Josh Gray Walk Alone CRS
Following on from his 2019 debut full-length album, SONGS OF THE HIGHWAY, singer songwriter Josh Gray’s latest album pursues a similar template of tales that are fuelled by personal experiences in an often-unforgiving music industry, alongside some more relaxed and heart-filled songs.
A relative latecomer to the industry, he didn’t play his first live show until age thirty-one; Gray moved to Nashville in 2015 to hone his skills and gather talented players for his backing band, the Dark Features. Building on the positive feedback for his debut album and with countless numbers of gigs under his belt to road test his new material; Gray used the crowdfunding platform to raise the funds to record this ten-track record.
Recorded at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville and self-produced by Gray, the players included his bandmates Julio Matos on bass, Jason Munday on drums, and some local big hitters contributing. Guitar wizard Sean Thompson and equally distinguished pedal steel player Brett Resnick were among those guesting. Credit is also due to Kristin Indorato and Nikhil Dafre for the most impressive photography and design on the album’s sleeve and inner booklet.
The opening track, Radio Stations, could relate to the majority of singer songwriters attempting to survive and keep their heads above water. It’s a breezy affair lamenting the lack of opportunity to have an artist’s music played on radio and the resulting financial hurdles. It’s followed by the title track, which also addresses survival in an apathetic world, with Gray confident in his ability declaring ‘You gotta fight in this life for everything you want. What you let pass you by tomorrow returns to haunt.’ Aching pedal steel perfectly mirrors the regret of poor life choices that end with the protagonist locked up in jail on the border-sounding Cheyenne. Rage and fury fuel the protest song Money or Blood, which points its finger at the unscrupulous employer and also the lack of Government empathy. Not all of Gray’s tales are fuelled by anger and frustration. He exhibits his sweeter nature on the love ballad She Think’s The World Of Me and on the album’s closer and standout track Building Paradise. The latter is a duet with Morgan Connors that bookends the record on a resolute and hopeful note.
WALK ALONE is the work of a profoundly emotional songwriter and has earned Gray a distribution deal with CRS in the Netherlands. That marriage will likely result in the exposure in Europe that escapes many artists in their home country. Don’t be surprised if it also opens up touring options and a dedicated fanbase on this side of the pond.
Reviewed by Declan Culliton
Brent Cobb Southern Star Thirty Tigers
Inspired by his southern roots and recorded at Capricorn Sound Studios in his Georgia hometown, SOUTHERN STAR finds Brent Cobb incorporating the country, soul, gospel, and blues sounds from that musical hotbed.
Rather than a ‘far away hills are green’ concept, the album was written when Cobb returned to Georgia, having spent a decade in Nashville. That period earned him a Grammy nomination for his 2016 album SHINE ON A RAINY DAY, together with writing hit songs for Luke Combs, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town. SOUTHERN STAR is Cobb’s fifth album and evidence once more of his resourcefulness as a songwriter, with the ability to create more meaty material alongside the more mainstream country that gained the previously mentioned artists’ chart success.
As well as recording in his hometown, Cobb self-produced the ten tracks on the album and hired local musicians, the only ‘out of towner’ being keyboard player Jimmy Matt Rowland. He captures the more laid-back simplicity of Southern culture to perfection in his writing. The title and opening track set the scene for his calling to return home, and Shade Tree, which bookends the album, reiterates that sense of serenity and contentedness. Elsewhere, he turns the heat up on the funk-filled Livin’ The Dream, Devil Ain’t Done and ‘On’t Know When and takes his foot off the gas on the slow burners When Country Came Back To Town and Kick The Can; the latter finds Cobb reminiscing on the passage of time from his childhood to the present. The former is a ‘thumbs up’ to the artists who kickstarted country music revival in the past decade. Name-checking many of those artists, pride of place goes to Sturgill Simpson for his input ‘But nobody sang like Brandi Carlile or wrote like Nikki Lane … but when Sturgill climbed High Top Mountain, Country came back to town.’
As a songwriter, Cobb seldom puts a foot wrong, and that’s very much the case with SOUTHERN STAR. It’s an uncomplicated and sentimental project that is as far removed from his more mainstream writing as it is from hardcore honky tonk. Given that versatility, it’s little surprise that he has opened on tours for both Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs. Best described as definitive easy listening, it’s another feather in the cap of a multi-talented artist
Reviewed by Declan Culliton
More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music of Nanci Griffith Rounder
Celebrating what would have been Nanci Griffith’s 70th birthday, it only seems fitting that a host of her friends and followers would gather to honour the legendary singer songwriter. This fourteen-track album does just that and is not simply a reminder of Griffith’s unquestionable talent, but equally an endorsement of the inspiration that she generated for so many others. In her liner notes, Mary Gauthier sums up the immense impact the Sequin, Texas-born singer-songwriter had on her career in simple terms ‘What Loretta did for Nanci, Nanci did for me’.
Griffith recorded over twenty albums from her 1978 debut THERE’S A LIGHT BEYOND THESE WOODS to her final studio album, INTERSECTION, in 2012. A multiple Grammy nominee, Griffith’s album OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS won her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk album of 1994. That album was her recognition of the artists that inspired her, so it’s fitting that her vast contribution to roots and country music is similarly honoured by others on this recording.
Given the quality of the material and the artists that pay their dues to Griffith, it’s difficult to highlight the standout tracks, every one draws the listener back to the original versions while also marvelling at many of the reconstructions. However, two duets do particularly strike a chord. John Prine and Kelsey Waldon’s Love At The Five & Dime is particularly heartrending, given that it must be one of the final recordings by Prine before his untimely passing. Lyle Lovett and Kathy Mattea’s rendition of Trouble in The Fields also captures the capacity of love to offer endurance during times of impoverishment – a sentiment that rings true today over thirty-five years after it featured on Griffith’s album, LONE STAR STATE OF MIND. Other household names including Steve Earle (It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go), Iris DeMent (Banks Of The Pontchartrain), Emmylou Harris (Love Wore A Halo) and Shawn Colvin (Outboard Plane), who grew up in the industry alongside Griffith, also contribute. A relatively younger group of artists also pay tribute. Brandy Clark’s version of Gulf Coast Highway lives up to the original version and Billy Strings joins Molly Tuttle on Listen To The Radio. The other contributors are Sarah Jarosz (You Can’t Go Home Again), Todd Snider (Ford Econoline), Ida Mae (Radio Fragile), Aaron Lee Tasjan (Late Night Grande Hotel), War and Treaty (From A Distance) and the aforementioned Mary Gauthier (More Than A Whisper).
Listening to this collection is bound to result in a revisit to the vast and absorbing back catalogue of Griffith, it certainly did for me. For younger music lovers, it’s an introduction to one of the finest voices and songwriters in roots music and an ‘every serious roots music lover should have’ album.
Review by Declan Culliton
Sean Burns Lost Country Department Store
This is a wonderful album and a career highlight for Sean Burns. Not only is the music top-notch, it is also an exploration of some of the lesser-known exponents of traditional country music released in Canada through the decades. This is a labour of love and a continuum of why many of us want to listen to country and not some semi-related lukewarm and rootless version of the same.
At the album’s heart are Burn’s vocals, which are full of passion, pain and purpose and bring that necessary connection to any country album's success. Aside from that, there are a host of musicians who are sympathetic and sincere in their understanding and talent to make this album the triumph it is. This comes about in a year that has seen many really rewarding records released that fit firmly in that hardcore country category.
The ten songs come from a variety of writers and artists; the only one that I was readily aware of was Scotty Campbell, but they all provided Burns with a wealth of material to salute and revive. Among the players featured are Grant Siemens, who, along with Burns, produced the album, both are also members of Cord Lund’s band the Hurtin’ Albertans. Others adding to the overall context of the album include Redd Volkaert on guitar, Mike Weber on pedal steel, Paul Weber on bass and drummer Sean O’Grady.
This music evokes an earlier time, and the nighttime townscape on the cover sums that up well too. This is all territory that Burns has undoubted knowledge of and suggests that it could be something he returns to in the future. The songs, as is expected, deal in broken hearts, beer joints and bad choices, something that can be gleaned from a quick look at some of the titles, The Final Word, Before She Made Me Crawl, Hard Times, Alone Again and Drinking’ Me Six Foot Under. It seems that the protagonists in these tales can’t get a break, but that’s beside the point, I don’t think that we’d be listening if we were expecting upbeat, positive paeans to the good life.
The overall sound, feel, and delivery make this, and similar albums, a pleasure to listen to. There is enough variety in style too to make this a contender for one of the best albums this year and an album that any honky tonk aficionado will embrace and enjoy. It is an object lesson in taking the past and giving it a future.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Jenni Muldaur & Teddy Thompson Once More Sun
There are some who say what is the point of recording and releasing new versions of classic tracks. This album does just that with iconic duets from the catalogue of Conway and Loretta, Porter and Dolly or George and Tammy. It makes a strong case for reintroducing these songs to prospective new listeners. Both of the latter couple’s selections were previously released as four-track EP’s, and this album rounds that up to twelve selections with four more tracks from Twitty and Lynn’s memorable duets.
Released, fittingly, by the legendary Sun Records label, this has the spontaneity associated with the sections recorded in their famous studio. It was produced by David Mansfield (who also took the helm on Thompson’s recently released MY LOVE OF COUNTRY album), and the instrumentation is largely uncomplicated, with fiddle, piano, steel guitar, bass and drums all prominent. As was the case with the original versions, the combination of the voices is the main attraction. On that front, the duo sound perfect in harmony and both also possess distinctive voices in their own right.
The argument about covering classic songs has been aired numerous times. Many who take that route are doing so to bring the songs and artists that they replicate to the attention of a younger audience who may not be familiar with the originals. Whether there is a market for such a venture is open to debate, but I would also suggest that the integrity of the artists here and their obvious love of the genre is beyond doubt. Both are excellent singers and don’t hold back in their delivery.
The songs are classics to a degree, and one comment I noted elsewhere was that they were lyrically perhaps a bit old-fashioned and corny, but even a song like Bobby Braddock and Race Van Hoy’s Golden Ring is a tale of the expectation of a young couple at the outset of their relationship. One that turns sour as the love doesn’t last, and the ring again turns up in a pawn shop window for the next young couple starting their own journey to view. It is not a tale that is in any way devoid of a harsh reality. Therefore, perhaps, somewhat timeless.
In the end, this collection will stand on what it offers in the here and now, and this reviewer thoroughly enjoyed it and the songs it features - once more.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Robert Rex Waller Jr See The Big Man Cry BFD/Have Harmony Will Travel
A founder member of the band I See Hawks In L.A. and a respected musician among his contemporaries, Robert Rex Waller Jr. releases his second solo project. A debut album of cover songs, FANCY FREE, appeared back in 2016 and this follow-up is produced by Carla Olson, Los Angeles-based songwriter, musician and original member of the legendary Textones. Her credits as a producer run deep and she also appears on these tracks with occasional contributions on guitar and harmony vocals. Waller continues to dip into his musical influences and the thirteen songs selected include such gems as The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (Crewe/Gaudio) and Tougher Than the Rest (Springsteen). Also included is Gypsy Rider (Clark) and Reconsider Me (Lewis/Smith). His choices blend seamlessly together, whether with it’s in the country swing of Easy Loving (Hart) or the rocking Amanda Ruth. The classic soul sound of I’ll Never Dance Again (Anthony/Mike) has Matt Von Roderick on trumpet and There’s No Living Without Your Loving (Kaufman/Harris) bounces out of the speakers with a big sound.
Waller does have one co-write on the sweetly melodic My Favourite Loneliness which also credits Paul Marshall, bass player with the Hawks band. There are also appearances from band-mate Paul Laques on guitar and Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin, viola and cello. Skip Edwards (Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin) appears on all the tracks and his rich sound on piano, keyboards and accordion adds greatly to the overall feel. However it’s the dulcet tones of Waller that dominate and his voice is like a seasoned brandy in the delivery. The songs are given great character through his vocal tone and timing, lifting the arrangements and confirming his status as a Californian treasure. A fine album.
Review by Paul McGee
Rod Picott Starlight Tour Welding Rod
Ten new songs from the erudite mind and pen of Rod Picott. His albums are always worth the wait and over recent times we have been spoilt with a succession of top-class recordings. In the last four years there has been real gold dust to be found on TELL THE TRUTH & SHAME THE DEVIL (2019), WOOD, STEEL, DUST & DREAMS (2020), and PAPER HEARTS & BROKEN ARROWS (2022). And now, a further instalment in a run that has seen the rich talents of this songwriter continue to produce some real gems. All the songs are written by Picott with four co-writes included, proof of his willingness to share the magic with others.
Kicking off with the superb Next Man In Line, we have Picott reflecting on ageing and picking at old memories “Just yesterday it was summertime, Did you get your share, did you waste your time, How does it feel to be the next man in line.” A look back on times gone by perhaps tinged with some regret. Next up is Digging Ditches which has a deep blues groove and a tension in the playing. It examines a life of manual labour and the sacrifices that the body makes in order to endure “work till you bleed that’s how you know you’re done, You gotta punish what you’re not where I come from.”
A Puncher’s Chance talks about relationships using the metaphor of a boxer’s life and the search for a love that can withstand the blows “If you are willing to go the distance with me , I’ll be in your corner whatever may be.” The song Combine sees a farmer betting on football games in Alabama, risking the bank account in order to maintain his broken-down combine harvester through just one more crop. It captures the hard reality of surviving with a ragged elegance.
Title track Starlight Tour is about the inequity of life and the cruel way in which authority doles out a warped sense of justice. “She said he was my daddy but I ain’t so sure, He might have been just another bad night’s cure.” The song is a look at hard beginnings and struggle in the face of adversity “you can’t escape the skin you’re in, A walking reminder of another man’s sin.” Local drug dealers on Wasteland meet the needs of community dependency. It references Georgia and people lining up for Oxycotin and Fentanyl prescription cures for their pain. “If you think you’re better with your city lights, You best just stay there cause out here it’s dark at night.”
Pelican Bay, tells the lonely tale of a Vietnam Vet who is forgotten by the country he fought to defend, along with the ideals that all people matter in the American dream. His life is captured in simple imagery as his wife gets sick and dies while their daughter “went to college took a job way out of town, We don’t talk much now she’s got just got so much goin’ on.” An all too familiar story.
Homecoming Queen is about a local beauty who slipped off the track “No matter how many years go by, She still looks like 1985.”Picott observes that “everybody wants the chance to be seen.” It strikes me that Picott acknowledges the journey taken in weighing up all of life’s experiences and the price paid on arrival. Television Preacher looks at the lives of God fearing folks who want to believe in some form of redemption. However, the easy hypocrisy of seeking answers through media-fuelled solutions is not the answer. Breaking out of the stereotype is what keeps a life going and the husband in the song says he’s going for a drive and “open the door to that revival tent, Let Jesus himself find next month’s rent.”
Final song Time To Let Go Of Your Dreams is a gentle arm around the shoulder of disillusioned ideals and Picott councils “So go and make a new wish, Let it come soft as a kiss, Hold it close to your chest and there it will rest, It’s time to find a new dream.” Muted trumpet echoing the hard won wisdom of the whole album.
Rod Picott captures life’s tapestry with keenly observed insights. His characters come alive in the songs and leave a strong impression of quiet dignity with a great empathy and grace. Produced by Neilson Hubbard, who also contributes drums and percussion, the players are Rod Picott on acoustic guitar and vocals, Juan Solorzano on various guitars, piano, trumpet and glockenspiel, and Lex Price on mandolin and bass. The playing and overall sound is stripped back to allow the character in the vocal delivery spin these tales of ordinary folks just trying to get by and looking for some deeper meaning or purpose in it all. Yet another example of the wonderful talent that enriches the lives of all who tune into the creative muse of Rod Picott.
Review by Paul McGee
Hannah Connolly From Where You Are Self Release
Initially released in 2020 and written during the Covid lockdown, this debut album from Wisconsin native Hannah Connolly is a very impressive creation. It’s almost as if these ten songs were just bursting to reveal themselves upon the world and the results are evident in the beautifully arranged melodies and the lyrics that capture so much in their longing.
Hannah lost her younger brother Cullen in a car accident caused by a drunk driver back in 2015 and the core of this album is a tribute to his life and also a reflection on grief and how it never leaves, once it has visited any of our lives. The bareness in the words, the honesty in the emotion, and the beautiful vocal delivery all come together in a compelling mix that puts this songwriter right up there with any of the current talents that are making a name on the country music circuit.
The musicians also raise a very high bar on this album with some exquisite playing, both understated and elegant in the delivery. Whether it’s the superbly aching pedal steel of Tim Fleming that haunts in the mix, or the lovely cello and violin played by Jane Kim and Phoebe Silva, or the superb musicianship of producer Jordan Rutz on a variety of instruments, from guitars, bass, drums and percussion to keyboards, accordion and backing vocals. There are also some cameo appearances on certain songs, from Eric Cannata (electric guitar), Tom Crouch (electric guitar) and Francois Comtois (drums); all adding to the impressive sound.
Hannah wrote the songs, with co-credits to Jordan Ruiz and additional writing from Eric Cannata on two songs. Her voice is an instrument of great colours; winsome, soothing and poignant in its rueful delivery. Her ability to capture emotion runs through these songs like a chord that binds everything together. Birthday opens the album and Hannah reflects upon the loss of her brother in the lines “We celebrated you today, And I miss you more than ever… ‘I’m grateful, I promise, For the years that we had.”
Other songs such as From Where You Are reflect upon a funeral and capture the essence of feeling lost and alone in grief “They say your name wrong, And I’m feeling pretty lost, I wonder what this mess looks like, From where you are.” Cullen Bay is a short instrumental played on the bagpipes by Cullen’s father, Jeff Connolly and it is beautifully delivered. Ocean (the light in everything) looks to nature as a place where solace can be found and the spirit of those who are gone can be truly felt “In the horizon, out of the silence, You are the light in everything.”
House/Home reflects upon the loss of love and the empty spaces that need to be filled ‘I remember standing there, watching birds in the morning sun, And I remember thinking, I don’t feel like anyone.’ Stay Home tackles the insecurity of new situations and trying to fit into a different life when you feel outside everything “It’s a worn out conversation, Every question insincere, While their eyes ignore my answers, To see who else is here.” Sounds familiar? Probably because we have all felt that exact emotion at some point in our own lives. Meet You There is another song that celebrates nature and the sense of quiet power in its presence ‘I’m learning to take notice, Of all that can’t be seen, Trying to find the truth beyond words, Living silent in the trees.’ On the final song The Right Words Hannah reflects upon the need for gratitude with the words “And I’m trying to be grateful, And I’m trying to smile, I’m trying to find all the beauty, But it’s taken me quite a while.”
Well, there is real beauty in this debut album and as fledgling flights go, this is as complete as anything that I’ve heard in a number of years. File under “one that got away” in the current traffic of new releases. A brand new album is due early next year, titled Shadowboxing, so my recommendation is to board this train now as it’s bound for glory.
Review by Paul McGee
Gregory Alan Isakov Appaloosa Bones Dualtone/Suitcase Town
In spiritual terms the number eight is a symbol for rebirth and transformation. Quite appropriate then that Colorado based artist Isakov should release his eight album after coming through the Covid years with a renewed perspective on everything that surrounds him. Isakov is part of a farm project called Starling Farm where they produce small-scale, bio-intensive market gardening, which produces a wide variety of vegetables, seeds and flowers. The farm is part of Community-supported agriculture that connects producers and consumers within the food system and a goal of strengthening a sense of community through local markets. All very relevant to the superb music that is based very much in the natural environment that surrounds Isakov and the inspiration that he takes from nature runs through his songs like a connecting thread.
If you are looking for a sign post along the road then the music of Isakov would travel along the route trodden by similar artists like Iron and Wine, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Bon Iver. The music is full of lovely melodies, stripped back to a very minimalistic style, where every sound has a central place in the sweetly haunting performances. Isakov performs his magic on an array of instruments, including banjo, ukulele, dobro, guitars, keyboards and understated drums. He also contributes ‘God noises’ on a number of songs and the additional ambient sounds and samples, courtesy of co-producer Andrew Berlin, add greatly to the atmosphere and warmth of the eleven tracks.
Leif Vollebekk plays atmospheric piano on six tracks and there is quite a list of other players who guest across a range of instruments that include fiddle, pedal steel, viola, violin, lap steel, and guitars. The harmony vocals are also beautifully judged and feature both Bonnie May Paine and Aoife O’Donovan. The lyrics are very much open to interpretation, Isakov planting suggested meanings rather than opting for a more defined content. Opener The Fall suggests a crisis of sorts and the title track hints at a sense of separation and feelings of anxiety. Given that Covid played a certain influence in the writing, this is no surprise and the message in other songs such as Terlingua and Sweet Heat Lightning leans toward the path of connection and the stillness of nature.
Closing track Feed Your Horses assures a loved one that all will work itself out despite feelings of restlessness and the reassurance of Silver Bell includes the lines “Finally found us some good luck, let’s see if it lasts.” An album of reflection, hope for the future and of taking stock in challenging times, Isakov continues to set impressive standards in his body of work that enrich the listening experience. Highly recommended.
Review by Paul McGee
Josh Gray, Brent Cobb, Sean Burns, Teddy Thompson, Robert Rex Waller Jr Music, Rod Picott. Hannah Connolly Gregory Alan Isakov.