Simeon Hammond Dallas Make It Romantic Self Release
This 5 track EP from Londoner Simeon Hammond Dallas is my introduction to her music (she has an earlier EP from 2019) and what an introduction! The sassy, diminutive Camden native will not be under the radar for much longer. Her music, which is impossible to pigeonhole, is a mix of blues, soul, jazz and country - and her powerful vocals, songwriting and musicianship are notable.
Opening with a searing critique of the very recognisable cliché of a white man singing the blues in The Blues Is A Game, she doesn’t hold back in telling him in no uncertain terms that he has no idea what it is to ‘wake up in fear of your life’. Pete Fraser on sax and Max O’Hara on piano help create the swinging, jazzy, musical palette, while SHD herself impresses on lead electric guitar. The tongue in cheek A Hundred Lovers is soaked in Hammond organ (O’Hara again) and driven by Wesley Joseph’s drumming as we hear that Dallas ‘has a hundred lovers and none of them stay’. She shows her vulnerable side on the gentler Betting On You, but the fury of a woman scorned is unleashed in full rock mode in F***ing Her, which unfortunately is too explicit for our radio show! Never fear though, she really is a romantic at heart, confirmed by the simply beautiful, piano-heavy title track, where she declares she ‘dances to her own tune’ and that she’s ‘always running/trying to find some truth’. I wish her luck on that journey.
Review by Eilís Boland
Logan Halstead Dark Black Coal Thirty Tigers
Like John Prine and Hazel Dickens two generations ago, followed by Kathy Mattea, and more recently Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers and Billy Strings, Logan Halstead was moved to make music by the legacy of ill health, environmental destruction and, latterly, the rise of opioid addiction in the coal mining regions of his native Appalachia. Still only 19 years of age, Halstead had the wisdom to chose producer Lawrence Rothman (Margo Price, Amanda Shires) to record this debut record in Nashville’s Sound Emporium studios last year.
Dark Black Coal is a song that astonishingly he wrote at 15, and it became a viral YouTube hit when he released the simple video (just him and his guitar, standing in front of a river in his native Boone town, W Virginia) in 2020. Rothman has used a ‘barely there’ style of production, allowing Halstead’s songs to stand on their own two feet, resulting in a raw and somewhat visceral sound, that is almost relentlessly bleak. ‘Take my soul/I owe it to you anyways’, is the message from a coal miner to his company on the title track, sung simply here again by Halstead, accompanied by just his acoustic Martin guitar. Elsewhere, he is accompanied by Dennis Crouch (bass), Kristin Weber (fiddle) and Ethan Ballinger (mandolin), all experienced session musicians who know when to hold back, as much as when to soar. On the short opening song, Good Ol’ Boys with Bad Names, Weber’s scratchy fiddle tone and Crouch’s ominous bass stylings help to create a gothic darkness appropriate to the theme of drug addiction, with its ‘snorting and stealing/drinking and dealing’. Indeed, that theme and it’s inextricable link with coal mining is the fuel for seven of the nine originals, including Uneven Ground (Arlo McKinley guests on vocals), Man’s Gotta Eat, and Coal River. Even his choice of cover songs, The Flood from the pen of his friend Cole Chaney, and the much covered Richard Thompson classic 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, are ballads recounting tragedies of epic proportions. Relief, at last, comes in the form of two deceptively simple love songs, Kentucky Sky and Mountain Queen.
Logan Halstead is one to watch, as his horizons expand beyond his tiny hometown in Boone County, W. Virginia. Let’s hope he manages to fulfil his early promise.
Review by Eilís Boland
The Kentucky Colonels 1966 Proper
Los Angeles bluegrass band The Kentucky Colonels’ original lineup featured brothers Clarence, Roland and Eric White, together with LeRoy McNees and Billy Ray Latham. Credited in most circles as the leading light in the revival of bluegrass music in the early to mid-60s, they recorded two albums at that time, THE NEW SOUND OF BLUEGRASS AMERICA (1963) and APPALACHIAN SWING (1964). Unfortunately, their success was short-lived, the import of Brit-pop and more locally, country rock, rendered their sound outdated by the younger record-buying public of that time. They disbanded in 1967 and reunited for a brief period in 1973 as The New Kentucky Colonels, with the three brothers augmented by Herb Pedersen on guitar and Alan Munde on banjo.
The album, 1966, was originally released in 1978 and this reissue is an expanded edition that also includes a number of their early and most popular recordings. In many ways, they can take credit for transporting bluegrass into a more present-day sound at that time. Plugging in electric instruments and hiring a drummer would have been considered sacrilege by bluegrass purists, but the brothers, influenced by artists and bands like Bob Dylan and The Byrds, took both of these on board. Clarence White, tragically killed by a drunk driver at the age of twenty-nine in 1973, is often credited as the pioneer of country rock, following his spell as a member of The Byrds. He was also the ‘go-to’ session guitarist for several household names including the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, The Monkees, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt. Brother Roland, after the band broke up, moved to Nashville to join Bill Monroe’s band The Bluegrass Boys.
With twenty-one tracks on offer, 1966 includes original songs, traditional songs and instrumentals. Technically the playing of Clarence (guitar), Roland (mandolin) and Eric (bass), is outstanding and although it is chiefly traditional bluegrass on tracks like Soldier Joy, One Tear, Shady Grove, Cotton Eyed Joe, and Shuckin’ The Corn, their awareness of a more progressive sound is evident on The Fugitive and Old Country Church. Also included are a number of interesting live radio and tv performances from 1959-1961, when the brothers performed as the Country Boys.
This album will be considered a ‘must have’ for scholars of the bluegrass genre, but it should also appeal to a wider audience, particularly to those who followed Clarence White’s short career post The Kentucky Colonels.
Review by Declan Culliton
Lester Flatt Pickin’ Time CMH Records
PICKIN’ TIME is the final studio recording by Lester Flatt and The Nashville Grass, released in 1978, one year before Flatt’s death. Best known as guitarist and mandolin player, alongside banjo supremo Earl Scruggs, in the duo Flatt and Scruggs, Flatt hooked up with The Nashville Grass after the break-up of Flatts and Scruggs. A seasoned player from a young age, Flatt’s apprenticeship included supporting Bill Monroe in the mid-1940s.
Released on the CMH Records label, it’s the first digital recording of the album. The Nashville Grass was made up of masterly players of that era including Clarence Tate on fiddle, Kenny Ingram on banjo, and a very young Marty Stuart on guitar and banjo. Packed with racing instrumentals (Goin’ Up On Black Mountain, Bluegrass Shuffle), old-time standards (We Don’t Care What Mama Allow, Cabin On The Hill, If You Ain’t Tried It, Don’t Knock It) and country blues (I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight), it was a fitting swansong for one of the most revered artists in bluegrass circles.
Credit goes to CHM Records for continuing to release essential recordings of bluegrass, old-time, and traditional country music and ensuring that the music recorded and performed by artists such as Flatt can be enjoyed by new generations of traditional music lovers and historians of that genre.
‘Walking into the Opry with him was like walking into the Vatican with the Pope,’ says Marty Stuart, when recalling his experience of playing with Flatt’s band. Deserved praise indeed for Flatts, who was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
Review by Declan Culliton
The Pink Stones You Know Who Normaltown/New West
Athens, Georgia six-piece The Pink Stones continue on the spacey cosmic country tenor of their debut album INTRODUCING……. THE PINK STONES, released in 2021, with this twelve-track sophomore record. YOU KNOW WHO follows a similar music template, marrying honky tonk, psychedelia, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, and giving the impression that none of the band have heard anything recorded post-1970. Indeed, the pioneers of genre-blending, The Grateful Dead, come to mind listening to this very impressive album.
Unlike their debut record, which was recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, they opted for a looser direction this time around. They tracked the material live at the home of Hernies frontman, Henry Barbe (Deertick, Drive By Truckers), who also co-produced the album with The Pink Stones frontman and songwriter, Hunter Pinkston.
Guests include Nikki Lane, who duets with Pinkston on the country shuffle, Baby, I’m Still Right Here (With You) and Teddy and The Rough Riders, who add their collective backing vocals on the racy Who’s Laughing Now? Gram Parsons comes to mind on both Roses & Poppies and Moving On (Without You), the former is a classic Texan waltz, the latter a pedal steel drenched jewel. You Know Who, in J.J. Cale style, reaches a sweet spot between country and soul.
An album often infused with a sense of dry humour transports the listener to a playful place on many of the tunes. The Pink Stones don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel with YOU KNOW WHO, they simply sound like high-spirited friends inviting you into their musical world. It’s an invitation that you’re well advised to accept.
Review by Declan Culliton
Ed Snodderly Chimney Smoke Majestic
A songwriter, musician, teacher and sometime actor (he had a cameo part in O Brother, Where Art Thou) who is steeped in the world of Southern influenced old-time and bluegrass music. He released his first album back in 1977. After that he released others under his own name and three albums as a member of The Brother Boys, which was where I first encountered him.
Now comes this new album and, in truth, my first attraction was in the Shoestring Seven, a combo that includes such names as Shawn Camp, Steve Hinson, Chris Scruggs and Kenny Vaughan - though the latter duo have stepped outside their more traditional twang-filled mode as part of The Fabulous Superlatives. Expect something that may be said to approach more of a folk/country/acoustic roots sound; one which has some mighty fine ensemble playing assembled.
Snodderly proves his versatility as a writer, penning all of the songs here, of which there are immediate standouts that include Gone With Gone And Long Time, a tale of drifters and their travels “caught that freight last night / that was coming down the line … hear a lonesome whistle / see a lowly ghost coming out of the alley”, featuring some deft picking. The title track has more homespun human sympathy and observation, with lines like “A broken handle off a bucket pale / makes a good hook hung off a nail” and “see an old man coming up the road / something on his back going to lighten his load.” There You Are has Hinson’s trusty pedal steel and Steve Conn’s piano adding some sense of time and space to the song. Rockin’ out a bit more is Barn, driven by John Gardner’s equally strong percussion. The wah-wah guitar that features in Crow’s Fever sits nicely with Chris Carmichael’s orchestration, which brings something of a Southern symphonic soul funk to the overall variety that is apparent on the recordings. Another uptempo outing is equally upbeat, the positive note of Walking In The Sunshine Again summed up by its opening lines “it feels easy to be with you / kinda breezy and not so blue.” More poetic and bucolic perhaps is the understated Before School, which again has the steel and piano fundamental to its mood. The final track is listed as a bonus track and is the very buoyant pickin’ of The Diamond Stream.
Throughout it should be noted that Snodderly is vocally on the money and is joined on several of the tracks by the harmony and background singing of Amethyst Kiah, Eugene Wolf, Maura O’Connell, Gretchen Peters, Malcolm Holcombe, Shawn Camp and the album’s producer (a man with his own track record), R.S. Field. The recording engineer was the late Bill VornDick, his last project prior to his passing. So a wealth of talent is present here and it can easily be seen (and heard) as would the titular smoke which might well do before it disperses up into the atmosphere. It captures much of Snodderly’s deep roots in Appalachia as well as his Southern upbringing, which makes it both personal and universal, but never less than a really good listen.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Alice Howe Circumstance Self Release
A second outing from the talented Alice Howe and this new album was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Co-produced with her musical partner Freebo (Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Crosby Stills & Nash, Ringo Starr) the new record displays her vocal prowess and soulful delivery in abundance. If her debut album, Visions (2019), suffered just a little by the inclusion of four cover songs, this time around Howe delivers ten of her own songs, including six co-writes with Freebo, and just one cover song inclusion. It leads to a stronger statement and a greater focus.
Opening song You’ve Been Away So Long delivers a positive first impression, and the lyrics reflect on relationship challenges, ‘When you’re in the moment it’s so hard to read the signs, You just need that perspective that you only gain in time.’ The second track Somebody’s New Lover Now continues the theme and showcases a warm and rich sound with some nice lead guitar lines and organ swells in a song about moving on from an old romance.
Let Go slows everything down and delivers a realisation that a relationship is not giving you everything that you wanted, some nice piano and guitar adding to the melody. Love Has No Rules continues the theme of moving away from a relationship and it’s almost like Alice is looking at songs as therapy, in working out life’s romantic twists and turns. Things I’m Not Saying is yet another song about looking into what was broken, ‘I heard you been travelin’ heard you’re doin’ all right, That you got some new girlfriend, moving on with your life.’ Definitely harbouring feelings of regret with how the relationship worked out. ‘No, I haven’t forgot all the things that I’m not saying to you.’
What About You is putting out a message of new beginnings and is a very up-tempo song with the lines, ‘I’m looking for somebody who, Is looking for somebody too.’ There is a strong sense of wanderlust that runs through these songs, almost as a theme. The guitar driven Something Calls To Me is very atmospheric with Freebo (acoustic), Jeff Fielder (slide) and Will McFarlane (electric) delivering great interplay in a track that looks at the urge to take a chance and to heed the call from the horizon beyond. With You By My Side is a love song to the joys of being with the right person, the confidence and strength gained by trusting in another and all the positive energy it channels. The use of horns and soulful backing singers really lift the soulful arrangement.
Line By Line is another relationship song about using someone up and moving on, ‘Well it’s hard to face I let it get so bad, I stuck a knife into the life I had.’ Travelin’ Soul is a highlight with some funky playing, inspired slide guitar and a look into the heart of present day USA. ‘It’s a bitter pill to swallow, The country that you love, Has a history of violence, That is written out in blood, I am a travelin’ soul, Seekin’ truth along this road.’
Final song It’s How You Hold Me (Dayna Kurtz) is a gentle acoustic arrangement which encapsulates all the yearning and learning on this album; the heartache and the hope; the pleasure and the pain that relationships bring; the connection and the need to be loved. Circumstance is something that dominates any relationship and the direction that it may take. On this album, Alice Howe covers all the angles and still comes up with the need to keep pushing through. An excellent slice of Americana for those who enjoy superb musicianship and engaging playing.
Review by Paul McGee
Michael Jerome Browne Gettin’ Together Borealis/Stony Plain
Ever since 1998 this gifted artist has been recording music of very high quality. A dedicated performer in the genres of mainly acoustic blues and folk, Browne is a multi-instrumentalist and a torch bearer for all that is good in roots music. This is his ninth solo album and the fourteen tracks include seven songs with the word ‘blues’ in their title. The blues were born out of hardship, in the conditions of slavery and unspeakable crimes against humanity. The music is at the root of everything that has followed on, from the cottonfields of the southern American states to the factories of the big cities and the establishment of ghettos, to the reality of rural and social depravation. Through it all the blues has reflected and captured the times and the acoustic music on this album stands as a living testament.
The players on the record came together for a number of sessions and performed in a live setting for spontaneity and a sense of getting to the source of the music. The vibe is probably best captured on the superb Please Help, where Browne invites both Stephen Barry (string bass) and John McColgan (drums) to join him on a compelling groove with the live feel of the playing completely addictive. Contrast this with the wonderful Fixin’ To Die with Browne on gourd banjo and Teilhard Frost on fiddle in a duet that brings Appalachian traditional tunes to mind. Reverend Strut is one of just three instrumentals on the album and features Browne playing 6-string banjo par excellence.
Shake ‘Em On Down features Eric Bibb on 9-string guitar and J.J. Milteau on harmonica with Browne delivering on tenor guitar and vocals. John Sebastian pops up on a few songs playing harmonica while Mary Flower adds her talents on guitars and vocals, with Colin Linden dropping by to play guitar on Hound Dog Crave also. It’s all connected, this great big gumbo of roots, gospel, blues, old-time, country, soul and cajun music. There is no better proponent than Michael Jerome Browne to keep the spirit alive.
Review by Paul McGee
Bob Bradshaw The Art Of Feeling Blue Fluke
The wanderlust that takes hold of many young men could well be summed up in the life story of Bob Bradshaw. This Irish expatriate first moved abroad in the 1980s, working at various jobs as he made his way via Portugal, Spain, Germany and Sweden, to the shores of America. Bradshaw has now settled in the Boston area, having travelled across the States and played in numerous locations along the journey that has taken him to the release of his tenth album.
It is a very impressive collection of ten tracks across forty plus minutes of superbly captured Americana sounds. The production is shared by Bradshaw and his band of regular Boston musicians, many of which appeared on his last outing, the superb GHOST LIGHT (2021). Once again, Bradshaw is joined by Andrew Stern and Andy Santospago (acoustic, electric, lap steel, keyboards), John Sheeran (bass), and Mike Connors (drums), James Rohr (keyboards), Chad Manning (fiddle), and other invited guests on individual tracks. Kris Delmhorst sings seven of the songs, her vocals adding interesting layers and tones in the overall sound.
All of the songs are collaborations between Bradshaw and other writers, with five of the tracks involving Andy Santospago, a further three with Scoop McGuire, and two with Andrew Stern. They were all written during Covid lockdown before recording could take place and the power unleashed by these players more than hints at the collective frustrations they must have endured while waiting to play as a collective again.
Opening track Waiting is a great example of the dynamic sound that awaits the listener and Bradshaw also released a recent video that captures the essence of the song so well. It has a driving beat and reminds me of a Tom Petty inspired groove in the performance. Hot In the Kitchen is another rocking song that channels the thoughts of a short-order chef and the waitress that keeps flirting with him. Elsewhere we are treated to the Tejano inspired sound of Rosa, an immigrant song about trying to start a new life away from your homeland in a strange city. The inclusion of Jacob Valenzuela (Calexico) on trumpet is a masterstroke as he infuses the track with great colour and personality.
Things get more serious on the slow burn sound of I Keep It Hid, a song that references the instinct to keep all internal problems bottled up and supressed, ‘Far inside is where I hide myself, And at the core’s a bolted door.’ Similarly, the track Stepping Stones refers to attempts at plotting a set path through the troubles that may come your way. There is always some autobiographical element in any song, even if channelled through some third party character and Bradshaw is a very skilled songwriter who knows how to balance the sweet with the sour across this album.
Somebody Told a Lie is a song about female deception and the atmospheric sound of Chris Isaak is lurking under the covers. Two highlights are The Silk Road Caravan and Let Sleeping Gods Lie. Both songs are strong in the dynamic and arrangement, with the powerful message of dark outside forces as a constant threat driving the first song, also hinting at the “migratory” lifestyle of traveling that Bradshaw has experienced. While the official video for Let Sleeping Gods Lie shows the futility of war with battle scenes from the front-line trenches, it strikes me that the song could equally apply to the inner turmoil of having lost his wife in 2022. Bob Bradshaw is still in the process of coming to terms with such a devastating loss and it would not be unreasonable to think that the belief in any higher power is something that is being questioned a lot.
This album is full of great moments, sharply written songs, excellent musicianship and dynamic production. What more could you ask for and THE ART OF FEELING BLUE is another strong addition to this artist’s impressive body of work.
Review by Paul McGee
Simeon Hammond Dallas, Logan Halstead, The Pink Stones, edsnodderlymusic.com Alice Howe, Michael Jerome Browne, and Bob Bradshaw Music