by the end of the number. Towards the latter half of the album there are two more notable songs in If You’re Gonna Leave where she asks the protagonist to go with some immediacy, not drawing out the inevitable end. Take Me Home on the surface seems to be at the other end of a hook-up, where there is a wish to start a journey no matter where it might end up, as long as she is taken home. Again it is notable for the vocal prowess and slight understatement that allows the material to breathe life into its heart. It is an album that has grown with each listen, as that allows the focus to change and sharpen and get better acquainted with William’s artistic vision and lyrical storytelling.
There is a feeling that Williams, like her namesake Lucinda, has picked up on her mantle for delivering female-based perception and attitude in the Americana sphere, something that can only get better as time goes along, and age and experience are further brought to bear on her already impressively honed skills.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Michaela Anne Oh To Be That Free Yep Roc
There is a fine line for female artists between earning household name status in ‘country’ music circles and the many arguably equally talented artists who somehow just don’t get the exposure and radio play that their talent deserves. The ‘industry’ appears to limit the number of available places at the top table for female artists and those seats are currently occupied by industry favourites like Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris. Though undoubtedly gifted, their product is crossover radio-friendly pop music, with the exception of Lambert whose output does include an element of country.
If you dig a little deeper there are numerous women recording quality music with elements of both traditional and modern country. One such artist is Brooklyn born Michaela Anne, whose splendid 2018 album DESERT DOVE, was an end of year favourite of ours at Lonesome Highway.
Moving to Nashville in 2014 to enjoy a more laid-back lifestyle, Anne lives in a rural setting close to Percy Priest Lake, twelve miles from the hustle and bustle of downtown Nashville, with her musician husband Aaron Shafer-Haiss and their young daughter. OH TO BE THAT FREE is her fourth studio recording and her second on the Yep Roc label. Her last album DESERT DOVE, was recorded over the course of several weeks in San Clemente, California, with a host of top-drawer players. If that project was planned and executed in military like fashion, her latest suite of songs is considerably more spontaneous and a reaction to a number of traumatic and life changing events that Anne was presented with.
"These songs became healers, almost as if I’d written them as letters to my future self.” explains Anne. While pregnant and expecting her first child, her world was turned upside down when her mother suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, leaving her paralysed. The latter stages of her pregnancy found Anne at her mother’s bedside in hospital singing the songs that feature on her latest album to her, unaware if her mother would ever be able to speak or walk again. The resulting twelve songs combine themes of sadness, insecurity and brutal reflection.
She sets her stall out from the word go with the fiercely forthright and unfeigned I’m Only Human. We’re reminded of the value of cherishing those dear to us on Good People and the worth of those treasured relationships on the bittersweet ballad Trees. The nostalgic title track recalls the simple childhood pleasures and their innocence and she also digs deeply into the memory bank on Chasing Days. Other tracks that also leave a lasting memory are If Only You Knew and Who You Are, before she signs off with It’s Just A Feeling, which acts as a reminder that despite the unpredictable circumstances that may visit us, there is, invariably, light at the end of the tunnel.
Michaela Anne’s output has been and continues to be, a blend of modern country and 60s styled countrypolitan. An astute writer and the possessor of a beautiful voice, perhaps her resistance to travel down the ‘pop country’ road may reduce her album sales. It should not, given the quality of this recording. Readers familiar with her output will no doubt have OH TO BE THAT FREE on pre-order, others are strongly advised to check out this album and dip into Anne’s back catalogue. The challenge of writing the album at a low point in her being has yielded another gem and one that, like its predecessor, is more than likely to feature in this writer’s favourite recordings of 2022.
Review by Declan Culliton
Nicki Bluhm Avondale Drive Compass
The early career recordings of Nicki Bluhm and her backing band The Gramblers were steeped in late 60s West Coast influences and, given Bluhm’s striking bluesy vocals, raised comparisons with Jefferson Airplane. Following the breakup of The Gramblers in 2015 and a subsequent divorce, Bluhm relocated to East Nashville and wrote her debut solo album, To Rise You Gotta Fall. Recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Studios in Memphis with Matt Ross-Spang overseeing the production, the album was released in 2018. A fusion of Bluhm’s West Coast origins, the bohemian sound of her newfound home, and the album’s recording location, it offered a mixture of soul, country, and rhythm and blues. The content pointed very much toward open wounds not yet healed, with titles such as I Hate You, You Stopped Loving Me (I Can’t Stop Loving You) and Something Really Mean.
Fast forward four years and AVONDALE DRIVE finds Bluhm in an altogether more positive and forbearing mood. Gone are those despairing song titles, replaced by more unwavering banners such as Learn To Love Myself, Love To Spare, and Leaving Me (Is The Loving Thing To Do).
Bluhm’s prime gift is her incredible voice and it’s put to good use on the radio friendly opener Learn To Love Myself. Poppy and soulful, it would slot comfortably between The Ronettes and The Supremes on a mid-60s jukebox. Similarly, Love To Spare, a co-write with A.J. Croce, recalls Smokey Robinson’s Tears Of A Clown, and pays homage to the classic soulful sound from the same era. Easy on the ear and with each song tumbling effortlessly into the next, Sweet Surrender and the twangy Fool’s Gold also impress, the former being the album’s highlight for me. Wheels Rolling stirs up memories of Bluhm’s early career Grambler days and she speaks out for survivors of sexual assault on Mother’s Daughter.
Produced by Jesse Noah Wilson, the album features a host of impressive contributors including Erin Rae, Oliver Slick, Karl Denson, James Pennebaker, Jay Bellerose, Jen Condos, and A.J. Croce. It also signals the rebirth, with maximum verve and gusto, of an artist equally adept at imparting soothing soulful ballads as she is cutting loose on well-crafted up-tempo tunes.
Review by Declan Culliton
Mary Gauthier Dark Enough To See The Stars Thirty Tigers
‘It was high time I chased down some joyful songs and I’m happy that I lived long enough to do that authentically and from the heart,’ confessed Mary Gauthier when Lonesome Highway spoke with her recently, in advance of the release of her latest collection of heartfelt songs titled DARK ENOUGH TO SEE THE STARS.
A latecomer to her vocation Gauthier’s output has been soul searching ever since she released her debut album DIXIE KITCHEN in 1997 at the age of thirty-five. Opening old wounds and addressing ones not yet fully healed, her songs have visited failed relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, and the search for her birth mother. She has also shared the pain of others in her work, most notably on her Grammy-nominated RIFLES & ROSARY BEADS (2018). Arising out of her work with the Songwriting With Soldiers project, that recording was co-written with U.S. war veterans and their families and highlighted the trauma and lack of support for a body of people who served their country heroically.
DARK ENOUGH TO SEE THE STARS finds the Louisiana-born artist giving thought to and reflecting on the personal highs and lows of recent years. It’s essentially a joyous album, evidenced by the first three songs. ‘I was stranded, shipwrecked, side-lined on the shore, you wrapped your arms around me, now I look for love no more,’ she declares joyfully on the opener Fall Apart World. She further expands on those good times with Amsterdam. Having been signed to a Dutch record label early in her career Gauthier wrote the best part of her early albums in Amsterdam. An unplanned stopover in that city with her partner Jaimee Harris created the script for the piano -led song which simply radiates love and contentment.
Elsewhere the record mourns the passing of beloved artists and close friends in the past few years. Artists that inspired her chosen career calling, such as John Prine, Dave Olney and Nanci Griffith, provided the forethought for the songs How Could You Be Gone and Til I See You Again. The title track, a co-write with Beth Neilsen Chapman, unlike the remaining songs on the album, was written a number of years ago prior to the pandemic. It’s a bittersweet tale that mourns the loss of treasured friends but is also a reminder that the love given by these friends is everlasting.
Gauthier invited the same players and producer who worked on RIFLES & ROSARY BEADS to join her in the studio. Neilson Hubbard is credited with the production duties and also played drums. The other players included Kris Donegan (guitar), Michael Rinne (bass), and Danny Mitchell (piano). Also contributing were Fats Kaplin and both Allison Moorer and Jaimee Harris, who added backing vocals.
It's no understatement for this writer that Mary Gauthier has not recorded anything close to a weak album over the past twenty-five years and a dozen releases. Soothing on the senses, DARK ENOUGH TO SEE THE STARS is another delight and one that I will certainly be returning to on a regular basis in the coming weeks and months.
Review by Declan Culliton
Dana Gavanski When It Comes Full Time Hobby
This album sits into the firelight of the Folktronica camp, echoing the movement of inde-Folk and going into new corners of expression. A follow up to her 2020 debut, Gavanski sticks to the same ethereal sound and somewhat quirky arrangements; this time out using a different team to produce the studio results. A good example is the song, The Day Unfolds, with its staggered tempo and use of saxophone and guitar sounds to create a sense of being somehow dislocated. Equally, the keyboard motif on Indigo Highway builds into a full band percussive groove with bass lines prominent and Gavanski singing of her place in the scheme of things – somewhat reminiscent of fellow Canadian Jane Siberry at the height of her craft.
The album was recorded in London with James Howard at the Total Refreshment Centre, which seems an appropriate name, given that Gavanski underwent some issues with her voice in recent times. The good news is that she is singing like a songbird, as evidenced on the lightly-trippy track, Lisa. The song, The Reaper, is as close as we get to focusing on those negative pandemic days, however, with a hypnotic bass loop and angelic harmonies, the song is anything but. Indeed, the synth/keyboard swells are similar in sound to the debut release and the new album title doesn’t focus on Covid songs, as one might think on first encounter. The final song, Knowing To Trust, begins with some experimental guitar sounds before Gavanski’s lovely vocal kicks into gear and lifts everything to a place of gentle calm.
The project was created and delivered by Gavanski, who wrote all nine songs and the players involved were; Dana Gavanski (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Wurlitzer, synths), James Howard (electric guitar, synths, piano, bass, Wurlitzer). The duo were joined by Dimitrios Ntontis (piano, electric guitar, synths) on six tracks; Ursula Russell (drums and percussion) on eight tracks, Thomas Broda (drums, percussion) one track; Dan Leavers (saxophone) one track, and Charlie Stock (violin, viola) on three tracks.
Gavanski had her tour plans for the debut album completely ruined by the virus outbreak in early 2020 and she certainly has used her creative energies well in the intervening period. This new release is an album that reveals hidden depths on repeated listening, and one that adds to the growing reputation of this innovative artist.
Review by Paul McGee
Bobby Allison/ Gerry Spehar Delta Man Self Release
This duo have been performing since the 1970s when they were a big deal in separate bands on the local Denver music circuit. They toured together and tried the Nashville scene in the 1980s after their respective bands broke up, recorded music of real lasting quality and always kept in touch as lifelong friends. Many of those songs feature on this retrospective.
While Spehar took a break from life as a full-time musician to raise his family in Los Angeles, Allison continued to deliver his songs and settled into life near New Orleans. They regularly met however, continued their collaborating and writing, and this album is not only a celebration of their friendship but also of their talents over the years.
The fifteen songs included here bring a story from former days and a story behind pretty much every track. Information on where and when a song was written and the different players who have graced the recordings over time. There are some recent tracks also and lead vocals are taken in turn, with Spehar singing on seven songs and Allison taking the microphone on eight more. They share lead vocals on the superb, Train, Train, Train and guest, Lisa McKenzie, takes co-vocals with Allison on the equally fine, The Good Life.
Different studios were used in order to bring this project together and the old songs were given a new coat of paint and rearranged by a team of trusted friends, including Allison and Spehar themselves, at various studios in Nashville, L.A., Kansas City and Pass Christian, New Orleans.
The music is infectious, from the great Rockabilly sound of, Bubba Billy Boom Boom and Me, and Rockin’ On A Country Dance Floor to the Blues influenced title song, Delta Man. The Rock sound of Twenty-five Miles to Brady is in contrast to the quiet tempo of Here In The Pass, and the Honky Tonk groove of Bite the Bullet is nicely balanced by the easy jazz vibe of Just Relax, with Cousin Dan (clarinet, sax) and Denny Osburn (trumpet and trombone) setting the atmosphere. Kinda Like Love sounds like early Eagles and sits nicely against the RnB vibe of Money, with the swamp- bluesy atmosphere on Eye Of the Needle set perfectly with the traditional Country melody of River, and some superb guitar parts from Rick Plant.
Paul Lacques, Paul Marshall and Shawn Nourse (I See Hawks In LA) all contribute, as does George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt) and Pete Wasner (Vince Gill). The list of others who contributed, both in the past and on the recent makeover, are too many to mention but credit goes to all involved in this hugely enjoyable project. The cover of the album has a youthful Allison and Spehar smiling optimistically for the camera, while the back photo has the two in more recent times, Allison in a wheelchair but smiling broadly beside his great friend, Spehar. It says all you need to know about the fellowship that music brings and this album is testament to their longevity.
Review by Paul McGee
Lilli Lewis Americana Red Hot
This is a big production record from an artist who is sometimes called the "Folk Rock Diva." Lewis was born in Athens, Georgia and released her debut album in 2007. Her talents have seen her record with jazz musicians in New Orleans and also led to some Opera-based projects. Lewis has also been vocal on racial, gender, and LGBTQ equity in Americana music.
This release is her eighth album and the thirteen tracks run for just short of an hour. A very generous offering to her admirers and the music contains many different influences and genres. Lewis has been quoted as saying, "Country and Americana share space with the profound legacies of entrepreneurial female artists like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith." It is this observation from Lewis that best sums up the spirit of this album and the songs include the seven tracks that appeared on the My American Heart Red+ Blue EP that first surfaced back in 2021. This is Country Soul and so much more; the breadth and depth of the record, a real tribute to the talent that Lewis can harness in delivering a work of enduring quality.
On the beautifully delivered, What If It Were You, she brings a message of the pain in the world, whether it’s a family displaced as refugees or a natural disaster that brings death to entire villages. She speaks of her own mother leaving an abusive relationship and her strength to carry on, asking ‘What If It Were You?’ The empathy and love that we require to heal shines through the song as it does on other tracks like, One Shoe and Wednesday’s Child, highlighting inequality and poverty in a prayer for a more equitable society for all.
The hope displayed in songs like, A Healing Inside and Everyday, make positive statements for renewal and rebirth. Lewis sings on My American Heart, ‘We’re in a difficult conversation, One that might go on for years, But in this difficult conversation, I want you to know I can see you, Know I can hear you, Know I still pray for you, With my American heart.’
The album was co-produced by Lilli Lewis and Mark Bingham and the list of musicians credited runs to a total of twenty plus… It strikes me as an important statement of these time; the need to come together and to share in the awareness that we are all born into time and space to do the best we can and to enrich each other. I will leave the last words to Lilli Lewis, taken from the song, Wrecking Ball; ‘What I want is peace for my brother, Peace for his mind, Peace for my sister, Peace for humankind.’
Review by Paul McGee