Derek Hoke Electric Mountain 3Sirens
Nashville resident Derek Hoke impacted the local underground music scene since moving there from Florence, South Carolina almost twenty years ago. Together with his recording and performing career, Hoke is the founder of the $2 Tuesday at 5 Spot in East Nashville, hosting and introducing scores of acts at that fabled venue, many of whom made their maiden appearances there before becoming household names in the Americana music genre.
Far from limiting himself to the role of MC, Hoke’s latest recording follows on from his 2017 album, the somewhat prophetically titled BRING ON THE FLOOD. Whereas that recording was Hoke’s thoughts on the unfolding political and environmental landscapes facing his country - emphasised by tracks like Love Don’t Live Around Here and When The Darkness Comes - his latest offering is altogether more bullish.
A self-taught musician, Hoke served his time playing sports bars and the like in South Carolina before moving to Music City and becoming a key player in the bohemian East Nashville musical community. As a result, contributors to his earlier recordings included like-minded neighbours Robyn Hitchcock, Jason Isbell, Luther Dickinson, Elizabeth Cook, and Aaron Lee Tasjan. Guests on this latest album include both Lillie Mae and Thayer Serrano.
Like many of his musical peers, his arrival in Nashville was anything but glamourous, he describes the experience in his own words: ‘In a weird sense, the biggest thing I ever did was make that decision to come here with my car and a mattress; to figure it out and to write some songs that I was proud of.’
On ELECTRIC MOUNTAIN, Hoke cruises from the relaxed to the more frenetic. Standout tracks are the swirling Novocaine, co-written with the album’s producer Dex Green (Elvis Costello, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Allison Russell), and the mellow crescendo hitter and album opener, Wild and Free. The autobiographical and ZZ Top sounding Hush Your Mouth is a commentary on the new kids arriving in town, soon to accept that they’re only in the halfpenny place, relative to the talent surrounding them in Nashville. Say You Will is a laid-back country rock ballad recalling the sound of the early 70s and Hoke closes with On Top Of The Mountain, advising caution on the road to perceived stardom or in his own words ‘be careful what you wish for.’
Making music that blends together classic rock and roots, fans of Jonathan Wilson and Aaron Lee Tasjan will instantly connect with ELECTRIC MOUNTAIN, I certainly did.
Review by Declan Culliton
Amy Ray If It All Goes South Daemon
Georgia-born Amy Ray’s artistic origins date back to her high school days in Atlanta, when she and her childhood friend Emily Sailers formed Indigo Girls. That combination has recorded fourteen studio albums and three live albums to date and established them as career activists, both politically and environmentally.
Ray’s solo career has yielded six solo studio albums, the last being the exceptional HOLLER, released in 2018 and one that this writer regularly returns to. She has seldom been at a loss in attracting contributors to her recordings and the guests on this album include Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Allison Russell (vocals), Alison Brown (fiddle), Phil Cook (vocals and keys). and Sarah Jarosz (vocals and mandolin).
Recorded live to tape at Nashville’s Sound Emporium with Brian Speister at the controls, the final mix was by Bobby Tis from Tedeschi Trucks Band. Ray’s work has repeatedly found her drilling into issues such as racism, homophobia, and exploitation and those themes reappear across the ten tracks on IF IT ALL GOES SOUTH.
The desolation and demise affecting much of rural America are considered on the powerful They Won’t Have Me. ‘I sit in diners with all the old men and they talk of work cause it’s all they ever did,’ sings Ray, followed by spiralling guitar work from her long-time ‘go-to’ guitarist Jeff Fielder. Some of Ray’s regular players that feature on the album are Daniel Walker (keys), Matt Smith (pedal steel), Adrian Carter (fiddle), Kerry Brooks (bass), and Jim Brock (drums). They are in fine form throughout and no more so than on the spirited opener, Joy Train and the gorgeously nostalgic and soulful Subway.
Recalling the inherent racism of her childhood, Ray is joined on vocals by Allison Russell for the impassioned Tear It Down (‘Tear it down, tear it down, that ragged cross of race. The stone and the ore beaten into monuments, that rose out of hate). Environmental suicide is addressed on the swinging Cowboys and Pirates (‘All these beaches are crawling with fools breaking Mama’s rules, if we don’t clean our shit up soon it’s all gonna go boom.’).
A creative fire that continues to burn, Ray’s work has consistently questioned and explored the darker side of her beloved American South. She does so with great aplomb once more with IF IT ALL GOES SOUTH, resulting in an album of fiercely intense songs nestled comfortably alongside emotional and introspective ballads.
Review by Declan Culliton
Charley Crockett The Man From Waco Son Of Davy/Thirty Tigers
‘Everybody was telling me, ‘Go right, go right, go right, I went left. I had to hold on to what has gotten me this far.’ Sage words from an artist that has controlled his own musical destiny with great rewards and ignored the traditional career path under the control and thumbs of industry moguls. It has also resulted in eleven studio albums over the past seven years, from an artist who lives and breathes country music.
Somewhat ironically, Texan Charley Crockett was awarded the accolade of ‘Emerging Act of The Year’ at the Americana Award Show in 2021, despite having carved out his own career path since his debut album in 2015, with steadily growing album sales and sell-out tours both in the U.S., the U.K., and in Europe.
What started off as a demo session with his band The Blue Drifters at Bruce Robison’s Bunker Studio outside Austin, developed into this fifteen-track record that maintains Crockett’s prolific output of quality, self-titled, Gulf and Western music. It’s his second album this year, following in the footsteps of the excellent LIL’ G.L. PRESENTS JUKEBOX CHARLEY. Playing live in the studio with his regular players on his latest project, such was Crockett’s satisfaction with the takes that they were elevated from demos to masters, not surprisingly given the quality of the end product.
The piano-led instrumental opening track creates images of spaghetti western, dusty, small-town barrooms. It’s also a pointer toward the album’s direction, with tracks Cowboy Candy, Horse Thief Mesa, and the jazzy Trinity River being particularly cinematic. As you’d expect Crockett also includes a few ‘tears in your beer’ compositions, with Time of the Cottonwood Tree and Odessa. Other high points include the title track, complete with its Morricone-styled arrangements, the murder ballad July Jackson, and the sardonic Name On A Billboard, which takes a barbed dig at the industry movers and shakers. The characters that populate the songs may be fictional or closer to home. Either way, with killer arrangements that are suitably understated and Crockett’s pristine vocals, THE MAN FROM WACO is another chapter from an artist that has fully blossomed in recent years.
In splendid voice throughout and telling his tales with his trademark semi-spoken lyrical style, Crockett’s songs are brimful of texture and detail. He can also take credit for introducing his kind of old-time country and western to an audience not previously exposed to a genre that isn’t currently considered hip or trendy. Hugely enjoyable from start to finish.
Review by Declan Culliton
Triggers & Slips What Do You Feed Your Darkness? Self Release
A band who to these ears appears to bridge the gap between some hardcore country, rock and folk influences - something they do it with some style. They are fronted by Morgan Snow, who wrote the majority of the songs here bar one, a co-write with Ashlee K Thomas, and two cover songs, one of which will be familiar to many (and is their latest single), a take on Dwight Yoakam’s It Won’t Hurt. It stands alongside Dwight’s version and doesn’t let the song down. The band name refers to the twin attributes of living that may be described as motivation and mistake.
They hail from Salt Lake City in Utah and have developed a scene for themselves there. The band and guests (there are nine musician credits on the album) have put together an album that is the sum of its parts and shows Triggers and Slips to be worthy of wider attention. As the title suggests, they don’t shy away from the darker sides of life and liaisons. The title track is the final song here and is largely delivered acoustically, showing off Snow’s stalwart voice and its capacity for conveying emotion. The song is prefaced by the uncredited unaccompanied I Could Be The Rain written by Utah Phillips (though he is credited with writing the song). It is a somewhat down beat end to the album, but one that adds a sense of reality to the direction of the recordings, and reflects the thoughts of a person who has not faced down some of these issues himself and has lived to tell the tale.
Family vs Business (a previous single) opens the album and details how, if the two are set against each other, there is usually one winner and it’s not the family. True Love may be something that can be found but is all too easily lost by “doing it wrong.” The song makes good use of Greg Midgley’ piano and Muskrat Jone’s pedal steel. I Didn’t Mean To is full of regret but regret delivered in an alluring fashion, with the band again in fine upbeat form. That subject is once again central to Return To Me, a country weeper that pleas for a return to help stabilise a relationship. Fatalism is what is shaping Going Nowhere, which is where the song takes us, with the realisation that that may be the best place to be. The lines of Done With Debbie reveal that the use of crystals, pendulums, talons and feathers have revealed nothing and too much and it is time to move on.
There is a nice change of vocal delivery on You Did It To Me Again, where Snow is joined by an equally powerful contribution from Lilly Winwood, that fits solidly into the classic country duet mode. There is an atmospheric intro to Future Variation, showing again that Snow is a crafted lyric writer with the lines “Patterns of decision / Consequences of our youth / Can build us up, tear us down / Some we didn't even choose”, giving an insight into how patterns and random options can lay a path down that is difficult to escape from.
Produced by the band and Mike Sasich, it is the work of a team fronted by a writer who have all done their best to create something they are happy and proud of. It is, but also, above that, it is a damn good listen.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Sunny Sweeney Married Alone Aunt Daddy/Thirty Tigers
Straight up this is a strong contender for one of the albums of the year and another great album from Sweeney. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of her independently released HEARTBREAKER HALL OF FAME before it was picked up by Big Machine - a move I thought would bring her music to a wider audience, but for whatever reason, that didn’t quite work out as planned. Neither did the follow up release - also on another major label. Both helped confirm that Sweeney is a damn fine singer and songwriter, something which she went on to prove on three further independently produced releases.
Now she is back with this brand new collection of songs, some relating to a recent marriage break-up, and others just taking a strong and independent attitude to life and relationships that take no prisoners. Sweeney here picks some like-minded partners to co-write with, all of whom are likely to have a similar sensibility regarding the perspective that comes with their shared life experiences.
Lori McKenna joins her on the writing of four tracks, while others such as Brennen Leigh and Galen Griffin also bring their talents. However, it is not a one-sided viewpoint because songs written with the likes of Buddy Owens and Monty Holmes balance the gender credits. There are also a couple of songs that meant a lot to Sweeney, such as the title track, Married Alone, which made a strong impact on her when she first heard the song. She recently had gone through a divorce and the words of the Hannah Blaylock/Josh Morningstar/Autumn McEntire song hit home. Fool Like Me, the other song she didn’t have a hand in, is by Walyon Payne and Kendell Marvel. Both fit easily alongside the other songs that are rife with humour, respect, reasonable assumptions and a willingness to try to work this out when a partnership is in difficulties. In other words, some reality music for real times.
The lyrical content is only one aspect of the album’s strengths, for throughout Sweeney’s vocals are measured and meaningful. They bring the characters to life over the thrilling production of Paul Cauthen and Beau Bedford, creating a perfect reflection of what country should be these days. There is enough here that relates back to the earlier traditional aspects of her output, as well as the music she grew up with, while allowing the process to move forward and be perfectly suited to any current directions that country music needs to grow towards.
The title song has a perfectly suited contribution from Vince Gill that makes it worthy of its status as title song. She is also joined by Cauthen for A Song Can’t Fix Everything - one that will resonate with any (country) music lover, knowing that it is indeed a fact but recognising that power that is often inherent in the music.
Bedford heads the team of players who are excellent throughout, with steel, fiddle and guitars (including contributions from her touring partner Harley Husbands) all bringing textures that leave no one in doubt that they are listening to a sound that is essentially country to the core. There is also an additional vital contribution from the backing vocalists who include Regina McCrary and Jim Lauderdale, as well as some of her co-writers.
There is not a weak song among the twelve tracks, something that makes this special and also marks out Sunny Sweeney as one of the very best practitioners of her generation in the genre.
Review by Stephen Rapid.
Laura Benitez and the Heartache California Centuries Copperhead
Album number four from the always engaging Benitez, a California-based artist who has grown with each release. She delivers a self-written and self-produced album that features several players who have recorded with her in the past. All commit to delivering the best performance they can and indeed the results show that they did.
The heart of this is Benitez, whose clarion clear voice, melodic song structures and lyrical deftness are apparent throughout. She and the band recorded in Oakland California and there are moments that remind of such fellow artists from the region as Rosie Flores and Heather Myles. Yet Benitez is an equal to these fellow artists (both of whom have not had a release in a number of years) and her own last release was back in 2018 with WITH ALL ITS THORNS. So it clearly is not that easy, as an independent artist, to bring out a new album. Especially one that is going to enhance a reputation and build on their audience.
Kudos then to Bob Spector on guitar and Dave Zirbel and Ian Sutton (who share the pedal steel duties) along with a solid rhythm section of Steve Pearson and bassist Russell Kiel and some additional guests, all of whom help to bring out the full collective sound on the tracks. They have retained the country connection but also add a certain soupçon of rock ’n’ roll to the mix, all with a California sensibility.
Bad Things opens the album in foot-tapping style and immediately lets you know Benitez is in command here, with her voice upfront and up to scratch. While steel is there prominently, the next song has some keyboard action on a tale about hanging around waiting on someone else, as she knows that I’m The One. Are You Using Your Heart is an opportunist bar-room exchange given a Bakersfield beat and ambience with a classic delivery. Relationship reckonings are often related to a time, place or piece of clothing as in Plaid Shirt, where she considers that his next in line may have a different wardrobe in mind. That kind of acceptance of the possibilities is also key to Let The Chips Fall, A Love Like Yours and Gaslight (We Shouldn’t Talk About It) wherein the likelihood to change things would require some open, but unlikely, dialogue. Though each has a slightly different perspective and end result, Benitez gives each a place to be. In All Songs she recognises that, like life, “all songs must come to an end.” God Willing And The Creek Don’t Rise takes that Hank Snr. expression in a positive sense and plays it as a uptempo and jaunty acoustic workout, showing that this crew can do a bluegrass tune as well as anyone.
The album ends with a statement of fact, self-worth and positivity in I’m With The Band. It ends pretty much as it began, with an engagement that is fully realised and delivered with the obvious sense of joy in making a new album, one that should be appreciated across the board.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Robin Lane Dirt Road To Heaven Red On Red
This arrived in as a recommendation from a friend and it indeed proved to be a very welcome reintroduction to Robin Lane. I had encountered in the past when she recorded an album with her Boston based band, The Chartbusters, who released their debut on Warner Bros back at the start of the 80s. IMITATION LIFE, the second album, was the one I heard back then. Since then, she has been involved with a number of projects (Songbird Sings) and released some solo albums, so it is good to hear some new music released this year and to report that it is a very enjoyable album. She has embraced a more roots/country rock/ Americana sound that is in time with her still strong but mature vocal style. Her writing deals with the kind of needs and relationships that make sense in this later period of any person’s life, as time passes and perspectives can change.
There are elements of hard country, roots rock and 12 string guitar-infused Byrdian style country, all of which gives these eleven tracks a sense of familiarity, yet with a consistent freshness thanks to Lane’s songwriting and distinctive delivery. Some of the material are co-writes, while others are written solo. The musicians on the album include John Pfister (bass and harmony vocals), Asa Brebner (banjo), Margot Ouellet (accordion), Suzi Metro (lap steel), Russell Chudnofsky, Drew Townson, Milton Reder and Pat Wallace on guitars.
There are some obvious standouts on the album, for this reviewer, which include the drum and banjo interplay of Woman Like That, about a person who is not all she might seems to be “She'd call me in the middle of the night and ask me for advice / What I didn't realize then, that woman wasn't nice.” There’s a great beat and singalong chorus to Hard Life, which recognises that fact but also that you have to get on with it. Faded Leaves has great harmony vocals that lift the song at the right moments, as it warns of the changes that happen and that winter comes on fast and that summer never lasts.
More country in style are Last Cute Minute where you have to take advantage when you can, and Rodeo Clown where the realisation for the central character was that she “never was much with lariat / I was more like a rodeo clown.” There are some moments of twangin’ guitar that appeal on the latter. There’s an almost Johnny Cash style riff to the train song Love Song’s Refrain. The album closes with Sunshine Blue Skies, where the Rickenbacker again jangles out the melodies and the hopeful forward look on life that is affirmative.
Everyone here acquits themselves with a sense of purpose and realises their parts with a certain passion. Robin Lane continues to be a force to be reckoned with musically and with her goals in life. There may be a dirt road that leads us to heaven, but here is some music that will help you along the way.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Jay Byrd At Home Again Triad
This is the debut solo album from ex-South Rail member, Jay Byrd. He previously released a solo album, Busy Day, in 2003 as Jason Byrd, and he followed this with an EP, Waste/Hoping, in 2011. With his former band, South Rail, he released three EP's between 2013 and 2018. In addition, Byrd has appeared on numerous recordings of other songwriters and musicians.
This album was recorded during Covid restrictions and features Byrd on an array of instruments, including guitars, vocals, bass, mandolin, lyre harp, and organ. He co-produced the album with Kerry Brooks, who also contributes bass on four tracks. Tim Haney plays drums and he is joined on various tracks by Chad Barger (keyboards, Mellotron, string arrangements), Gary Greene (percussion), Becky Warren (harmonies), and Piano Pace (harmony).
We are transported back in time on opening track, Daydream Daze. It is all sweet guitar melodies and easy rhythm, drifting along with a gentle flow. It reminds me of the sadly missed Neal Casal in so many ways. The title track, At Home Again, explores similar territory with a fine guitar sound and piano accompaniment. Just two examples of what turns out to be a very impressive album, with plenty to enjoy across the ten songs included. This is Roots music to ease the spirit and soothe the soul. There is a sense of belonging in the songs and their sentiments; enjoying life and all that you are given.
Byrd has a sweet vocal tone to complement his guitar talents and the project gives the sense of really enjoying the creation of mellow sounds and reflecting upon the easy passage of the days. I Should Know has some beautiful twin guitar tracking as the arrangement lifts and the song reaches a peak. Anna Lynn has an acoustic arrangement, guitar and mandolin highlighting the melody and a song about remembering youthful times and a friend who wanted to break through in her attempts at success in the music business.
There really is so much to enjoy; the lush harmonies on Nobody Knows (Who You Are) are almost Beatle-esque in the delivery ; Days Roll By is reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash with the easy acoustic arrangement and both vocals and mandolin adding a pleasing layer; Losers Like Me, with the reflective guitar interplay and sense of forgiveness; Have Mercy, with a soulful delivery and slow groove, all topped off with some lovely guitar lines from Byrd.
There is a real elegance to this album, a timeless quality and one of my favourite discoveries of the year so far. Highly recommended.
Review by Paul McGee
Steve Yanek Long Overdue Primitive
This is the second album that Steve Yanek has released on his own record label. The original debut, Across the Landscape, recorded in 2005, only received a European release last year. This aptly titled follow-up, LONG OVERDUE, now arrives courtesy of our friends in Sweden, HEMIFRÅN, the artist promotion and marketing company.
Yanek is making up for lost time as a performer, having seen his career fall victim to industry machinations in the past. On his debut record, he assembled some serious talent with guitarist Jeff Pevar (David Crosby), drummer Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs), and now-deceased keyboard player, T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs) all contributing their skills.
On this new record, there are tracks left over from those original sessions, and Yanek includes three songs that feature this line-up, together with Dave Livolsi on bass, who also played on the debut release. The rich sound of Long Overdue, Like Now and You Move Me, show the great chemistry these players enjoyed in the studio together and the tracks fit seamlessly into the more recent songs, which are all written by Yanek.
Production duties on the new album are again ably performed by Pavar, who also impresses on acoustic and electric guitars, bass, lap steel, and drums. Interestingly, Yanek limits his musical input this time around, with credits for acoustic guitar and piano on separate tracks only, although he provides all lead vocals, with assistance from Larry Kennedy (two songs) and Inger Nova Jorgensen (two songs). Elsewhere, Bill Payne (Little Feat) plays piano on three tracks and Kenny Aronoff (John Fogerty) contributes drums on four tracks.
Yanek has a very warm vocal tone and his songs look at personal feelings and frustrations, both in relationships and the world outside his window. On the track All the Sorrow, he pens an apology to his partner for being less than he should have been in their relationship and in On Your Side, he reasons that ‘There’s so much hurt out in the world, Baby, it ain’t all just falling on you.’ The beautiful About This Time, blends Italian steel guitar with resonator guitar in a reflection on love lost, with the lines, ‘’And calling it quits right now, Never entered my mind, But I don’t know about this time.’
Tired Of This Attitude is a look at the lack of empathy in society, and the victims that are too easily discarded by a system and an attitude that doesn’t care, ‘If you look real close you can see the pain, Of another life going down the drain.’ The guitars chime and the melodies are very easy on the ear, with gentle arrangements and warm sounds. Another track, Throw Me Down A Line, is a plea for understanding and a little grace, ‘Lies are easy, Once you lose your soul, We’re all slaves, We get bought and sold.’ The lyrical guitar playing of Yanek brings it all to a very satisfactory conclusion on the final acoustic, Goodbye, a sad refrain on what proves to be an impressively strong album
Review by Paul McGee