Restos Ain’t Dead Yet Self Release
Fans of Austin, Texas band Western Youth will be pleased to hear that five members of that popular six-piece band have resurrected themselves after a hiatus of five years and recorded a debut album under the name of Restos. That title is Spanish for ‘remains’ and the band members that feature are Graham Weber (vocals, guitars), Mark Nathan (lead guitar), Chris Spencer (bass), Sam Powell (keys) and Brian Bowe (drums). Also contributing vocals on four of the album’s ten tracks is Jaimee Harris, adding to her busy schedule having released her album, BOOMERANG TOWN earlier this year.
Very much a team effort in respect of the songwriting, there’s little wildly original on the album’s ten tracks, simply a bunch of guys laying down some high-octane rock and roll and giving off the vibe that they’re having the time of their lives doing so. The opener Wild Heart is a full-on rocker written in memory of their close friend and singer songwriter Chris Porter, who tragically lost his life in a car crash in 2016 while touring with his band, Porter and the Bluebonnet Rattlesnakes (‘Wish I could shake your hand one more time, I can’t take your place and you can’t take mine’). That unbridled pace is maintained on the pulsating Wild As The Wind and Faded Love is cut from a similar cloth, while the slower groove on the title track brings to mind the melodic sound of The Byrds, with Harris’ vocals blending sweetly with Weber’s.
Co-produced by the band and Charles Godfrey (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cody Jinks, Whiskey Myers, Dropkick Murphys) and recorded at Jim Eno’s (Spoon) Public Hi-Fi in Austin, Texas, AIN’T DEAD YET lives up to its title and reunites a bunch of players that simply play head down Texan rock and roll.
Review by Declan Culliton
Cruz Contreras Cosmico Cosmico
Like so many others who used the downtime imposed by the pandemic for reflection and contemplation, Cruz Contreras focus was diverted from his work with the various projects he had previously been involved with and he concentrated on writing, mixing and recording this debut solo album. A founding member of Knoxville, Tennessee band The Black Lillies, Robinella and the CCstringband, Contreras set up shop at Cider Mountain in Northern Idaho where he recorded this nine-track record under the watchful eyes of co-producers and long-time friends of Contreras, Megan McCormick (Jenny Lewis, Allison Russell, Amanda Fields) and Ethan Ballinger (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack).
Given the quality of the album and his previous projects, it comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that Contreras confesses to a lack of artistic confidence that delayed this solo venture. Very much in cosmic country territory, Cosmico examines the life changing episodes that Contreras encountered during the past few years, from the passing of his father in 2018, his own recent marriage, the birth of his son, and the demise, temporarily or otherwise, of The Black Lillies.
Sonically the album covers quite a lot of ground, from the relaxed to the more spacey and experimental. The title track - possibly a reminded by the writer to himself - is a melodic ballad, all the better for some slick layered vocals and an addictive groove that was embedded in my mind for some time. Similarly paced are the Leonard Cohen-sounding Separate Minds and the breezy Breaking A Habit, the latter no doubt referencing the breakup of The Black Lillies and the challenges of making a clean break with this project. On the flipside Doin’ Time finds Contreras and his crew rocking out and Call Me Crazy is a spacious affair with swirling keyboards and guitars perfectly consistent with the track’s title and sentiment.
An album that sounds timeless and one that is not possible to pigeon hole in any one genre, COSMICO does steer away from the overcrowded car park that Americana can presently be accused of. With a perfect blend of soulful songs, deep grooves and unexpected rough edges, it’s an eyebrow-raising musical experience and a most successful solo venture by Contreras.
Review by Declan Culliton
Chris Stamey The Great Escape Schoolkids
With a curriculum vitae that includes forming the dynamic New York power pop band The dB’s, playing alongside Alex Chilton, founding the New York record label Car Records, producing albums by Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo, Caitlin Cary, and releasing numerous solo albums, Chris Stamey can boast legendary status in power pop and roots music.
Enjoying a purple patch in recent years as a recording artist, THE GREAT ESCAPE is Stamey’s fifth full-length album in the past decade and with fourteen tracks featured in just under fifty-five minutes, it is packed with hook-filled songs. The final track is interestingly titled Credits, and with an instrumental version of the title track in the background, it includes a spoken-word acknowledgement by Stamey of the numerous musical contributors and others who assisted in bringing the album to fruition. Interestingly, the first player credited is pedal steel player Eric Haywood, whose playing has featured on numerous alt-country acts from Son Volt to Alejandro Escovedo. Stamey credits Haywood’s presence on stage with Escovedo - Stamey was musical director on Escovedo’s 2017 tour - as one of the prime motivators for this album.
Very much recalling the classic ‘pop meets roots’ style of the mid to late 60s when a cross-pollination of American and British modes inspired acts such as The Byrds and The Hollies, Stamey nails that electric guitar-driven sound to perfection. Tracks like The Sweetheart Of The Video and I Will Try are prime examples, the former a six-minute gem and album highlight for this writer, the latter written as a modern-day no-holes-barred wedding song. The opener and title track, complete with slick guitar breaks, hand claps and flawless harmonies, had me hitting the repeat button on the first spin and Realize, which follows, is equally impressive. A cover of Alex Chilton/Tommy Hoehn’s, She Might Look My Way, keeps faith with the original version, and he pays homage to the legendary producer Van Dyke Parks in the light-hearted The One And Only. Despite the numerous musicians and backing vocalists that Stamey called on, there remains remarkable connectivity on much of the material. Dear Friend is a heartfelt reach out to those who may be at a low point emotionally and could be a response to the sorrowful (A Prisoner Of This) Hopeless Love.
A timeless and smile-inducing album from start to finish, it includes a vast crew of contributors yet blends coherently. Rather than list those contributors, I highly recommend you check out this album and allow Chris Stamey to introduce them, one and all, as he does on the aforementioned album closer, Credits.
Reviewed by Declan Culliton
Jason Hawk Harris Thin Places Bloodshot
LOVE & THE DARK, the 2019 album from Jason Hawk Harris, dealt with themes of personal disarray and grief from his mother’s passing, his father’s company bankruptcy, and his own personal issues with substance abuse. Those dark and painful landscapes and recovery and rehabilitation also dominate his latest recording, THIN PLACES. ‘I wanted to explore every part of grief with this album, not just the devastating moments,’ explains Harris on this nine-track record that moves seamlessly between soul, roots and country. Eight of the tracks are originals with Warren Zevon’s Keep Me In Your Heart For A While, appropriately covered.
Harris’ musical career has been checkered. He studied classical music theory and composition and played guitar with the alt-folk band The Snow Ponies before the launch of his solo career. Currently residing in Austin, Texas, Harris recorded the album at Andy Freeman’s Studio Punch Up in Nashville. Harris played vocals, guitars and harmonium with contributions by guest players Phil Glenn (strings, piano), Kevin Brown (drums, percussion) and Adam ‘Ditch’ Kurtz (pedal steel). Andy Freeman played bass alongside his production duties, and backing vocals are credited to Kristina Murray, Natalie Nicoles and Leeann Skoda.
The contrast in many songs reflects a ‘topsy-turvy’ mindset, possibly reflecting the highs and lows that motivated the writing. Harris navigates from the defiant and frenetic I’m Getting By to the rejoiceful So Damn Good, and from the ‘hymn-like’ Jordan And The Nile and the light-hearted Bring Out The Lilies. Despite these often-contradictory chapters, the bottom line is an album that is very much the sum of its parts and, as a result, warrants an uninterrupted listen from start to finish.
Given the backdrop that challenged Harris to tackle his demons, musically he confronts those adversities in a buoyant manner. All in all, a hugely impressive album that requires several listens to penetrate, but it is well worth the time invested in doing so.
Reviewed by Declan Culliton
Dylan LeBlanc Coyote ATO
A welcome addition to his excellent back catalogue, COYOTE follows on from two standout recordings from the Louisiana-born artist Dylan Le Blanc. RENEGADE from 2019 and CAUTIONARY TALE from three years prior marked him as one of the most significant artists to emerge in the Americana/Alt-Country genres in the past decade.
His latest project, possibly semi-autobiographical in its gist, is a concept album built around a character who exists very much on the edge, trying to straighten himself out but caught at a crossroads between a life of petty criminality and attempted rehabilitation. The album’s compelling and melodic sound and Le Blanc’s distinct vocals stick close to the signature sound of his previous work, so why change a winning formula? Its title relates to a bizarre near ‘life or death’ experience encountered by LeBlanc. Having climbed a cliff face in Austin, Texas - no reason is given for the unusual escapade - he came face to face with a racoon being chased by a coyote. Fortunately, following a ‘stare off’; the animals departed, averting what could have been an unhappy ending.
A multi-instrumentalist, LeBlanc played electric and acoustic guitars on the album and called on some crack session players to join him in the studio. Keyboards are credited to Jim ‘Moose’ Brown (Bob Seger), Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), who played drums and bass guitarist Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey) completed the rhythm section. The Secret Sisters added backing vocals, and the project was recorded at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
We’re introduced to the central character Coyote in the opening and title track as he heads across the border to Mexico to set up a shady deal (‘I’m off to a new land, gonna steal a rich man’s gold, gonna take what’s mine’). Closin’ In, which follows, is a drug-fuelled reminisce of love lost or squandered. Dark Waters and Dust articulate his perilous journey and recollect his checkered past. More tender sentiments emerge on the gorgeous and standout track, No Promises Broken. Cut from a similar cloth; the protagonist considers his fortunes on the wistful Human Kind.
LeBlanc’s output has consistently brought to mind early career Neil Young and COYOTE is no exception. However, far from a pretender, this treasure chest of songs merits favourable comparison with much of Young’s work. Mirroring the author’s transition from an angry young man, who by his own admission survived a chaotic lifestyle, to a mature and ‘at peace’ thirty-something-year-old, COYOTE is DeBlanc’s most perceptive and compelling work to date, further revealing an artist on his commute to master craftsman status. It is one of the most satisfying listens of the year for this writer and highly recommended.
Reviewed by Declan Culliton
John Baumann Border Radio Self-Release
Location plays a big part in the writing of John Baumann, a Texas singer-songwriter who has had cuts by mainstream artists like Kenny Chesney but has equally had his work recorded by the Randy Rogers Band. Whilst his music sits on that border between country and a more singer-songwriter aesthetic, he has previously noted the lack of something more authentically country on his song The Country Doesn’t Sound The Same from a previous album. He has a half dozen earlier releases to his name that have seen him grow as an artist along the way. The first of these, a five-track EP titled WEST TEXAS VERNACULAR, points to an interest in his home state for some time. He grew up in San Antonio but honed his talent in Austin. He has also worked with the Panhandlers (a collective of fellow writers and singers he sings and records with occasionally).
Baumann is joined here on this Dwight A Baker-produced collection by a selection of players who included the noted artist in his own right, Jedd Hughes, on electric guitar. Everyone else holds up their end too, on the nine self-written songs. Material that has a warmth in its delivery fits the location of much of the material and his vocal delivery overall. The writing details situations that, in Baumann’s hands, fall on the right side of the mainstream sense of what might be considered acceptable to radio - that is down to detail and nuance.
Gold El Camino opens the album in a familiar cruising with a girl in the front seat car mode enthusing, “baby, let’s take a ride.” Sweeter is Reviving Engines, River Street offers the conundrum of what’s a boy to do “when there’s trouble to be found.” Opening with a hint, to these ears, of a Beatles’ song memory at the start, South Texas Tradition sets up an ongoing modus of custom and whereabouts for the album. The title track follows and is a high point and a song full of longing and landscape. It takes that often-mentioned broadcasting source as a reference to both people and place but in a way that brings you to that place and that time.
The simplicity of the love song My Heart Belongs To You is all the better for its directness and sincerity. More up-tempo is the accolade to the energies and intentions of that regular night out that is Saturday Night Comes Once A Week; it features a short great piano break midway through. The best title of the album is up next in the sombre The Night Before The Day Of The Dead; that is the consideration of what the ramifications of such a night may mean. Equally laid back is Turning Gold, again detailing an uncertain lifestyle as someone looks to find their place and hopes to see that golden sunset offering something better. Again, Boy’s Town is about a district close to the border, where working men and military personnel can and do go to let off steam and cross the border to an area where solace may be sought in drink and prostitution.
In context, all these songs fit the sense of community and display an overall affinity with the men and women who work and find means to relax in that South Texas region. There is a certain textural quality that pervades the music that brings the listener to feel a similar sense of that location and purpose, and that is also, at times, full of hints of both melancholy and menace but does so in a way that you want to hear the songs again. And that is its strength.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Heather Lynne Horton Get Me To a Nunnery Pauper Sky
The title of Horton’s third solo album may give some clues as to the general influences running through the ten songs included here. It’s a play of words on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, during which he warns Ophelia against her female nature of fickleness and betrayal, telling her to lock herself away from all men in a nunnery, thus avoiding all contact. Horton also references the inspiration that the life of Sinead O’Connor provided to her and how her death in the final days of this album’s completion marked a huge moment. “May the world redeem her” writes Horton in the liner notes and I would rather that the world redeemed itself and embraced Sinead for all the bravery and passion that she showed in speaking out against injustice, in whatever form it presented itself.
There is an instrumental on the album that is dedicated to the memory of Lin Brehmer, the famous DJ at WXRT Chicago, who died this year after a battle with cancer. The track is titled Lin’s Never-Ending Song and it is something of a Magnum Opus for Horton, highlighting all her power on violin in the different passages that paint a colourful requiem to the memory of her friend. The instrumental could just as easily have been dedicated to Sinead O’Connor as it captures the thrilling essence of life and the vibrancy that attracts others to a belief or a cause. As the song slows in tempo and reflects upon it’s more energetic beginning, one is left to remember that the deeds we do indeed live long after we are gone.
Elsewhere the album gives many examples of the constraints suffered in trying to live with compromise in society. There are songs that touch on bigotry, misogyny, racism and abuse such as Ten Times and Call A Spade A Spade . The subjugation of dreams in sacrifice to another is tackled on the powerful Take Off, and The Flight Of Beatrix, a good witch of love, who flies in the face of danger from angry menfolk, is another example of women being feared by the male of the species. There are songs about losing in love and All This Time observes “We’re here, But I’m alone, I wish I’d never know you.” Equally, on Six Foot the female angst is summed up by “Mom asks how I have agreed to stay, Dad said he knew I’d end up this way, I’d break both my knees if you’d hear me pray, But I won’t ask why anymore.”
There is another song titled I Don’t Like Your Children that takes aim at the Me-Generation and the push for personal gratification above all else, “I don’t like your children, You selfish, spoiled brat, Wasted generation, Who-ever taught you things like that.” The broken promises of youth run their course and we grow into the adults that we embrace. This is a very strong statement from an artist that seeks “to bring uncomfortable ideas into conversation through the medium of music.”
In this, Horton certainly succeeds and the entire project was recorded during a mid-2022 return from Covid and completed into 2023 in both Pauper Sky Studios, and Transient Sound Studios, Chicago. The musicians joining Horton include her husband Michael McDermott, Will Kimbrough, John Deaderick Matt Thompson and Steven Gillis who contribute on an array of instruments in support of what is a very rich and ethereal sound. Co-production is by both Horton and McDermott and the vocals are layered into warm harmonies and placed high in the mix, with engaging song arrangements throughout. This is a very interesting album and one that ultimately holds a message of empowerment and strength in these challenging times.
Review by Paul McGee
Old Californio Metaterranea Old Californio
This band hails from Pasadena in California and their sound is close to the classic Country Rock music of the 70s in terms of influence. However, this is not to try and categorise their talent too narrowly as the musicians display a range of expression that is both colourful and compelling in highlighting their songs. On this new album, their sixth since ALONG THE COSMIC GRASS appeared in 2007, there are ten songs that instantly engage this listener and deliver on all fronts.
We witness the combined talents of Woody Aplanalp and Rich Dembowski on co-production and both musicians also contribute to the vibrant sound on a variety of guitars, bass, lap steel and both lead and harmony vocals. Long-time member Justin Smith shares drumming duties with Anthony Logerfo (three tracks) and Lon Hayes (one track), while bassist Corey McCormick appears on five tracks. With the very expressive Jon Niemann on keyboards throughout, there are further cameo appearances from Jason Chesney (vocals), Paul Lacques (lap steel), and Andres Renteria (congas).
There is a message of celebration and positivity on this album. The bright production, the lovely harmonies, the interplay across the melodies, and echoes of the Beach Boys intertwine. It’s as if Old Californio are aiming for that original hippie dream, brought into a modern context. They conjure up the past, looking back to old traditions, and also forwards into new beginnings. Psychedelic Country music borne again. The album opens with Old Kings Road a song that looks back at the El Camino Real, “The King's Highway.” A 600-mile trail that connects the 21 Spanish missions in California, from San Diego all the way to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, just north of San Francisco Bay, ‘It’s that California sound, it’s got a mediterranean soul, And it echoes down the raveling years along the old kings road’
On the song Destining Again the band talks about the importance of the journey, and not the actual destination, stating “Like Sisyphus I gotta keep my rock, keep it rolling.” Come Undone looks at life as a continuum and includes the message ‘And though the past has passed, it’s not behind you, The soul keeps no curfew, And where you finish everything begins, And everything else starts where you end.’
The circle of existence is pondered on The Swerve and the reality of not being in control as human beings is part of Timeless Things, the process of letting go being the true answer to living. The rocking sound of The Seer recalls The Grateful Dead with a message of living in the moment. Tired For A Sea examines the superficial lives that many live, always seeking the safety of a bridge while the depths of the sea await exploration below. Taking a deep dive into yourself can only bring enlightenment and greater reward.
Through The Days (And Past All Nights) is another message of hope, with both proportion and commitment being important measures to a balanced life. Just Like A Cloud finishes off the album with a full-on Crazy Horse workout on guitars and an end to the journey that returns to the source of it all, the energy of the absolute that endures in mother nature. A superbly crafted release that will resonate with anybody who enjoys timeless music.
Review by Paul McGee
Matthew Check Without A Throne Self Release
Once a member of Gangstagrass, a band that mix classic bluegrass and rap vocals, Check now lives in NYC, and releases this seven song EP as a follow up to his 2020 album THE CONDESA QUEEN. A few live releases followed more recently and this EP includes tracks that engage the listener. His style is reminiscent of classic 70s artists and the music includes rockers like What A Father Would Do (Absalom), country classics (Pretty Mama), and slower ballads (The Shape It Appears). There is some nice pedal steel courtesy of Thomas Bryan Eaton and piano melody from John Pahmer. Because You Can is another fine song that shows off the band in full flight and is reminiscent of CSNY in their prime.
Review by Paul McGee
Restos, Cruz Contreras, Chris Stamey, Jason Hawk Harris, Dylan LeBlanc, John Baumann, Heather Horton, Old Californio