Buddy Mondlock Filament Self Release
This seventh album from singer songwriter Buddy Mondlock had an official release back in February but somehow slipped through our net at Lonesome Highway. It can be hard to sometimes to get to every review in a timely fashion. Let’s just call it a case of excess demands on limited resources. Either way, this is a timely reminder to check out a fine talent that may be unknown to some who like to seek out real quality in their music. Sprinkle a little bit of magic dust into the writing and you have the full package here.
This time around we are treated to eleven songs from Buddy’s creative muse. The musicians called upon are all experienced players and in Mike Lindauer (fretless electric bass), Josh Hunt (drums/percussion), Jim Hoke (pedal steel), Avery Bright (violin/viola), Austin Hoke (cello), Evan Cobb (flute/oboe), Melissa Greener and Carey Kotsionis (harmony vocals), we have a really talented ensemble to assist in breathing real life into these words of wisdom, longing, regret, optimism and much more besides.
Buddy himself is no mean player and contributes on an array of instruments (acoustic, electric and baritone guitar, 12-string guitar, resonator & high string guitar, banjo and electric bass). All songs are from the cultured pen of Buddy, including four co-writes. The producer is Brad Jones, who has worked with quite an elite list of artists, including Patty Griffin, Kim Richey, Allison Moorer, Shelby Lynne, Hayes Carll, Over the Rhine and Chuck Prophet. He also extends his talents to playing and contributes on upright and electric bass, harmonium, mellotron, Hammond B3, harmonica, electric guitar and xylophone. The album was recorded at Alex the Great in Nashville, a studio owned by Brad Jones.
Buddy is often referred to as a songwriter’s songwriter, having written for other artists over many years, before releasing his debut album in 1987. His songs have been recorded by Janis Ian, Guy Clark and Nanci Griffith, among others. He has a light touch and a gentle style that fits nicely into the hushed delivery in his vocal tone. The songs included here continue in the rich vein of intelligent craftmanship that Buddy brings to every project. The album opens with Filament and a tale of a girl who burned brightly but was ultimately consumed by the music system – it could be a fictious female or it could be Britney, not that such detail matters. It is a nicely judged entry into what lies ahead.
Perfect follows and is a love song that captures the moment when you see true beauty in another. It is a simple love song dedicated to his wife. The sorry tale of Jackson Petty follows and he was a Great Grandfather of Buddy who, in 1864, hid from the raiding parties of civil war soldiers, only for his memories to return and haunt him in the face of possible conscription for his own son in WW1. If You Will is another fine song and captures that youthful innocence and trust when love is new. Sunlight In My Pocket follows in a similar vein and is an expression of celebrating love and happiness. It has an easy melody and a positive message to cling to in these troubled times.
The Woman In the Window changes things up a bit with a mellow, reflective tune that recognises feelings of loneliness, chances lost, a life remembered, memories that bite. Perhaps a life wasted as the very clever twist in the song conclusion dawns? It is a real standout song among so many other great tunes. Come Back First is very funny and another highlight, looking at a complex relationship that is volatile and unpredictable. The lyrics are so well crafted and an example being, ‘You been here and you been gone, Then here again and so on, Sorrow and relief – I don’t know which is worse. But if you want to leave again you gotta come back first.’
Ticket Taker Blues looks at the life of a ticket office worker at a bus or a railway station, stuck in a rut, and watching his life go by while wishing for dreams to come true and lead to a different reality. Weak is another standout song and a look at the life of a soldier. Buddy writes songs with military veterans through a program sponsored by an organization called Music Therapy of the Rockies and he includes this track as acknowledgement of the difficulties faced. It is a co-write with Nick Tibbs and the lyrics are quite hard hitting, ‘But the VA’s gonna fix you up, Just swallow these pills in this little cup, Back from the land of us and them, Giving Oxy out like M&Ms’. The reference to prescription drug abuse and addictive patients being all too clear.
Problem Solved is another song that is focused on addiction and love lost. ‘The future waited uninvolved, Then finally left, problem solved.’ The final track is The Dark which was co-written with Guy Clark. Perhaps we are all ultimately alone in this life, trying to connect with others and holding on for a lifeline. Our existence can be so fragile but we certainly have the capacity to endure. It is yet another superbly subtle song. If you have yet to discover the music of Buddy Mondlock then this is good a place to start, and then work backwards into his fine catalogue of excellent releases.
Review by Paul McGee
Bruce Cockburn O Sun O Moon True North
Another masterclass from the king of conscience. Since the 60s first announced this consummate singer songwriter into our lives, Bruce Cockburn has been releasing music of great intensity and stunning insight. This represents album number thirty-eight and it may well be one of his most powerful across a career of fighting to banish the darkness and illuminate the unyielding spirit that exists within us all.
Recorded in Nashville with his long-time producer, Colin Linden, O Sun O Moon exudes a profound simplicity and clarity. It’s almost as if Cockburn is looking back down the road travelled and reflecting upon the moments that have left an indelible mark. The focus is more on spiritual issues than the topical concerns that usually find prominence in his work. This time around, he is taking personal stock and balancing the books.
The quality of musicianship is of the highest level, and reflects the respect in which other musicians hold Cockburn’s body of work. Producer Colin Linden delivers a light and sensitive touch throughout and the various talents that feature across the twelve tracks include Janice Powers (keyboards), Gary Craig and Chris Brown (drums), Viktor Krauss (Bass), Jeff Taylor (accordion), Jenny Scheinman (violin) and multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke. Linden appears on selected tracks also, and guest vocalists include Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller in addition to Allison Russell, Sarah Jarosz, who also plays mandolin, Susan Aglukark and sisters Ann and Regina McCrary.
On A Roll opens the album and has Bruce declaring that he’s back and feeling as fit as ever for the fight. Orders follows next and is an atmospheric, slow melody with subtle playing. A song about acceptance and understanding. The milk of human kindness.
Push Come To Shove features Shawn Colvin and delivers a light jazz tone with violin, percussion, and acoustic guitar setting the atmosphere. Bruce finally realising the ‘when push comes to shove, it’s all about love.’
Colin Went Down To the Water is about a friend who drowned in Maui and features marimba and a resonant bass line. Allison Russell and Budy Miller contribute on harmony vocals. Into the Now features Sarah Jarosz on mandolin and is a song the captures the joy of being in the moment. The subtle differences between us all and our varied perceptions. It has a lovely melody with accordion playing so sweetly. Just let go and feel the love that surrounds us all. Heaven on earth. Day at a time.
Us All is a prayer for the human race. Is it too late to drop the barriers and just communicate? ‘Here we are faced with choice, Shutters and walls or open embrace, Like it or not the human race, Is us all.’ A Bruce Cockburn album would not be complete without touching on environmental issues. To Keep the World We Know features dulcimer and the sweet harmonies of Susan Aglukark, with whom he co-wrote the song, in a message about global warming. How do we survive if we don’t wake up and act. King Of Bolero takes a completely different direction with sax, clarinet, and marimba delivering a slow, sultry swing.
When the Spirit Walks In the Room is an acoustic tune, simple in structure and quite beautiful. The power outside our knowing, reduction of everything into proportion. The great presence of the infinite. Haiku is the only instrumental on the album and highlights the wonderful guitar prowess of Cockburn, with marimba, bass, accordion, as accompaniment. Title track, O Sun By Day O Moon By Night features the McCrary sisters, harmonising to sax, clarinet, and marimba on a song that has Bruce looking to make some kind of peace with the ways of the world. When You Arrive ends the album on a light jazz/blues note with a song about ageing and acceptance. Bruce Cockburn has always fought against injustice, and espoused human rights for all. His great enemy has always been the corruption of power and the plight of the disadvantaged. On this album he has given himself a reminder that the gentle call of nature is sometimes all we need to press the reset button – the ocean whisper, the sea undulating and mother nature shining with both magnificence and majesty, mystery and succour. A wonderful album and an essential purchase for any music collection.
Review by Paul McGee
Eliza Gilkyson Home Realiza
Eliza Gilkyson is a national treasure within the Folk Roots community and is held very dear. An artist that brings insight and joy to where music lovers gather to enjoy sentient song writing. By my count, this album places her number of releases in the mid-twenties, over a career that started back in the 1960s, and gathered pace into the decades that followed. Hers is the crown of gentle strength for others in the face of abusive power and the fear that spreads among the communities that feel vulnerable and unprotected.
This is a sublime record and right up there with Eliza’s greatest works. She continues to grow as an artist and the recent run of albums has seen Eliza at the peak of her powers. Her soothing vocal is just perfectly suited to these songs, many of which spread a healing balm over any cares or worries that the listener may have. Songs like Witness, with her brother Tony on sensitive and sublime guitar is a perfect example, and perhaps the ultimate love song, ‘The way you pull the veil, From the man behind the curtain, Cry from the heart for the lonely ones, The way you hear me out when you know I’m hurting, You’re the compassionate one.’
World Keeps On Singing and Sunflowers are two songs that wrap themselves around you and settle into the memory for different reasons. The former is a song about how the earth will endure and the spirit of hope that lingers. The latter is a song that rises above the urge in humans to destroy, and to take away the simple pleasures in life. Within Eliza, there has always been a fire that burned for redemption, coupled with the instinct to rebuild and to create new beginnings. This is the space where her empathy and grace come together in sweet harmony. .
Here Comes the Night has a country influence in the arrangement with brother Tony again providing the guitar parts. Man In the Bottle is a tribute to her father, Terry Gilkyson renowned singer and songwriter and Eliza calls upon some musicians that played with him, including Van Dyke Parks (piano, accordion), and John Egenes (Weissenborn guitar), with Rod Taylor (lead and harmony vocals). The song is beautifully sculpted and includes references to three of his songs; Solitary Singer, With the Sad Eyes and Blue Mountain. It is a fitting and touching tribute.
Mary Chapin Carpenter shares vocals on Sparrow, a lovely song that features Jimmy Stadler on piano and celebrates both community and a recognition of the connection between music fans in their dedication in supporting artists such as Eliza and Chapin. Another song How Deep features the vocals of Robert Earl Keen and looks at what constitute real values and the way that we choose to live our lives. Safety Zone rails against the use of religion as a sticking plaster to all the inequality in the world, ‘Well the poor man lives for tomorrow, Tryin’ to run from his troubled mind, And the rich man lives off a poor man’s sorrow, Stands on his back to get one more dime.’
The final song, and title track, Home is the one cover on the album and originally written by Karla Bonoff back in 1977. It sees the circle completed and the journey of the restless wanderer resolved on the return to the safety of home. Eliza makes it her own with co-producer Don Richmond on vocal harmonies and some lovely pedal steel guitar. He plays an essential role throughout, with contributions on many instruments, including acoustic, 12-string, baritone, resonator and electric guitars, weissenborn guitar, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, upright and electric bass, pedal steel, harmony vocals.
An essential purchase and destined to feature in many top album lists for 2023. If you are looking for positive life affirmations then this is the album for you. It is essentially hopeful with a guarded optimism in looking for the better side of our collective consciousness, our deep human nature that seeks to nurture and not destroy all that is beautiful. Sweet redemption, indeed.
Review by Paul McGee
Annie Keating Hard Frost Self Release
Yet another strong statement from the very gifted songwriting talent that is Annie Keating. Her list of excellent releases stretches back to a debut in 2004 and this is her tenth album to date. On this record Annie delivers eleven songs that revolve around the vagaries of love. Her last release was BRISTOL COUNTRY TIDES (2021) and she was wrestling with bigger questions thrown up by the Covid crisis such as family, home and a sense of having a purpose in life. Producer Teddy Kumpel worked with Annie on that last album and he takes the reins again here. The sound is excellent and very energising, whether listening to the more rock oriented numbers of the more mellow roots tracks.
Annie wrote nine of the songs herself and collaborated with Lynne Hanson on another, titled Lies and Dynamite. There is also a very credible cover of So Lonely (Sting) where she strips everything back to a bluesy treatment, infused with real intensity on the vocals. Annie takes the lead on vocals and acoustic guitar with the other players on the album comprising Steve Williams (drums, percussion), Richard Hammond (electric, acoustic bass, backing vocals), Todd Caldwell (piano, organ, mellotron, organ, Rhodes and Wurlitzer), Teddy Kumpel (acoustic guitar, electric and slide guitar, 12 string guitar, bass, background vocals), Lynne Hanson (backing vocals), and Kate Steinberg (backing vocals).
Looking For Trouble has the lines ‘No I wasn’t looking for trouble, but it found me in the nick of time, You were nothing I would have expected, But just what I needed to find.’ It’s a slow melody on an album that has as many up-tempo arrangements, played with plenty of attitude by Annie and her studio musicians. Sunshine Parade has the lines; ‘Trouble can find me, I don’t mind, Trouble is just a friend of mine.’ It’s a song with a great driving dynamic. Equally Lovesick Blues is all swagger and attitude. Lies and Dynamite has superb guitar and keyboard interplay and tells of love gone wrong while the Country influence on Keepsakes and Heartaches talks of new beginnings and time to move on.
Annie varies the tempo with slower songs like Witness and Wrong Guy’s Girl, both of which include some fine guitar highlights in the overall arrangements. Witness is about being there for another and providing a shoulder of support to rest upon. Wrong Guy’s Girl is a like a musician-on-tour travel document but with a message of needing to return back to something that was left behind. Equally, Feels Like Home is another slow melody that remembers a past love and questions whether the lonely feeling can be turned around.
Belly Of the Beast is about coming back from the sucker punches that love can throw. With the lines ‘I was falling like a stone, and then you were the parachute holding me, Suddenly weightless and not alone,’ we have the sense that Annie is still standing and coming out fighting. This is a very enjoyable album and the songs are both engaging and rewarding. Definitely a keeper.
Review by Paul McGee
Half Moon Run Salt BMG
Half Moon Run formed in 2009 in Montreal, Canada and they have been making increasingly compelling music ever since their debut appeared in 2012. This is their fourth album and the band is comprised of Devon Portielje, Conner Molander and Dylan Phillips. The Americana genre has a very broad definition these days and we sometimes forget the depth of the original parts that went to make up the whole. Back to indie-folk and alt-country beginnings a movement emerged that was embraced as being all about owning your own sound. That stance for independence has taken many different forms and one of these has been the celebratory sound of Half Moon Run.
The deep groove of Hotel In Memphis is augmented by string arrangements and keyboard experimentation. It is as compelling as the gorgeous melody of Everyone’s Moving Out East with gentle acoustic guitar and cello balanced by the sense of dislocation and isolation in the overall arrangement. The vocal harmonies have a haunting quality in these songs and 9beat offers cause to reflect on that sense of being always in that moment of trying to catch up with yourself, ‘miss the southern sky, miss those bedroom eyes, miss that liar’s tongue, miss the warm goodbye.’
You Can Let Go is a big production sound and a song about laying down the burden in order to feel free and unencumbered, ‘you can let go, that weight you carry with ya, Once and for all.’ Heartbeat is another lovely arrangement with piano and acoustic guitars playing around the brushed percussion in a song about relationships and trying to hold on to something real. All three band members are multi-instrumentalists and the scale of their musical panorama is very compelling. The lyrics can be somewhat obscure, as with the song Alco, and trying to find meaning is left open to interpretation. Probably no bad thing. As the lovely melody of Gigafire builds around the words, the string arrangement and the swirling keyboards, you get the feeling of regret in something that is lost, ‘ this could be your very last chance, before it’s gone forever.’
The more rock oriented groove of Goodbye To Cali is perhaps as close to commercial pop as this trio want to get, but then it contains this classic piano part that just takes the song somewhere else. The title track is a brooding love piece that washes with spectral keyboard sounds and hints at vulnerability in relationships and opening up to someone special. Final track Crawl Back In is another glorious melody with simple acoustic guitar on top and it has that haunted quality again, perhaps a song about being unable to emote and of keeping things locked down inside. No doubt about the obvious talent these musicians have, guaranteed listening pleasure and a definite move towards a new kind of Americana that holds both elements of psychedelic folk and dream pop in equal measure.
Review by Paul McGee
Afton Wolfe Twenty Three Self Release
This 5-track EP is a follow up to the very successful debut album, Kings For Sale, released back in 2021. Wolfe has an engaging vocal, a cross between Tom Waits and Dr John, and his delivery is very much filled with character and personality. He highlights a sense of sad regret on Cry, the horn section creating a soulful atmosphere and the backing vocals of Regina McCrary and Melanie Dewey adding a sweetly appropriate gospel flavour.
A slow melody delivers The Moon Is Going Down, and a reflective tune that covers the hope romance can bring, while the atmospheric Truck Drivin’ Man is a menacing slow burn with violin by Rebecca Weiner Tomkins highlighting the mystery of never really knowing what motivates another person. So Purple is a track that could be dedicated to the legacy of Prince, with the deep bass lines of Daniel Seymour leading a rhythm that delivers another soulful workout, augmented by some excellent flute playing courtesy of Seth Fox.
The final song, Late Nite Radio, is a standout with an emotive vocal and a building rhythm in celebration of a distant companion for many across the airwaves when you’re perhaps out driving or at home feeling lonely. Chad Stuibe on keyboards and Seth Fox on saxophone provide the dramatics and a sense of longing hangs in the air. Production courtesy of Brett Ryan Stewart is very big and bright with an impressive list of musicians featuring across the tracks. Wolfe has his roots in Mississippi and it shows through in the mix of soulful blues, country noir, and gospel leanings. He now resides in Nashville and is a regular at venues like The Five Spot, Dee’s Country Lounge, Grimey’s, and Basement East. Mixing among the variety of talent in East Nashville leads to an eclectic mix and a dynamic that continues to push Wolfe in the ongoing search for musical excellence.
Review by Paul McGee
Summer Dean The Biggest Life The Next Waltz
A schoolteacher and rancher in a former life and very much a free spirit, at forty years of age Texan Summer Dean bravely abandoned the security of those occupations to follow her dream and launch her career as a professional touring and recording artist. Her 2021 self-released debut full- length album, BAD ROMANTIC, was a straight-talking suite of classic country songs delivered with a swagger and confidence that marked her out as yet another artist inspired by 60s and 70s country.
She has teamed up with Bruce Robison as producer this time around, recording the album at his Bunker studio in Lockhart, Texas. Recorded entirely in analog, without the bells and whistles that could have overproduced the songs, there’s very much a ‘live’ feel to the recording. The thirteen tracks are also evidence of the huge strides Dean has made over the past few years, both as a songwriter and vocalist, the icing on the cake being her winning the 2023 Ameripolitan Music Award for Honky Tonk Female.
To be honest, I had expected the album to be loaded with full-on traditional country barroom ballads. Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of the tracks are mid-paced country ballads, beautifully delivered vocally and with splashes of pedal steel, fiddles, piano and backing vocals, all in the right places. The songs also reveal a maturity in Dean’s songwriting, with first-hand tales many of which dwell on loneliness, isolation and solitude.
She may be looking in the mirror or directing the lyrics at another on Lonely Girls Lament, as she ponders, ‘I can’t believe you’re forty-one now, you’d think you’d be divorced and done by now….if I ever get my chance, I’d bet I’d still run.’ There’s also no sign of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow on Other Women. This is the type of songwriting that Brandy Clark excels in, examining the lives and struggles of the average person, hoping to escape mundane and hopeless existences. She returns to the Texan border sound of the title track of BAD ROMANTIC with She’s In His Arms and I’m In The Palm Of His Hand and She Ain’t Me has Tammy Wynette written all over it. Other highlights include the rousing toe tapper Might Be Getting Over You and Clean Up Your Act If You Wanna Talk Dirty To Me, the latter no doubt aiming a wink in the direction of Loretta Lynn.
Summer Dean has crafted an album that salutes both vintage Nashville and contemporary country with THE BIGGEST LIFE. 2023 continues to be a bumper year for country albums, in the main recorded by women, that buck the trend and are retro without simply being carbon copies of the past. Alongside recent albums from her musical sisters, Brennen Leigh, Amanda Fields, Whitney Rose, and Michelle Billingsley, to name but a few, Dean has hit the jackpot with this gem.
Review by Declan Culliton
Ags Connolly Siempre Self Release
It may seem a lonesome road at times for Ags Connolly as he leads the charge as one of the few ambassadors for traditional country music in the U.K. However, he’s not entirely on his own. His fellow countryman Spencer Cullum, though residing in Nashville, has established himself as one of the most sought-after pedal steel players in Nashville, and Albert Lee, Hank Wangford and Wes McGhee’s careers have found them immersed in roots music for many years.
SIEMPRE translates from Spanish as ‘always’ or ‘forever’ and may be a reference to Connolly’s unapologetic devotion to country music, whether that is the more vintage honky tonk direction of his 2019 album WRONG AGAIN or this latest album which leans slightly more towards a border Texas sound. That’s no surprise, given Connolly’s devotion to the Lone Star State’s music and in particular the output of the late James Hand.
SIEMPRE was recorded at Woodworm Studios in Connolly’s home county of Oxfordshire. Self-produced, local contributions came from Rob Updegraff (guitar), Anna Robison (bass), Chris ‘CJ’ Jones (drums), and premiere British pedal steel player for many decades, B.J. Cole. With the Tex-Mex flavour of the recording requiring a specific style of accordion playing, Connolly called on San Antonia-based Michael Guerra. A regular contributor to The Mavericks, Guerra also featured on WRONG AGAIN. Nashville resident and session player Billy Contreras was brought on board for the fiddle parts. Connolly added banjo contributions himself, having learned to play the instrument prior to the recording. However, the most impressive instrument on display here is Connolly’s voice, which is as rich in emotion as it is in expression.
The ten-track album - nine originals and a cover of Wes McGhee’s, the Guy Clark sounding, Half Forgotten Tunes - kicks off in fine style with the possibly autobiographical Headed South For A While. Alongside the traditional Tex-Mex tracks, Change My Mind, I Trust My Heart These Days and Senora (Whatever Comes First), are the Joe Ely-flavoured ballad Tell Me What and the trademark Connolly slow-burner Overwhelmed. He signs off with the slow-paced Texan waltz I’d Be Good For You.
Conscious of his British heritage and aware that the album would be aimed as much at his followers in The U.S. as it would at those fans in Europe, Connolly made every effort to ensure that the album authentically represents classic Texan music. He has more than achieved that with SIEMPRE which, no doubt, will expand his fan base further both in The U.S. and closer to home. Often, greatness is closer to home than you realise.
Review by Declan Culliton
Slackeye Slim Scorched Earth - Black Heart Self Release
On his fourth album Mr Slim (Joe Frankland) continues to explore his individual take on the American West, its landscapes, myths, mortals and music. It is filtered through a sun-drained vision, which is part comic book characters and partly based on the harsh reality of the physical and mental state that living in such a mindset envisions. In some ways, the video for the opening track (Everything Follows This) will tell you as much about his perception as any review might. It is, however, an artistic vision and a musical one that is equally metaphysical and open to interpretation and inquisition.
There might be a brief relationship with the likes of The Legendary Shackshakers, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Calexico, Tom Waits and others who have explored their own path in creating music, even if he sounds like none of these. More kindred spirits than flesh and blood influences. This is an honest and personal account that is often bleak but always engaging, and bears taking the time for its subtleties to be revealed and appreciated. To many it will appear off-kilter and off the beaten track often trodden by less inspired performers.
Over the eleven tracks there are beaten rhythms, twanging guitars, vintage Farfisa organ, piano, banjo, accordion, Spanish guitar and a probably a hell of a lot more, all allowing Slim’s voice to breath the humanity into the body of the music. His may not be the prettiest voice you will hear, but it is the one that understands and articulates the emotions that the stories envision. It is a real voice detailing a person looking to understand his life and find his ways to grow, as he comes to terms with issues and gives them understanding and the space to turn them into a way to achieve growth. This is as true for the listener as it is for the artist.
Like Slackeyed Slim’s previous output, this album will doubtless be received again with glowing terms in certain quarters, whilst being dismissed in others. It was recorded in the way it lived with the basic tracks being cut in a house in Colorado accompanied by Trevor Richards and Jered Davis who recorded it, with drummer Mario Garcia along for the ride. Then Slim took what was an off road solar studio in a camper van out to the desert and canyons to add his vocal, giving them an inspirational and idiosyncratic sound that was purely himself and what was contained in the moment. Davis and Frankland then mixed the album.
The tracks that standout after a number of listens are: Crooked Teeth - with its anvil-like percussion, the barbed wire guitar of Somebody Else’s Name, Mama’s Favourite, that has a deep throat vocal and some Twin Peaks guitar and The Worst Of Me, which has an atypical lyrical stance that runs through much of the album. This is not an album that dwells on the sunny side of life - “my father was a joyless piece of shit, and so am I”, through to Godamnit It’s Christmas, equally not one for those enthralled by the spirit of the season. The album closes with the sparse piano and vocal of the equally morose Black Heart.
But in the end this is Slim’s world and the music creates its own territory that many may not want to enter, however those who do will be rewarded with memorable glimpses of a scorched earth that has its own beauty to behold.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Bruce Cockburn, Eliza Gilkyson, annie.keating, Half Moon Run, Afton Wolfe, Summer Dean Music, Ags Connolly, and Slackeye Slim.