Dean Owens Pictures Self-Release
Following his DESERT TRILOGY EPs from 2021, SINNERS SHRINE (2022) and EL TARIDITO (2023), Scottish singer songwriter Dean Owens is in a more reflective frame of mind and meditates on matters closer to home on his latest recording, PICTURES. Those three Tex-Mex-influenced recordings included collaborations with Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico fame. For this album, Owens worked once more with Grammy nominees and long-time musical partners in crime, Neilson Hubbard and Will Kimbrough. Hubbard produced Owens's albums, SOUTHERN WIND (2018) and INTO THE SEA (2015), and is also a member of Buffalo Blood alongside Owens, Joshua Britt, and Audrey Spillman.
Given that the project was fashioned during the pandemic, Owens' recordings took place at Slate Room Studios in East Lothian, Scotland and Hubbard and Kimbrough's at Skinny Elephant in East Nashville. Jim Demain mastered the final recordings at Yes Master in Nashville.
As you expect, given the prevailing environment during lockdown when the material was written, the album's essence is self-examination and retrospection, with Owens giving the listener an inkling of what lay inside his head during those restless times. The dream-like opening lyrics, 'Today I flew over the old church where my sister was married, over the streets where I grew up,' written in a time of uncertainty, sets the scene for much of what follows, lyrically and in its musical content. That opening track, Hills of Home, is followed by an open-hearted and apologetic love letter titled Pure Magic. Sometime may be interpreted as a forward look to both the return of post-pandemic normality or encountering loved ones lost in another life ('The sun will shine again on you and I my friend. Sometime, sometime, someday, there'll be singing again').
Harking back to his younger days and Owen's treasured passion for boxing, Boxing Shorts recalls his days of donning boxing gloves in the gym. More poignantly, it identifies a childhood friend, the first to take him to the gym, but who fell into addiction and lost his life later in life ('When you get trapped in the corner cover up, sooner or later the punches have to stop'). A tale of simpler times and everyday lives is recounted in Daltry Cemetery. The historic, picturesque Edinburgh Garden cemetery dates back to the mid-19th century, and the song tells of two ordinary people, Annie and Frank. The former lives in the cemetery and maintains the graves, and the latter visits his wife’s grave on his way to see his football team play.
Mortality and loved ones passed away also raise their head on Friend and on the title track, which bookends the album. The latter, which is edged with affection and regret and no doubt autobiographical, speaks of the necessity to move on at a particular time and escape the menace of familiarity and restlessness, which can eventually lead to disorder.
On a lighter note, Great Song, complete with a whistled intro, echoes the singer songwriter's search for the epic song. To his credit, Dean Owens has written numerous songs deserving the title of greatness and continues to do so with this eleven-track record. While often directed towards self-examination, the lyrics are touching and plainly spoken, and the low-key arrangements from his partners are the perfect fit. The press release for the album mentions 'a Ronnie Lane vibe' to the album, which certainly rings true for me with this highly listenable collection of folk-rock songs.
Review by Declan Culliton
Al Backstrom Wild Colonial Boy Self-Release
A curriculum vitae that boasts touring in his mid-teens, a mainstay in the Melbourne pub rock scene for many years, a member in another life of Aussie band’s P-Tex and Bullet, and touring the US and Europe as guitarist with Jaime Wyatt, Austin Lucas, Moot Davis and MacLeaphart, is not to be sniffed at. With that lifetime dedicated to performance, it’s little surprise that Al Backstrom would eventually find the time and space to record a solo album.
Wild Colonial Boy is an Irish-Australian traditional folk ballad which tells of an escaped convict who perishes during a gunfight with the police. While the title does not reflect Backstrom’s way of life, it does dovetail with his musical and nomadic lifestyle, which currently finds him residing in Nashville, TN, and ideally located to solicit the services of his neighbours and musical acquaintances for this record.
Backstrom more than wears his musical heart on his sleeve, blending his passion for rockabilly, power pop, and roots. The title track is a knees-up, toe-tapping ride and Don’t Even Know My Name, Puttin’ Me Down, and Analog Guy have all the hallmarks of a soundtrack from that purple period, early to mid-70s, for classic UK pub rock. One More For The Road nods toward Son Volt, and opener Through is a muscular guitar-driven affair. Two covers are also included: fellow Australian Ruby Boots joins the party for a bustling take on Gram Parsons’ Ooh Las Vegas, which does justice to the original version and The Hoodoo Gurus Hayride To Hell gets a Charley Daniels Band-styled makeover.
Self-produced and recorded in his home studio, multi-instrumentalist Backstrom’s impressive guitar skills shine, and his selection of contributors are A-listed players. Adam ‘Ditch’ Kurtz (Sarah Shook, Joshua Ray Walker) played pedal steel, Bruce Bouton (Garth Brooks, Ricky Skaggs) was on lap steel and last but certainly not least, Billy Contreras (George Jones, Hank 111, Crystal Gayle), whose fiddle contributions are outstanding.
Review by Declan Culliton
Danielle Howle Current Kill Rock Stars
Despite a recording career that spans four decades and numerous studio and live recordings, both solo and with bands Lay Quiet Awhile and Danielle Howle and the Tantrums, singer songwriter and producer Danielle Howle remains an ‘under-the-radar treasure.’ A pretty distinctive vocalist and very much a Southern storyteller, CURRENT is Howle's first studio recording in ten years. As the title suggests, it’s loaded with up-to-the-minute observations, often intense and vibrant and on other occasions, genuinely humorous.
Produced by Jeff Leonard Jnr., Howle vocals are very much out in front with, in the main, acoustic musical support from Josh Roberts (guitars), Kerry Brooks (bass), Tony Lauria (accordion) and percussion input shared by Leonard Jnr., Jim Brock and Russell Lee Padgett.
There are excursions into the woe of love lost – though with a degree of comedy (Another One), positivity in the face of anguish (The Damage Appears on The Frame), unconditional love (Keep The Light), and self-love and acceptance (While I Miss You). Seamlessly genre-hopping, she goes full-on honky tonk on I’m Alright, laid back and jazzy on How Is The Rain and strikingly gothic on the quite stunning Keep The Light. Also included is a cover - faithful to the original - of Tom Petty’s Southern Accents.
‘I hope to make someone happy - for my music to be a blanket or a coat,’ Howle confesses about CURRENT. She more than achieves that for me with an album that embraces much of what represents modern life in southern America, beautifully articulated, carefully arranged and well worth your attention.
Review by Declan Culliton
Bonnie Montgomery River Self-Release
Although her classical vocal training was in opera, Bonnie Montgomery's captivation with the bluegrass, southern gospel and Delta blues of her childhood have come to the fore in her recordings. Voted Outlaw Female of the Year at the Ameripolitan Awards in 2016, her latest record, RIVER showcases the Arkansas-born artist's love of country music and her capacity to create compelling country songs.
With time off from her heavy touring schedule in 2020 and suffering from near exhaustion, Montgomery's recovery process included brushing up on her piano skills and composing this often-autobiographical collection of songs. Her vocals, as you would expect, are note-perfect, and with her co-producer Kevin Skria - a member of the excellent Texas band The Broken Spokes - they set about developing the arrangements to compliment her songs. The recordings took place at Skria's Wolfe Island Recording Company studio, which he built in a farm barn in Dayton, and his input included pedal steel, drums, bass, electric guitar, piano, organ and percussion. Geoffrey Robson played bass and arranged the strings, and Whitney Rose and Jimmy Davis added harmony vocals.
The lush string-driven Countrypolitan sound of the '60s comes to mind on the title track and Half Drunk, though Music Row wouldn't have approved the forthright lyrics on the latter in those times. The smooth Connie Smith-sounding I Was Fine also harks back to that era, and Modern-Day Cowgirl's Dream lives up to its title with a more present-day country sound. Memories of the writer's grandfather unfold on the mystical Leon ('I think I saw Ole Leon; he was walking down the road where the river meets the sunset, holding his hat, and moving slow'). The cutting song, Cut Your Check, was written ten years ago while she went through a divorce and traumatic times also inspired No Way Around It, which speaks about addiction and mental illness. On an album with few, if any, lines wasted, its deepest cut is the stunning Seventeen. Telling the tale of a close friend whom Montgomery witnessed drowning, its heart-wrenching story is beautifully articulated.
The angelic pureness of Montgomery's country-edged vocals, supported by superb playing and production, translates into a mesmerising musical journey from start to finish.
Review by Declan Culliton
Nora Jane Struthers Back To Cast Iron Self Release
Another album under the pandemic umbrella, but one laced with positivity and truthfulness, BACK TO CAST IRON plays out like diary entries as Virginia-born Nora Jane Struthers details the anxieties and positivity of those unsettling times. The overriding theme that the album imparts is one of combining motherhood and a professional career in the music industry, and Struthers articulates the matter with openness and tenderness.
Currently living in Nashville, Struthers called on the services of Neilson Hubbard, as she had done on her two previous records, to produce BACK TO CAST IRON and credit is due to him for achieving a most impressive end result. Struthers possesses a classic modern country voice, and her perfect punctuation, alongside a gentle quiver, breathes life into the ten homegrown stories that unfold. Her multi-instrumentalist husband, Joe Overton, played pedal steel guitar and banjo and added backing vocals. Stephen Daly’s electric guitar work is standout, as are the contributions by Lex Price and Juan Solorzano on bass and Hubbard on keys and drums.
Struthers opens and bookends the album with two unflinching statements: the powerful Is it Hope and the jubilant Back On The Road. The complications and anxieties associated with childbirth are not often addressed in songwriting. Still, the title track does just that, with Struthers recalling her experience as a baby-weaning mother while she and her husband worked towards their second embryo transfer. That reference to family, frequently addressed on the record, also fuels Children They Need You (All Of The Time). It’s a joy to behold, a classic country song written from the often rollercoaster demands of a mother and professional artist. She flirts with bluegrass on Trying To Get Ready, written during lockdown as she prepared for the birth of her son and the return to normality.
Nora Jane Struthers’ talent and potential have been evident since her 2010 self-titled debut album, and BACK TO CAST IRON is a career highlight. It ticks many boxes, combining Lucinda Williams-styled rawness and earthiness on some of the more raucous tracks with sweetness and melody on others that bring to mind the work of Kelly Willis - heartwarming country music of the purest kind.
Review by Declan Culliton
Jaime Wyatt Feel Good New West
Never one to be pigeon-holed in one genre and an Outlaw in the real sense, Jaime Wyatt's musical output has flirted with country, soul and R&B. Her 2017 record, FELONY BLUES, could be best described as 'beauty born out of chaos' and the Shooter Jennings' produced NEON CROSS from 2020, was a country edged affair that gained Wyatt a lot of love and acclaim.
Her latest album, FEEL GOOD, is more Dusty and Bobby G than Dolly and Loretta. The album title may be good advice aimed in the direction of her queer country community or may reflect Wyatt's current state of mind. Still, her confessional lyrics on the album reference love won and lost, together with the ongoing social issues of racism, sexual inequality and gun violence.
'I've been down and out but never fallen. Love is a place I've never known; I'd like to go, and would you take me there?' she asks in Love Is A Place. Directed at another woman and openly seeking her affection, it's a statement by an artist openly and confidently expressing her sexuality. It's immediately followed by heartbreak with the luxuriant and soulful outpouring on Hold Me One Last Time; it marries horns, gospel-like backing vocals and a ripping rhythm section.
'I wanna show them the mountains and say, drink from the clear spring water, fresh from the mountain top… and Mother Nature is raising her voice, by hurricane, fire and wind, do you feel me?' she announces on the opener World Worth Keeping. A plea from the heart and a reaction to 'profit at all cost' society, it harks back to the late 60s - Jefferson Airplane's Revolution comes to mind - but with a modern spin. That '60s counterculture also raises its head by including a cover of Grateful Dead's Althea. The selection is a reminder of the numerous GD concerts attended by Wyatt with her late father, who was a long-time friend of founding member Bob Weir. That '60s sound is deployed throughout much of the album, emphasised by driving keys, piano and organ, credited to Joshy Soul and Josh Strauther, and brilliant guitar playing by eight-time Grammy nominee and Black Pumas member Adrian Quesada, who also produced the album. Other highlights are the nostalgic Back To The Country and Fugitive, the latter written in a Covid-induced fever.
FEEL GOOD is noticeably more groove and melody-driven than Wyatt's previous work. Her vocals are as assured as ever, earthy and soulful, but sonically, she pushes out the boundaries spectacularly well. Making good on the promise of her previous recordings, the project reveals an artist celebrating self-assurance and brimming with confidence. She's raised the bar some distance here with a standout record that deserves to be heard by many.
Review by Declan Culliton
AC Wallin Sweet Revenge Self Release
Such a refreshing experience to plug into a second solo outing from the multi-talented A.C. Wallin. On this follow up to his 2021 debut USELESS HEART, the multi-instrumentalist plays everything on these ten tracks and delivers an album this is very engaging and enjoyable. Including various guitars, bass, 6-string banjo, programmed drums and all vocals, Wallin clearly spent a lot of time in getting the various parts down to his satisfaction in the studio. The seamless interplay of the instruments is impressive and delivers an authentic rootsy vibe in the process.
Based in Sweden, where there is a healthy country music scene, Wallin is part of a growing number of independent artists who are encouraged to create and perform. His attention to detail in the songs is very refreshing and his ability to write clever words adds character to the overall feel of this project. Road Hot kicks everything off in fine style as touring time comes around in the wake of Covid and the band need to get back in the van ‘I dug up our old stage clothes, And got us a gig in the next town over, From there we'll just keep on going, Rockin' and rollin' on.’ Gold Plated Blues follows with a great swing to the beat and a song about the secrets that we keep ‘What folks don't know, Goes on at night, Behind closed doors, And out of sight, Who's foolin' who? What's tempting you?’
In A Perfect World is rough and raw while capturing the acoustic blues of dreaming about the girl who is just out of reach ‘If you can't make it happen, Well, you sure can dream.’ The essence of People Who Call Themselves Your Friend is the reality of insincerity and falseness in others ‘They like to nestle themselves into your heart, Like some kind of invasive weed that's overtaken the garden, You'll find yourself going along, With all of their wishes, They constantly hurt you, And then ask for forgiveness.’ The guitar playing is superb in the song arrangement.
Fast-Track the Heartbreak is a tongue-in-cheek ditty with a real western swing as Wallin declares ‘I got all these memories to go through, I got all these tears to cry, No need to make the pain drag on, No need to waste more time, Can't we just fast-track the heartbreak and get to goodbye?’ This is a real country classic in the making and I can see many top-line artists wanting to cover the song. Payment Plans and Back Rent looks at the conundrum facing many musicians, whether to fix up that old guitar, buy new equipment, or just try to pay the monthly bills instead, ‘Payment plans and back rent, And you know it's just my luck, I bought a JCM 800 head, the week before the band broke up.’
What Can I Do To Help? Is a song that filters worries over global warming and feelings of being overwhelmed by it all, whereas Right Hand Man takes away all such concerns by stating that ‘ You've been making easy mistakes, You've been getting pretty sloppy lately, You need someone who got what it takes, To keep things from getting too crazy.’ The title track is another country blues swing tune that channels feelings of getting even ‘That sweet revenge won't mean nothing, It won't do a thing, so they say, Sweet revenge, I'll just try it for myself, Because I don't know if I see it that way.’
The final track Going Nowhere is another clever song that speaks of being an individual and believing in yourself always ‘I was going nowhere and I got there fast, They couldn't believe their eyes the way I hauled ass, Lightning speed the way I blew right past.’ Just about sums up A.C. Wallin in my view, intent on making a difference and enjoying the ride all along the way. Another excellent album to add to his impressive catalogue and one that you should explore at all costs.
Review by Paul McGee
Cameron Wrinkle in My Heaven Self-Release
A new Texas country singer and one of a number who are releasing these mini-albums of seven or eight tracks. This one opens with a song, I’ve Got A Thang, that initially sounds like it could easily fall into the trap of songs with superficial mentions of girls in jeans and cars. However, Wrinkle and the band’s delivery is energetic enough to make you stick with it, which proves to be a good choice. The songs show that his heart is solidly in traditional country with some 90s overtones. His voice fits the genre like a pair of well-worn boots and a cowboy hat.
Wrinkle is a co-writer of four of the songs, and the others seem well suited to his sound and country leanings. The band is right up there with him in terms of committing to the material and direction. They can handle a more melodic mid-tempo swing-styled track like The Day You Walked In, which alongside several of the songs takes the well-trodden path of heartbreak and balances with the unbridled lust of the opening track. The rest fall between those two points with titles like Takin’ This Leaving Too Far, I Wasn’t Through Loving’ You Yet, and the more regretful tale of a once “life of the party” participant who now realises that now I Can’t Take Me Anywhere. In My Heaven is a song that references the many things that fall into his definition of his own personal heaven, rather than the one that he heard in church, such as watching a sunset from a porch, not having to deal with politics, the Super Bowl, John Wayne and his grandpa who has passed away. It’s not an original concept but one that suggests that his sincerity is evident.
The final two cuts are slightly different in tone, with steel and nylon string guitars used to help meet the need to keep a relationship Off The Record. It has a nice female harmony to help define the discretion that may be needed to achieve that. Some more hints of Western Swing underpin the final track Breakfast Of A Fool, which finishes the album with the protagonist again not wanting to set his breakfast alone. However, he is essentially the cause of that situation.
The eight songs open the career of Wrinkle as a recording artist, and it is full of promise in the George Strait style of things. In other words, strong lead vocals, a solid band with fiddle, steel and piano. No doubt, with his good looks and youthful energy, Wrinkle is doing very well on the live circuit, and this debut release will further solidify his appeal. Otherwise, it is a small slice of Texas county served up with all the right ingredients to make it a pointer for good things to come from him and his band.
Review by Stephen Rapid
CS Nielsen Better Times Kørfir
The latest release from Danish singer/songwriter offers prime examples of his take on Americana influences he incorporates into his music. Two things are immediately apparent in listening to his deep, distinctive vocal delivery and well-crafted material - all written and sung in English. Additionally, his interesting take on Bob Nolan’s Cool Water a much-covered song written back in 1936. It closes this twelve-song set in keeping with his own songs and the album’s overall sound.
He is joined on the recordings (all tracked in Denmark) by producer, mixer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Sage, Johannes Gissel and Michael Lund, both also adept on numerous instruments as, indeed, is Nielsen himself. Others joined in on keyboards, accordion and backing vocals to bring the necessary depth and textures that sit below Nielsen’s sonorous vocals.
Despite the number of instruments used throughout, they never overpower the songs. All are there to serve the song and its meanings. Overall, it might be considered that there is an acute sense of despair and doubt regarding where we are all heading. That is offset by the album’s title and lead song, which promises hope for all is in better times to come as envisaged by the lyric “Your voice of hope / Borne on the air / Could lift my soul / Above the clouds of despair.”
Elsewhere, words like “Men will worship bondage and fight to keep their chains / Even make believe it’s liberty they struggle hard to gain” That song Harrowing Of Hell shows an understanding of the human population’s propensity to be its own worst enemy. There is also a strong sense of a biblical vernacular that pervades the lyrics as if Nielsen is a prophet whose role is to understand these challenging times and impart his viewpoint while also sensing the light that may be visible over the horizon, even as there is need to travel a distance to get there. Perhaps that is best witnessed in The Shepherd, a song wherein a harmonica plays over a slow beat and other sonic subtleties to create its mood and message.
But, as in all such scenarios, the overall soundscape will attract and keep one listening while lifting the soul in pure terms of the music here. Those acquainted with Nielsen’s music are unlikely to need further encouragement, and those new to checking out his distinctive approach will find it worth the effort.
Scandinavia has proved to be a rich and diverse setting for roots-based acts like Nielsen and both The Country Sound Of Harmonica Sam and the breakthrough duo First Act Kid. There is an understanding of the music of the country (USA) they draw inspiration from, but that is blended with some of their own folk and roots traditions to create something that has a broad appeal. It is often a case though, that these acts receive little attention, or less anyway, if not from America and its environs.
BETTER TIMES, in the context of this album are here, in terms of its content. It is also a timely testament to Nielsen’s talent.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Dean Owens Danielle Howle, Bonnie Montgomery, Nora Jane Struthers, Jaime Wyatt, A.C. Wallin, Cameron Wrinkle, and CS Nielsen.