Jason Eady Mississippi Old Guitar
Texas-based singer songwriter Jason Eady’s excellent 2012 release, AM COUNTY HEAVEN, was my introduction to the talented wordsmith and it’s fair to say that his subsequent five albums, prior to the release of MISSISSIPPI, lived up to the standard of that fine album.
His last record from 2021, THE PASSAGE OF TIME, was a particularly personal affair. Written in the main during lockdown, it reflected on matters close to the heart, both past and present. Eady’s latest album is equally nostalgic, with the writer looking back at the music and events that initially drew him into the world of songwriting and performance. It’s a project that he had been contemplating working on for a number of years, capturing the Mississippi sounds and styles that surrounded him as a young man. Certain tracks in his previous work did do as much, but he’s gone the full hog on this occasion with a full album, ten tracks in total, of what he namechecks ‘the ‘Mississippi groove.’ Recorded live, including the harmony vocals, at The Finishing School, Austin, Texas, the production was overseen by Band of Heathens member, Gordy Quist.
Eady’s opening lines on the album are, ‘Way down in Mississippi, I got the music in my bones. I’ll take you there if you want to come with me, I’m gonna go back home.’ Fusing gospel and blues and loaded with handclaps and harmonies, that song, Way Down in Mississippi, is a snapshot of what follows. Those handclaps and harmonies, courtesy of Kelley Mickwee and Eady’s wife, Courtney Patton, are also equally well placed on Wayside. Two co-writes with the like-minded Adam Hood are included, the funky Burn It Down and the swampy-blues Mile Over 45. The former echoes the mood of J.J. Cale, the latter is from Tony Joe White territory.
Eady is on record explaining that whereas his concentration as a songwriter is typically lyric-driven, his intention with this album was to replicate the sounds that surrounded him and were so dear to him as a child and young adult. Musically, and indeed lyrically, he expresses those dynamics confidently and with aplomb on MISSISSIPPI, shifting between blues, gospel, and swamp rock, without ever sounding self-indulgent. It may be a slight departure from Eady’s previous work, but it’s a worthy companion to his most impressive back catalogue of albums.
Review by Declan Culliton
Erin Viancourt Won’t Die This Way Late August
‘Erin is a badass with every possible skill one needs to make it in this business. The perfect debut artist for Late August Records,’ announced Cody Jinks when he made Erin Viancourt the first signing to his label. Encouraging words indeed from the Music Row Independent Artist of The Year in 2023, who had the most radio spins for an independent artist last year. Jinks has also sold over two million albums and has over two and a half million monthly followers on Spotify.
Regardless of talent, extreme patience and nerve are just two of the many virtues required by artists moving to Nashville to further their careers. The term ‘ten-year town’ is anything but throwaway and there is little guarantee of triumph for those brave enough to dedicate a decade of their young lives in pursuit of their goals. Like many of her peers, Cleveland, Ohio-raised Erin Viancourt was writing songs from her teenage years and headed to Nashville after high school to make her mark in the industry. Her debut full album, WON’T DIE THIS WAY, is the result of her song writing over a decade, coupled with numerous live appearances and much of the record’s material reflect on that journey. Earning opening slots for Travis Tritt and Cody Jinks in 2021 raised her profile significantly and the signing to Late August Records has been the icing on the cake.
Alongside the skillset to write thought-provoking songs, Viancourt’s vocals display the optimum measures of twang, power, and control across the thirteen tracks on the album. She navigates her way from the classic country sound of yesteryear (B24, Old Time Melody, Beautiful Night For Goodbye), to the cream of modern country (Cheap Paradise, Straight Down The Barrel). She’s also equally as comfortable with her foot full on the throttle as she is with songs in the lower gears. The raucous Should Have Known Better is a Brandi Carlisle-type rocking anthem, tailor-made for the live setting and she slows things down a number of notches of the tender songs Pray and Who Taught You To Love.
No other artist has established themselves at the level Cody Jinks has while ignoring the industry movers and shakers and concentrating on self-promotion. His mentoring and guiding of Viancourt will be essential in her career development and this impressive debut recording is, without doubt, the launching pad for bigger and better things. Watch this space.
Review by Declan Culliton
Caitlin Canty Quiet Flame Self-Release
Another album that was delayed initially by the tornado that hit East Nashville in March 2020 and the pandemic which immediately followed, QUIET FLAME is the tenth studio recording by the Proctor, Vermont-born artist, Caitlin Canty. A further holdup, but in this case a joyous one, was the birth of her first child. Those delays put on pause the momentum that her 2015 album RECKLESS SKYLINE generated. That album earned Canty terrific reviews, positioning her very much in the ‘next best thing’ in Americana circles. Having said that, given her tendency for self-management and promotion, it’s debatable as to how that accolade actually sat with her.
Unlike her previous albums, with this recording Canty adopted an entirely acoustic arrangement for the eleven songs that deliberate and dwell on issues such as character formation, resolve, and working with the cards you were dealt. The absence of electric instruments and drums allows Canty’s clear vocals, and the carefully observed and detailed tales in the songs, to take pride of place. That’s not to say that the instrumentation is lost in the mix, quite the contrary in fact. Her studio band, which featured four-time Grammy winner Sarah Jarosz (mandolin, banjo, vocals), Brittany Haas (fiddle), Paul Kowert (bass), and Canty’s husband Noam Pikelny (banjo), all contribute to the delightfully unhurried and often calming compilation of songs. The production was overseen by Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers) and the tracks were recorded live over a four-day period at The Tractor Shed in Nashville. The warmth of the final mix plays out like an intimate live recording, an outcome that both Canty and Eldridge no doubt intended.
‘Gonna take my time in the middle of the road,’ announces Canty on Blue Sky Moon’s opening track. It’s a statement of intent mirrored in the fluid and unhurried pace of the album, as the writer reappraises the traumatic and exacting recent years. The backbone of the material is a newfound enthusiasm and acceptance of things both in and out of our control. References to the environment and nature are communicated in that opener and appear again on a number of other tracks. Canty is in splendid voice throughout, and in particular on the spell-binding Silver Sunset. It’s an intoxicating and emotive song that sits comfortably alongside Gillian Welch’s finest. She does pick the tempo up in Odds of Getting Even and Pull the Moon but it’s the slow burners, the title track included, that especially stand out.
Announcing the material from the album at the release launch at The Station Inn in Nashville, Canty admitted, ‘I stepped off the wheel for a while and now it’s test-the-waters time again. If you feel like hearing it, it’s there for you. But I’m not trying to convince anyone to love me anymore.’ On the contrary, QUIET FLAME should more than satisfy her admirers, and if her music is new to you, this is a delightful introduction and engaging listen from start to finish that more than merits your attention.
Review by Declan Culliton
Rick Hornyak Dandelion Self Release
This album opens with some melodic rock and shows Hornyak versed in a mix of roots heartland rock, indie pop sensibilities and broad Americana. This is his second release and finds him in the production chair. His previous album MARIGOLD (released in 2011) featured fine players, such as Lloyd Maines and members of Robert Earl Keen’s band, he has again reached out to local musicians who have played with him live and Cindy Cashdollar returns to play steel as she did on the previous outing. Paul LeMond is a key player here on guitars, keyboards and vocals. Brad Johnson also plays a similar role on keyboards and accordion. The rhythm section is Ann Marie Harrop and Scott Matthews on bass and drums respectively and it’s rounded out by Danny G’s vocals. It was recorded over a period of time in a number of studios in Texas.
Hornyak supplies acoustic and electric guitars as well as the lead vocals and the songs. It opens in an inviting way with the melodic riff fuelled Shades Of Grey. This sets you up for the further nine tracks, which explore different aspects of Hornyak’s musical muse. Keyboards give Never Know Why a different approach with a strong repeated title chorus and a cutting rock guitar solo. There are songs here that look at the more positive sides of life like The Other Side and Drift Away, both are heart felt looks at the love and the sometime struggle it is to find it, themes that Hornyak doesn’t shy away from, looking as much at his own situation as the observations of others.
Continental Queen is a reference to a a recently lost lady who often inhabited the Continental Club to enjoy the ambience of the legendary venue. It features some steel guitar from Cashdollar in an affectionate and unhurried way. Taking a similarly easy pace is The Struggle With Destiny, which considers just that and how the world is both a big picture topic as well as one that has an immediate effect on one’s own situation.
There are moments when they amp up the guitar drive, such as in the appropriate discussion about Devil’s Daughter. These songs reveal Hornyak’s earlier, more metal influenced, past. Then again he mixes the sense of a ballad with the piano and with some guitar, blending different aspects of his vision on Wait For The Night, where the former steelworker, and many others in a similar lifestyle, look to the possibilities that exist as the day fades to night.
There are, as mentioned, a number of influences at work here but Hornyak brings them together with his overall arrangements and production values. The general feel is easily classifiable as Americana despite, or because of, its approach to blending these formats. Maybe not one for the honky-tonk fraternity, but redolent of an artist who is quietly seeking his own place for his personal journey. In doing so he will find those who will discover much to enjoy in his, often unhurried, music.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys In The Campfire Wronger Iceauk
The former Replacements, Bash & Pop, and sometime Guns & Roses musician has just released an album that is somewhat different from what those previous liaisons might suggest, though there are a couple of songs that have a degree of both bash and pop at their core. The album, his third solo outing, opens with the ukulele and brass elements of Here We Go Again, a song that perhaps acknowledges that he and his partner in campfire tales, Chris Roberts, are here and ready for action, though perhaps with a lesser approach than the big sound big arena shows that might have previously been the case. Roberts was something of a hired sideman but had worked with Stinson on some of his previous releases.
That’s It has more of that firepower and drive over its concise statement of intent that has elements of punk and hardcore country in it. The song Mr Wrong is again a short ode to a partner finding some solace and lasting time with the next partner. I’m personally immediately reminded of Squeeze in the next song, Schemes. Maybe that comparison is just mine, but it shows the sense of adventure that both bring to the album.
This is Stinson’s third solo album, but first in partnership with Roberts, which has seen them take a more contemplative approach to the sessions. Much more in the cow-punk direction, both sonically and lyrically, is Fall Apart Together, which has a relaxed twangy heart in its acceptance of a way to deal with life, if only for a short time. There is an awareness of the problems that divide America and the rest of the world in the way the lyrics of Hey Man calls out some of these issues.
We Ain’t again has that ‘cow-punk’ heritage and sound, with strong harmonies and some shit-kicking guitar. The acoustic guitars of Karma’s Bitch are again dealing with the darker moments. It is twangy in its look at how things can so easily go from bad to worse. There is a less defined sound, perhaps, on Souls, but it has some impassioned singing and telling guitar in the mix.
The album closes with Dream that is full of hope for the future and ends what is an album that rewards repeated playing, and shows the combination of Stinson and Roberts is one that will hopefully lead to some further collaborations. It would seem that the duo and their collaborators, such as X bassist John Doe’s adding vocal back-up on four tracks and Christine Smith’s production (she did half the album’s recording), lay the ground for this to happen in the future.
It is an album that has been widely well-received and seen as a likely candidate for the best album to bear Tommy Stinson’s name. There is a lot that is right about WRONGER and it is one that his fans can explore to discover its worth.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Water Tower Live From Los Angeles Self Release
Originally known as The Water Tower Bucket Boys and founded by Kenny Feinstein in Portland, Oregon in 2005, the latest iteration of the band developed when Feinstein moved to Los Angeles in 2018. Often in a state of flux when it comes to line up, the one constant is the irrepressible Feinstein, as he continues his creative goal to produce a high energy mash-up of his musical influences, which include old time, bluegrass, punk and jam band. Their irreverent take on string band roots music is thankfully underpinned by incredible prowess on multiple instruments, including acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolin and upright bass.
This new album was, incredibly, recorded in Palomino Studios in less than a day, in an attempt to capture their raw energy as they came off the back of a tour. LIVE FROM LOS ANGELES achieves this in spades, with fifteen tracks in all, and is a perfect introduction to the band for all who may be seeing them for the first time in their upcoming tour of Britain and Ireland.
This record features a bunch of traditional folk and old time songs, such as Reuben’s Train, Cotton Eyed Joe, Stay All Night, Lonesome Road Blues and Lester Flatt’s My Little Girl From Tennessee, all performed at breakneck speed and inducing a desire to get up and dance. The majority of the songs, however, are originals, mainly from the pen of Kenny Feinstein himself. California Love is a love song to the city of LA, perhaps the first cow punk rap about that town, name checking neighbourhoods like Compton and Watts, complete with grooving dual banjos and soulful harmonies! In George Washington, they take a humourous look at doomsday scenarios, after all ‘we’re all gonna die someday, and be forgotten’. When Feinstein first arrived in LA, he took to busking all day near an AM PM (a convenience store chain), and the song AM PM recounts many of his experiences there. Skante Warrior refers to a mythical character that can develop from addiction to crystal meth, and Mary Jane just might be a love song to something other than a woman of the same name. This reviewer particularly enjoyed Radio, an homage to one of life’s necessities, music radio.
The band’s current lineup is completed by Tommy Drinkard (banjo and guitar) and Jesse Blue Eades, a prodigy on bass, who brings a jazz influence into the heady mix. Don’t miss their tour, if you’re within reach of any of the venues.
Review by Eilís Boland
Edie Carey The Veil Self Release
Quite how this artist has escaped the attention of Lonesome Highway until now will have to remain one of those mysteries that linger in the ether. Edie Carey is a singer-songwriter and Folk/Roots artist who delivers her beautifully emotive music with literate lyricism and a deeply human touch. From her Boston beginnings, Carey has seen her music career blossom across time spent in New York, Europe and currently as a resident of Colorado Springs with her young family. While studying at Colombia University in New York Carey began her interest in becoming a musician while attending concerts on campus and listening to artists like Bonnie Raitt and Shawn Colvin. A year spent in Italy saw her busking her own fledgling songs and when she returned to America, Carey released a debut album The Falling Places in 1998.
This new release marks the eleventh album in the career of this highly erudite and impressive songwriter and her talent is reflected in her engaging vocal prowess and empathic guitar playing. Carey sings in a beautifully warm tone and the rich texture of her melodies is particularly captivating, inviting the listener into a safe place of tonal colour and quiet calm. Produced by Scott Wiley (Bonnie Raitt, Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith) at the June Audio Recording Studios in Provo, Utah, the assembled musicians that form the core studio band include the talents of Wylie himself (various keyboards and guitars), Paul Jacobsen (guitars, vocals), John Standish (piano), Stuart Maxfield (guitars, bass, viola, vocals) and Aaron Anderson (drums).
There are quite a few additional guests who contribute on various tracks, including Rose Cousins, Sarah Sample, and Megan Burtt on backing vocals. Other appearances worthy of attention are Stuart Wheeler (string arrangements), Sam Cardon (Hammond B3, Dolceola),Chad Truman (Hammond B3), Mai Bloomfield (cello, backing vocals), Cassie Olsen (cello), Emily Brown (viola), Aaron Ashton (violin), Rebecca Moench (violin), and Ryan Tilby (upright bass).
The twelve songs delve deeply into personal relationships and the sensitive territory covered is at once familiar in the recognition of places that we have all been. There is a comfort in the sharing that makes the various paths we may take seem to eventually arrive at a common destination. Carey’s soulful voice adds a real emotional punch to reflections on life, love, marriage and the challenges of parenthood. There is real intelligence and contemplation at play here, as Carey seeks to explore her vulnerability in the search for meaningful communication and a sense of belonging.
The album title song, The Veil, looks at the fragility of life from the perspective of the love of a parent, the arrival of new life in the world, and a car accident which almost took everything away. The theme of the veil runs through many of the songs, whether as a symbol of religious significance, of modesty and humility, in wedding ceremonies and mourning rituals, or of mystery and the thin line that separates the known world from that of the deep beyond. Carey muses ‘We thought that we could catch the moon, In the window of the way back.’ With these opening lines the album begins to reveal itself and considers the passage of time, the events that shape us and which can dictate our lives.
It would be easy to assume that every song is written from personal life lessons but there is a perspective that Carey uses to reflect the experiences of others in her songs which leaves it up to the listener to decide. That ability to inhabit a character in order to illustrate an emotion is a real gift and bears witness to the empathy and sensitivity that is at the core of this artist’s talents. A number of the songs no doubt draw on personal experience but the true gift here is in taking the personal and making it universal.
The Old Me is a song that looks at isolation in relationships, at what once was and the fear of verbalising frustrated feelings. Such a keenly observed portrait of loneliness. Equally The Chain looks at the challenge of keeping a relationship from sinking under. ‘Your broken language benediction, This unspoken false competition, When will we ever lay our armour down?’ – the walls we erect and the insecurities we all struggle to overcome. The Teacher looks to parenthood doubts and whether we are doing the right thing. Carey offers good counsel to be easy on yourself ‘I know those voices and all their lies, Maybe it’s time we set them all on fire.’
I Know This is written in tribute to the front-line workers during the pandemic. Those medical angels and service heroes who risked their lives on a daily basis in the care of others. Georgia is another tribute song, this time to the lasting memory of Georgia O’Keeffe painter and the "Mother of American modernism", who died in 1986. Carey reflects on her life and asks ‘I wonder, Georgia, Were you ever lonely? The silence spilling out, Endlessly before you.’
All That Space is a song written from the perspective of a woman who has lost her identity and craves freedom in a relationship in order to try and recapture her old self. The suffocation of routine pulling on everything ‘I gotta hold the wheel now, I need you to let me drive.’ Another song Who I Was highlights younger scars and the cracks that break relationships apart. There is a sense of rueful regret and also an anger in the reflections that are mirrored in the song dynamic, an angry band workout against a frustration in the lyric that raises past mistakes ‘Starved myself for what? Bargained with a God I didn’t trust, There was nothing that I didn’t try.’
This album is the essence of contemporary folk music today, mature, open, beautifully performed and delivered with such knowing and compassionate grace. A powerful display of talent and in my top albums of the year so far.
Review by Paul McGee
Sam Burton Dear Departed Partisan
A debut album, I Can Go with You, appeared in 2020 and heralded the arrival of this musician and songwriter from Salt Lake City. Burton was also part of a local shoegaze band The Circulars in addition to joining the psyche-folk trio SYLVIE for their superb 2022 debut album. This new solo project has the production magic of Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Angel Olsen, Dawes, Margo Price) as a key influence throughout.
In the absence of any musician credits, I have to assume that Wilson and Burton are the key players on these ten songs of love and loss. There is an unhurried, languid quality and atmosphere to the vocal delivery and the lush string arrangements. A gentle album delivered in such a timeless fashion that the listener feels like part of a dream state. The melodic swell of strings lifts the relaxed and liquorice delivery of Burton to perfection. It could be 1960s dream folk and it could be stoned reverie on a sunny afternoon in the hills of some far-away place.
Burton has recently been moving around the greater Los Angeles area, including a period spent writing in a cabin in northern California. ‘The mirror of the world it is no friend of mine’ he sings on My Love and you get the sense that Burton is seeking to return to a simpler place post-Covid where he can plug into something real again. The pastoral qualities are perfect for the sense of letting go that walks the line here with lonely echoes of rueful nostalgia. The overall sound is so seductive and somewhat reminiscent of the great Jimmy Webb . I just wish that Burton had another gear that he could shift into occasionally as the similarity across the ten songs can appear repetitive. However, it is a very pleasing listening experience overall even if song titles such as I Don’t Blame You, Coming Down On Me and Empty Handed do hint at a broken heart in need of mending.
Review by Paul McGee
Lukas Nelson and PTOR Sticks and Stones 6ACE/Thirty Tigers
Since their formation back in 2008 Promise Of the Real (PTOR) has comprised Lukas Nelson (lead vocals, guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (drums, percussion), Corey McCormick (bass guitar, vocals), Logan Metz (keyboards, lap steel, guitar, harmonica, vocals), and Tato Melgar (percussion). Through constant gigging they have grown in status to being the chosen backing band of Neil Young from 2015 to 2019. Nelson also co-produced the music for the film, A Star Is Born, writing songs with Lady Gaga, and PTOR appeared in the film as Bradley Cooper's band. Nelson won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Music and a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack.
When you add in the formative years spent learning music under the guiding hand and watchful eye of father Willie Nelson then the fact that Lukas Nelson delivers this eight studio album in some style is really no surprise. The band sound is so tightly honed after years on the road and the studio setting of Chateau Oblivion is an appropriate location for this fun romp through the twelve tracks included. Self-produced by the band, the album has plenty of tongue-in-cheek lyrics and the songs are a real slice of country cool and clever arrangements. The honky tonk groove of Every Time I Drink is typical of the dynamic here with a loose piano boogie circling around the sharp guitar motifs. The theme of getting wasted is repeated on tracks like the title, Sticks and Stones, ‘Sometimes when I’m uninspired, I take a hit to get me higher.’ Similarly, the excellent Alcohallelujah talks about ‘Sunday funday, Headache Monday’ and ‘Day drinkin’ trying to float, I can’t even drive the boat.’
More Than Frends features Lainey Wilson on co-vocal and some nicely rounded playing as the couple seek to leave friendship behind and go for the next step in their relationship. Ladder Of Love is a rockabilly workout that highlights the great band playing again while Wrong House is a song about arriving drunk at the door of a neighbour ‘Simple weekend on the town, Woke up naked on the ground.’
Icarus reminds me of a Buddy Holly song in the rhythm and vocal tones with a message about time to settle down and start producing grandkids for the parents. On the song Overpass Lukas sounds so like his father with the vocal and this is only to be expected on various tracks with the apple never falling far from the tree. Although Willie has a very distinctive guitar style I’m thinking that Lukas has probably got the drop on him when it comes to lyrical playing; his fluent guitar is really superb throughout the album and especially on this song.
The fast pace takes a break on Lying, a gentle acoustic song that speaks of a longing to be with the one you love. Lukas sings this one with such easy charm and a clarity in the delivery. The easy theme continues on Four Winds and a melody that reminds me of Glen Campbell in his day, harmonica and lap steel adding to the rich textures. The View ends things with a simple love song about staying home with loved ones and leaving the road behind.
This is an album of celebration for the little things and for communicating with each other. There is a real sense of the band having fun and relaxing into these fine songs, never more so than on If I Didn’t Love You where the lyric says ‘Why did I call, When you were just thinkin’ of me? It’s simple serendipity, that’s all.’ No doubt that this is a band of musical brothers who dial into each other on the right wavelength and who know how to produce excellent music that is endearing in its veiled simplicity. A superb outing.
Review by Paul McGee
Jason Eady, Erin Viancourt, Caitlin Canty, Rick Hornyak, Tommy Stinson, Water Tower, Edie Carey, Sam Burton, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.