Joshua Ray Walker What Is It Even? Soundly
Texan Joshua Ray Walker has been busy since the release of his debut album, WISH YOU WERE HERE in 2019. Since then, he has recorded two more albums, returned to his busy touring schedule after the easing of Covid-related restrictions, and has tailed off those hectic four years with his latest and fourth full album, WHAT IS IT EVEN?
Those first three albums featured a host of unfortunate characters, some probably autobiographical, who frequented the type of honky tonks that Walker regularly played in, but he has taken an entirely different path with this recording. Digging deeply into his memory bank, he chose eleven of his favourite songs recorded by female artists, many of which he kept true to the original versions and others he rearranged.
Given his honky tonk credentials you might expect that he’d tackle some of the classic country recordings from the likes of Dolly, Loretta, or Patsy, but in reality, his selections couldn’t be further away from those artists. Instead, he tackles songs performed by The Cranberries, Sinead O’Connor, Cher, Q Lazarus, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, and others.
The result is a mixed bag. Walker is in fine voice throughout but with some of the choices, mainly pop songs, remaining faithful to the originals (Linger, Nothing Compares To You, Coz I Love You), the results are somewhat uninspiring.
The renditions work best when Walker restructures the original songs. Sia’s Cheap Thrills is a point in case where he reinvents the pop song into a countrified and upbeat arrangement. Equally impressive is his bluegrass-themed adaptation of Beyoncé’s Halo. Lazzarus’ Goodbye Horses is less impressive, but his take on Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody is arguably an improvement on the overproduced original.
‘I just wanted to make something that was fun,” Walker says. He no doubt achieved this but I’m wondering how his fan base will react to the album. Walker is a hugely talented singer, songwriter and musician and I look forward to future recordings of the standard of his first three albums, when he, hopefully returns to what he excels at.
Review by Declan Culliton
Kyle Nix & the 38’s After The Flood Vol.1 Self Release
With Turnpike Troubadours’ career path on pause due to frontman Even Felker’s marital and rehab issues, their fiddle player, Kyle Nix, launched his solo career in 2020 with his debut album, LIGHTNING ON THE MOUNTAIN. Stellar country and roots music has often followed in the aftermath of hardship and breakups and AFTER THE FLOOD VOL.1, Nix’s second album, follows that well-worn path. His own trauma of a divorce and rehab was the catalyst for this recording. Nix dusted himself down, called on some close friends and fine players’ services, and has produced a cracking and full-on album. Those players are former American Aquarium bassist Bill Corbin, multi-instrumentalist Kevin ‘Haystack’ Foster, singer songwriter Ken Pomeroy and Nix’s fellow Turnpike Troubadours percussionist, Gabe Pearson. The production was carried out by Wes Sharon, who also previously worked on Turnpike Troubadours recordings.
The anger and rawness of Nix’s harrowing times are at the forefront of songs that contain honesty and hurt in large doses. ‘Is it too much to ask for a little slice of peace, it’s all over now so let it be,’ Nix spits out on the animated Hell & Half of Georgia. He’s equally scathing on Close The Bets (‘Close the bets, divvy up the change, she’ll get the money, I’ll get the blame’). Slightly less vitriolic but also finger-pointing is The Byrds sounding Poor Boy’s Heart and the album closes with the somewhat introspective and conciliatory Summer Plains. Other tracks of note are Nothin’ You Can Do that has Ken Pomeroy taking the lead vocal and the mid-tempo honky tonker, One More Thing.
It may be a case of ‘back to the day job’ for Nix now, with Turnpike Troubadours returning to performing and recording, but the short-lived hiatus of the band and his personal issues gave Nix the ammunition and opportunity to write and record a confessional and hugely impressive suite of songs. He has come through with flying colours in that regard, with an album that is ‘all killer and no filler’ and combines fine vocals and free and fiery playing throughout.
Review by Declan Culliton
Hannah Aldridge Dream Of America Icons Creating Art
Alabama-born Hannah Aldridge’s impressive recording back catalogue has not been easy to categorise. Is she country, alt-country, indie-folk/rock, or Americana?
Her latest album, DREAM OF AMERICA, certainly lands in the Americana pigeon hole, and its Southern Gothic style accurately represents, for me, what that genre used to depict before it expanded its borders and became a pigeonhole for many different music forms.
Aldridge has consistently excelled as a songwriter and no more so than on this latest album. Its lyrics and the orchestration that accompanies them are dark and mysterious, approaching a soundtrack to a film noir that’s not going to have a happy ending. She has dug deeply into her memory bank, reflecting on the shadier side of the South and the pressures imposed on character formation in an environment haunted by former times. The result is nine songs that explore a wide canvas of issues and events that are often hidden behind closed doors.
Written about the murder in 1947 of Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia, the opening track Dorero commends the victim rather than castigating her for what was considered unladylike behaviour by the public at that time.
‘Is that a black widow spider or a skinny young blonde that he's waiting for down by the nail salon? And is it blood on his shoulder, a little on his cheek?’ she asks on Portrait Of An Artist As A Middle Aged Man. Previously recorded by Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes, Aldridge’s treatment of the song gives it a modern-day Bobby Gentry sensibility. It’s a standout song, full of menace and mystique and at five and a half minutes, the longest track on the album.
The title track, at slightly over one minute, is the shortest one. It morphs into the piano-led albums’ tour de force, The Fall, a co-write and duet with Ben Glover. The second cover on the album is Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer, which slots perfectly into the overall theme of the record. Aldridge’s version, while not without menace, is more soulful and less threatening than the original. Her upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian environment strikes a chord in that direction with Unbeliever (‘People say you gotta give it time, So I gave it all the time I ever owned. I thought I had it coming down the line, but I was never the receiver’).
An album that catches your attention and holds it from start to finish, DREAM OF AMERICA is the boldest and most ambitious recording by Aldridge, and for me, her finest work to date.
Review by Declan Culliton
Philip Bowen Old Kanawha Self Release
There is something about this album that makes it one that will deeply resonate, for a certain listener, with its sense of empathy and understanding for family, friend and place. The themes are simple in the outlining of the sensibilities that Bowen wants to sing about. There are, for instance, two versions of the song Anymore (which reasons that they don’t make them like that anymore) which may have opened and closed the album, but in fact are placed one track apart at the end of the album’s thirteen inclusions as something of a bonus. Both work in their own right with the simplicity of the acoustic version as against the one recorded with a fuller set of musicians.
These players include Gerrod Bee, Jake Fine and Zach McCord, who all contribute some telling restrained electric guitar throughout. Other musicians include the rhythm section of Larry Shotter and Bee and Fine on bass. In other words a small, tightly focused set of contributors who also have Smith Curry on Dobro on, perhaps, the album standout track, Vampire In Appalachia - an analogy for a descending darkness in a divided country which prophesies “there’s a vampire in Appalachia and we’re running out of blood." However there is much more that captures the attention here. Other musical input comes from Joshua Howard, who plays piano on several tracks and Mike Thomas and Fine also contribute keyboards. On Vampire In Appalachia he is joined by Josiah & The Bonnevilles and for the title track of the album he shares the vocals with an old friend Charles Wesley Godwin, through whom he was introduced to the album’s producer, Jach McCord.
But central to the overall sound is Bowen’s own very accomplished use of strings (he started playing the fiddle at 4 years of age) and his acoustic guitar input. That and his resonate vocal gives these lyrics their humanity and depth. The themes are the universal struggle between beauty and decay, delight and despair, the healthy and the unwholesome; all viewed from a personal and the perceived perspective.
Bowen has established a strong online following on Instagram and TikTok from a well-received appearance on America’s Got Talent (where somewhat incongruously he covered a song by System Of A Down). Having not been exposed to these media events, I can judge Bowen purely on this debut album. Three singles have so far been released, including Sweet Honey, Vampire and Lightning Bugs, the latter is a song wherein he mentions liking The Brother Brothers, fans of whom I feel will find an affinity with Bowen’s music.
Paramount in the material is the sense of melody and arrangements, that make the songs feel timeless while simultaneously being updates of traditional themes. Better Together Again (Cora’s Song) is about togetherness and how that state is the best way to be. Every Season is a father’s affirmative message to his daughter about life’s path, while advising her never to give up on family and that the door is always open no matter what may lie ahead and the pride that’s felt in achievement.
The title track is about a place that is seen as home. Bowen, married with children, is now based in Detroit and undoubtedly has a yearning for West Virginia and the Appalachia of his roots. He is as adept at playing the fiddle as he is with his more structured performance on the violin. Though this album could be seen as a contemporary folk-oriented outing, his choice of cover song for the talent show demonstrates that he is not a purist listener or performer, but rather one grounded in his roots while ready to explore other trails. Hopefully, though, he won’t move too far from the sound he has established here. I can say here that I have listened to this album for some time since receiving it and have grown to really enjoy what it has to offer and so can only urge you to do the same.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Shane Terrell & The Stumblers Well Worn Jukebox Self Release
This is an eight track for Terrell and his band, who play a solid mix of Texas country and touches of some red dirt hard rock. Based in Abilene, the band self produced this record of raw sounding blue-collar song writing and one song, Thanksgiving Song, was produced in a second version by noted musician Marc Ford. It appears on the album twice, so I am assuming the file track marked “new version” is the Ford produced one. It is a similar version of the understated song, though longer than the opening take. It is an appeal to one half of a seemingly lost relationship, and shows the song in a setting that might perhaps point to an outside producer on the next release. It is the album’s stand-out song that readily sums up what this band is about.
There are guitars and organs driving the songs over the solid rhythm section and Terrell’s powerful vocal can be stadium strong as well as back-porch ready, as is required by the songs. There are versions of the songs delivered with just voice and guitar on Facebook that contrast with the mainly full fire delivery on the album. Terrell also does solo live performances, depending on the venue, as well as those with his three-piece band on a bigger stage.
Alone In Abilene shows the way that there is a compatibility here with Terrell’s lyrical subject matter, their audience, its lifestyles and views. It is a little less upfront at the start, but still has that sense of being lost in one’s search for another. Front Door follows a similar theme of home and finding some new hope once he sees “you walk through that front door.” Self awareness is central to the other worldlyYellow Devil Living, which features some effective piano and steel, while Godamn Alone is a full force attack, with all involved giving it their best in another song that seeks that essential human contact. Midnight Romeo is about a night-time prowler looking for some solace in the later night bars. These are the songs that likely the protagonist would punch up on a bar’s well worn jukebox.
Terrell has a background in punk and rockabilly bands back in his home state of Arizona. Elements of those two genres are still influences, if somewhat buried now, with the rockier southern element a little more apparent. Perhaps the main difference from the live band to that here is the use of keyboards and occasional steel that give added texture and depth on some of the songs. They obviously have a solid following in their home state and this mini-album will doubtless enhance their standing locally, something that may well be expanded with a full album that could achieve wider recognition for Terrell and the band, if the breaks fall right in what is a highly competitive market.
Review by Stephen Rapid
Erika OlsonThis Is How I Pray Ez Come Ez Go
Kicking off with Mom Life a song about suburbia blues, car pools, school schedules and parental pressures, Erika Olson delivers a debut album of real interest. Her website states that “ I raise babies and write songs from a cosy corner of Southeast England.” That cosy corner is a small country village in East Sussex, via her birthplace of Albuquerque, New Mexico and various other life adventures in between.
Another song Hungry Little Bird could well be autobiographical as it looks at a young girl out in the world at a tender young age of seventeen and daring to make it alone. Missing the scaffolding and support of family can be a lonely road to travel and the lines ‘How on earth did it get so bad, Can’t you feel the love you have,’ tell their own story. Elsewhere the song Benefit Of the Doubt tackles peer pressure and bullying at school while feeling scared to stand up against the actions of others that you knew to be wrong.
Songs like This Is How I Pray and Wreckage suffer from the inclusion of synth percussion that dominates the mix. These tracks are more commercial in delivery and perhaps Olson had one eye on radio play when it came to the final versions that made it to the album. As contemporary folk with a commercial leaning goes, her writing is strong enough to stand alone and the over-production on certain songs does her no real favours.
Erika Olson takes all the lead vocal parts and plays acoustic guitar on the album. Producer Jonny Wright provides acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, bass, synth, percussion and vocals, with guests Chris Hillman on pedal steel guitar and Dan Raza contributing vocals and acoustic guitar on separate tracks.
Albuquerque Nights looks back at a younger memory when new love was in the air and the song works really well with a slow tempo and engaging vocal delivery. Equally the track As I Am points to a direction that suits Olson, with a reflective love song about changing lives and trying to keep a relationship fresh ‘Remember when nights were for whispers and dreams, Now you find me passed out between spreadsheets and screens.’ Co-vocal on this standout song is provided by Dan Raza. This theme continues into Momma Ain’t Got No Time with a look at frazzled commitment schedules and ‘Then its, bags to pack, meals to make, Cuts and bruises to mend, Diapers to change, monsters to tame And a mound of dishes that never ends.’
Little Shoulders closes the album and is a tribute to Olson’s daughter and the hope that future generations bring ‘Sing, dance, be one with joy, Play the lost and sacred chords, Catch the moon in your wings as you soar.’ It’s a fine sentiment on which to end what is an engaging album and I have no doubt that Olson will continue to grow into her own signature sound as she continues to develop her musical direction.
Review by Paul McGee
The Rifters The Enchanted World Howlin' Dog
The dictionary states that a rifter is a crack in sea ice, but such a definition doesn’t seem to fit easily with the superb music that this band creates. Unless you take the meaning to refer to the space between what is separated, because in such gaps lies the intuitive playing and creative flow of this music, sprung from the original source.
The Rifters Band formed in 2002 in Taos, New Mexico, and comprises Rod Taylor (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Don Richmond (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, pedal steel guitar, dobro, harmonica, vocals), and Jim Bradley (bass, vocals). Their prowess across a wide range of instruments gives a special quality to the music, which defies genre and instead, delivers a timeless beauty. The harmony vocals are the icing on the cake and with seven albums to their name, plus years of honing their craft, the Rifters musical synergy with their desert and mountain regions of the Western State is a joy to behold.
This album kicks off with The Circle, and a song about a farmer who works his land through the changing seasons, capturing the magic of nature in all its forms. Immediately the interplay between the trio is highlighted by the understated way in which each player supports the melody and in the easy flow of the harmony vocals. It sets the template for the thirteen tracks that follow, mostly celebrating the natural beauty that surrounds us, and songs such as The Greatest Mystery, At the Foot Of the Mountain and the album title The Enchanted World bear witness to the sense of wonder the we all feel when contemplating the universe.
The Perfect Dance and It’s Cause You’ve Lived both reflect on life and the lessons given, and taken, from the years of looking for a balance in all things. With elements of bluegrass, folk and country leanings the songs display a seamless quality as they unfold with musicianship of the highest standards. The eco-friendly plea of The Dollar Worth Of Mother Earth hides the frustration felt at the wasted years in denying the scientific warnings, and leaving an onus for future generations to clean up the mess. The Wonder Of You is a love song with a tex-mex feel to the melody, with pedal steel, mandolin and fiddle rising in unison and the light, jazzy arrangement on Nothing Is Free highlights the range of styles on display here.
That Lucky Old Sun reflects on earthly toils and So Many Different Things features the vocals of Eliza Gilkyson, an artist that has worked closely with Don Richmond as producer on her last three albums. At the Rail has a bluesy feel to the arrangement and the slow melody is augmented by accordion in the reflections on a life that has led to decisions that loom large. The final song is Gentle On My Mind, a bluegrass tribute to the great Glen Campbell song. It’s laced with joyful ensemble playing and again highlights the warm, embracing feeling that this music generates. Everybody can do with some Rifters inspiration in their lives these days. Don’t hesitate to surround yourself with this superbly crafted music.
Review by Paul McGee
Marina Rocks Texcentric Self Release
Texas has turned out many excellent musicians over the decades and it continues to be a hotbed for emerging talent. Included in the potent mix of influential country styles has been Red Dirt, Tejano and Neotraditional. However, it’s in the spirit of Outlaw country that this recent release finds a space among those that were determined to break through existing boundaries. The pioneering spirit of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Joe Ely and Steve Earle has stood the test of time and continued in the true essence of singer-songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt, whose legacy is a rich reminder of all that is special in Texas country folklore. It’s therefore appropriate that on this EP release of six songs, Marina Rocks has included a cover of the classic Townes, If I Needed You, even if her ‘rocked-up’ version is very far away from the original.
Born in Austin and with four previous solo albums to her name, Rocks certainly lives up to her surname by delivering a fine slice of Americana-fused dynamic on this EP. She has clearly been influenced by a number of genres in her earlier years, including, rock, blues and country leanings. Rocks is a very accomplished guitar player and sings with plenty of energy and attitude; if you crossed Ani di Franco with Melissa Etheridge then you get the general direction of where she is located.
While not yet ready to be anything more than an admirer of the guitar greats of Texan legend, you can hear obvious influences in her playing that suggest Stevie Ray Vaughan and Steve Miller, among others. Rocks also has a very distinctive vocal tone and her opening song Dummin’ Down doesn’t hold back on her views concerning the malaise spread by ‘fake news’ and sound-bite media miasma. Next song Willie Hole is in reference to the great man and his trusty guitar, Trigger. Rocks has also worn a hole in her favourite Godin guitar with her strident strumming and the urgency on this track is very appropriate to the energy given off in her performances. Lloyd Maines guests on dobro.
Walking On Water is a song written by R.W. Boyd and it reflects a different side of Rocks as she slows everything down in a reflective look at the craziness that surrounds so much in these modern times. Nameless is another rhythmic ride into the media madness of wanting to stand out among the ever-hungry crowds seeking attention, ‘Everybody’s saying, Do you know my name.’ The cover version of If I Needed You is filled with a building energy, fuelled by the bass of Aden Brubeck and the drumming of Pat Menske. It delivers with a fine soulful vocal by Rocks in due reverence to the original song sentiment.
The final track is the instrumental Blue Skies that again highlights the superb guitar technique of Rocks and it is a mid-tempo arrangement that gently brings everything to a successful rest-stop along the highway. There is no doubting the talent on display here and I have a strong sense that we will continue to hear more about this interesting artist. For now, her back catalogue beckons.
Review by Paul McGee
Mapache Swinging Stars Innovative Leisure
This is album number five in a rich vein of form that highlights the combined talents of Clay Finch and Sam Blasucci. The duo are high school friends and their songwriting embraces all that is timeless in the cosmic folk creativity of Californian coastlines and hazy summer days spent in the sun. On this recording the fourteen songs run along familiar ground, the lovely melodies laced with gentle strumming, drifting pedal steel and the occasional change of pace into mid-tempo band interplay. The musicians are Sam Blasucci (electric guitar, dobro, piano), Clay Finch (acoustic, electric guitars, flute), Steve Didelot (drums), Dan Horne (bass, pedal steel), with single song appearances from Dave Rawlings (acoustic guitar), and Spencer Dunham (bass).
Across fifty two minutes the tracks entice the listener into a sense of quiet reverie and the location chosen for this beautifully blissful music no doubt set the template for all that followed. The band decamped to the Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, Marin County, California. It sounds typically idyllic for a region that naturally exudes peaceful calm and scenic ocean vistas. Producer Dan Horne has worked with the band on all their albums and by now has their unique collaborative skills harnessed in the most creative fashion. Interestingly, on this project both songwriters brought their own individual styles to the table as they now live in different locations. Not that you would notice in the seamless style that forms the glue of all their creative outpouring.
Starting off with the Spanish song Sentir, the knowledge of what can be achieved by letting the process evolve, reflects perfectly on songs like French Kiss, a tribute to the Belgium-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist, Agnès Varda. Her seminal works included films such as La Pointe Courte (1955) and Le Bonheur (1965). Elsewhere the gentle sway of What A Summer, Sammy Boy and Midnight (partly sung in Spanish), delight and defy description, as they wrap their melodies in sweet sounds. The instrumental Home Among the Swinging Stars features the lovely flute playing of Finch and the swooning pedal steel of Horne. The song Ghosts is about as mid-tempo as we get, with a nice groove to the rhythm and a vocal from Finch that is filled with a quiet angst and passion in the delivery. Encinal Canyon and Amazing are songs that engage, even while dealing with broken relationships and feelings that time has changed everything. Even if the lyrics can tend to be somewhat obscure, this doesn’t detract from the beautiful arrangements.
This is another very rewarding album from Mapache, a duo that continue to evolve their wonderful soundscapes that bring such peaceful calm and succour in these challenging times. Essential listening.
Review by Paul McGee
Joshua Ray Walker, Kyle Nix Hannah Aldridge Music, Philip Bowen Music, Shane Terrell & The Stumblers, Erika Olson, The Rifters Mapache.