Matt Owens and the Delusional Vanity Project Way Out West Urby
This new album is a strong statement of endurance from a very talented artist. A former member of Noah and the Whale for over nine years where he featured on bass guitar, Owens reinvented himself as a solo artist with the release of his debut album in 2019. He has since gone on to release three further albums and this new project is the second time that he has recorded with the Delusional Vanity Project - (great name)! The DVP is a seven-piece band made up of musicians from other bands that have circled around Owens orbit over the years (Little Mammoths, Treetop Flyers, Clemencie, Danny and the Champs), and together they make a very impressive ensemble with a richness in the playing and great colour in these song arrangements.
We are treated to eleven songs over forty-nine minutes and the journey is well worth the time invested. The songs are full of interesting insights into life as we live it and the sense of understated empathy that runs through the characters and the lyrics cannot be over-emphasised. Songs like Hope the Darkness Pulls You Through and Morning Light are fine examples of showing resilience and learning from the experiences that come our way, either through the ageing process, relationship changes or challenging times. Death, Sickness and Heartache has a great groove and carries a similar message about the need to endure and to ride out the hard days, while You’re Not Gone is a tribute to a close friend who has passed away and is still a strong presence ‘You were the best of us, raised up the rest of us.’
A real highlight is the co-vocal with Hannah White on Five Years Into Marriage, a hard look at a relationship that is running into a cul-de-sac and ending in regret ‘ I will probably cheat to stay in, until you cheat to get out.’ Blindsided By Time is a real tour-de-force and the longest track here at almost eight minutes of slow burn tempo and electric guitar dynamics. Owens and James Jack blend creatively on traded solos that lift higher into the pain caused by feeling out of time and ruminating over the missed opportunities in an old friendship that lost traction.
Glasgow City Lights is an up-tempo rocker that recounts days and nights of being on tour, missing home and trying to reconcile that eternal urge to be playing live. One For the Grapes has a great guitar sound, plus Robert Vincent guesting on harmonica, and speaks of the joys of playing a local venue in Bath with ‘an ice cold beer and an old guitar.’ Both Sides Of the Line looks at the cold reality of trying to make music work as a full time job, while The Bard Of the Bars has a similar theme with a look at an old pub singer that gets his weekly lift from enjoying the live experience at his local.
Owens is joined on this album by the combined talents of Jimmy Besley (drums and percussion), Duncan Kingston (bass), James Jack (electric guitars), Geoffrey Widdowson (organs and keyboards), Jim Godfrey (piano, Rhodes, synths), and Camilla Skye ( harmony vocals). There are a number of other guests who feature, including Eddie Johns (drums on selected tracks), Keiron Marshall (guitar on selected tracks), and both Hannah White and Robert Vincent, as previously mentioned.
The final song Twickenham Station is a nostalgic memory of growing up and the early influences on a young musician looking to find a starting point. It strikes me that Owens has long since found his tribe and that he moves forward in a direction that confirms his strong talent as a songwriter and a guitar player. A really engaging album and one that will feature in many year-end lists when it comes to favourite albums of 2024. Such a fine example of independent music that regularly scratches at the edges of the music industry for recognition. You can support the cause by checking out the back catalogue of this insightful songwriter and musician. You will not be disappointed.
Paul McGee
Jack Cade Bewilderland Self Release
Born on the Isle of Sheppey, an island off the northern coast of Kent, and steeped in the culture of English tradition, performer Jack Cade has been creating music of some substance since 2011. His band are the Everyday Sinners and their three albums to date have all been well received. Cade himself has released a number of solo albums in parallel with his band activity and this new album marks his fourth as he continues to build upon previous success. Given that Cade uses the Everyday Sinners as his studio musicians, one could argue that there is little difference between the two separate projects but, either way, the songs and the playing are very strong throughout.
Cade has been wrestling with all he has been indoctrinated with since childhood. Questioning the teachings from school days onward, all his influences and beliefs, and his views of the world, both internal and external. Socrates was credited with saying that ‘The unexamined life is not worth living,’ and Cade certainly is on a mission to ensure that this will not be his legacy over time. Standout tracks are The Glitter Around Your Eyes, Where the Sun Meets the Moon and Rocking Horse Blues. There are influences of country and americana sounds running through the song arrangements and Cade gives a strong vocal performance that hints at Johnny Cash and Nick Cave in the delivery.
The dark Americana of Love Will Burn All Down has a vibrant band workout, while the Keep Believing highlights the message that outside influences cannot define you. The Faster You Run looks at life’s great conundrum and the search for temporary satisfaction in material things versus the need to live in the present and to look within for permanent happiness. Little Secret muses about the journey that we all undertake alone through life and the unique experiences that we all encounter.
The production on some of these tracks is somewhat dense and could have done with a lighter touch but overall the album is one worthy of your attention in the conviction and the energy provided.
Paul McGee
Cody Jinks Change The Game Late August
There's little doubt that the title of Cody Jinks' latest album is fact-based. The multi-platinum award-winning artist has been self-sufficient from day one and remains self-managed with his handpicked independent team. Despite rowing against the industry's current, his success as a recording and performing artist is phenomenal and places him firmly in the modern outlaw category.
'I'd say this is the most vulnerable record I've ever written,' says Jinks of his new album, CHANGE THE GAME, which he releases on his label, Late August Records. The writing finds the Fort Worth, Texas artist in a particularly reflective mood and writing about - no doubt semi-autobiographically - less than becoming behaviour, self-examination and the unorthodox lifestyle his chosen career imposes.
Emphasising this is the opening track and first single from the album, Sober Thing, which deals with Jinks' pledge to kick his whiskey habit of twenty years ('I don't remember writing some of my biggest songs, but I damn sure remember writing that one'). It's a powerful and forthright ballad, and equally plainspoken is the lively title track, which traces Jinks' ascendency from playing hole-in-the-wall honky tonk bars to the stadium stages he now performs on. Equally reflective and candid is the ballad Outlaw and Mustangs, which also broods over the challenging lifestyle of the career musician.
The format of Jinks' previous albums remains intact, combining mid-tempo ballads (The Working Man, Take This Bootle, A Few More Ghosts) with livelier arena-suited offerings (I Would, I Can't Complain). Backed by his team of exceptionally talented players his Jinks' lived-in coarse vocals, it's business as usual across the album's twelve tracks.
While the banner 'outlaw' is often bandied about to describe anyone with a beard, cowboy hat and record deal, Jinks more than qualifies for that descriptor. He continues an autonomous campaign with his loyal band of players, both on the road and in the studio. That independent stance continues to yield quality albums, and CHANGE THE GAME is up there with his best.
Declan Culliton
Aoife O'Donovan All My Friends Yep Roc
The backdrop to the creation of Aoife O'Donovan's latest album is a movement that took place over a century ago. 2019 celebrated the centenary of the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which granted women the right to vote. This change came about in no small way by the campaigning of suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, who dedicated her life to the cause. Studying Catt's letters and speeches led O'Donovan to create her own chapters on that turbulent and groundbreaking period in history, exploring her political fears.
Recorded as an orchestral project gives the nine tracks - eight of which were written by O'Donovan - a timeless feel. The appropriate remaining track is a cover of Dylan's The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, which details the killing of an African American barmaid by a wealthy young man from a white tobacco farming family, whose sentence for the murder was only six months in a county jail.
The project was an ambitious affair for O'Donovan; four of the tracks (All My Friends, Crisis, Daughters, America Come) fuse her crystalline vocals with those of the San Francisco Girls' Chorus, whose voices come from singers aged twelve to eighteen. The strings throughout are by the chamber orchestra, The Knights, and the brass sections are conducted by the quartet, The Westerlies. Co-production is credited to O'Donovan and her husband, Eric Jacobson, who also conducted the orchestration in the studio.
The opener and previously referenced, All My Friends, is a cry for unity in numbers against oppression. It recalls the courageous band of women marching for liberty over one hundred years ago but, in many ways, is also a plea for empathy and resoluteness at the present time ('Marching on, the Tennessee dawn is lifting o'er the fields. Steady on, America, you know it's time to heal'). Crisis, which follows, includes sections of an impassioned speech by Catt in 1916 and is graced by a gorgeous mandolin break from Sierra Hull. More modern day is Over the Finish Line, which follows the theme and sentiment of O'Donovan's 2022 Grammy-nominated album AGE OF APATHY. Anais Mitchell adds vocals to the song, which offers a degree of optimism despite the present avalanche of fake news and high-risk political rhetoric. Possibly the strongest track on an album that offers so much both musically and lyrically is America, Come. Opening and closing with a direct quote from Catt ('What is the democracy for which the world is battling, for which we offer up our man power, woman power, money power, our all?'), the track perfectly summarises the inklings which lay in O'Donovan's head when she undertook this exquisitely moving album.
Released in a year likely to present the most callous presidential election in United States history, this album is a timely testimonial of the power of the vote and particularly the women who fought courageously and often with immense personal sacrifice for democracy over a century ago. It's also a crescendo hitter vocally and musically, touching on grinding reality and themes of hope and joy alongside a lot of sadness.
Declan Culliton
Niall McCabe Rituals Self Release
Clare Island, a small island (pop. 130) off the Mayo coast in the West of Ireland, is the touchstone for this hugely impressive debut solo album from Niall McCabe. Growing up there in a large family, where his mother was the only teacher in the tiny National School, McCabe absorbed all sorts of musical influences from his family’s pub - Irish trad, folk, rock and soul - and after travelling, he has returned to make his home there again.
The opening track Stonemason encapsulates the loneliness, isolation and physical exhaustion experienced by so many of the Irish diaspora who had to leave the country in their droves over the centuries, driven by economics. Not since Paul Brady’s seminal 1981 HARD STATION album has anyone come as close to evoking those sentiments as McCabe does here, in this reviewer’s opinion. Producer Seán Óg Graham contributes mournful button accordion to further emphasise the pathos, ‘it’s been a hard life too long …’ Midas Touch hits a much happier note, a touching reminiscence of one’s best friend growing up. “The miles we walked between our homes are written in my brain/close my eyes and we’re there again” (we can all relate) accompanied by McCabe’s deft guitar fingerpicking, and there’s Graham again on harmonium and accordion, this time adding a lightness and whimsy. November Swell and Tornado are equally infused with the elemental spirit of island living, never far from the potentially destructive forces of nature, whether that be as a fisherman ‘drawing oars through the wild foam’ or as a child tucked up securely in bed sleeping through a storm. Other more universal themes are explored too: Lost Boys finds a mother looking back at photos of her children, somewhat sad but also excited for their potential futures; Little Sister ponders the effect of relationship breakdown on the children, while the exquisite Superman is the only overtly romantic and confessional love song on the album. The closing song Valhalla is a co-write with Graham’s progressive Irish traditional/folk band Beoga, with whom McCabe has toured in recent years.
Niall McCabe is a multi instrumentalist, here contributing guitars, 5 string banjo, percussion and piano. His producer Sean Óg Graham, who recorded the project in his Bannview Studios in rural Co Antrim, is no less of an accomplished musician, adding guitars, accordion, bouzouki, synths and bass. Comparisons between McCabe and Paul Brady are inevitable - they share a similar tenor vocal style, guitar skills and Americana influences - but McCabe here shows that he is forging his own path. I declared this album as one of my favourites of 2023, when it had a limited Irish release. Now it has been released to the rest of the world, and I will not tire of singing its praises for another year. Check it out
Eilís Boland
Aaron Smith & The Coal Biters The Legend of Sam Davis (and other stories of Newton County, Arkansas) Self Release
This labour of love project for Aaron Smith is an essential purchase for lovers of American folk/acoustic stringband music and who want to delve into the social history of settlers in the 19th and early 20th centuries in America. Over several years, Smith (and various accomplices) mined the archives and living memories and anecdotes of the locals in his native Ozarks and the result is a stunning collection of original songs and an accompanying compact hardback book. The book is a joy from cover to cover - beautifully illustrated with original maps, artwork, newspaper articles, family archives and vintage black & white photos.
Of the fourteen songs included, seven are based on the titular legend of Sam Davis, the ‘raving preacher of Newton County’. Davis’s sister was kidnapped by the Shawnee … or was she? After his fruitless quest to find her, he became the infamous preacher of Big Creek ‘preaching like the eve of judgement day’, recounted with great drama and humour in Looky There. Smith takes lead vocals on all the songs, and his clear tone and deft songwriting means that each story is easy to follow, but indeed can be enjoyed without necessarily following the book. He plays guitars, banjo, mandolin, dobro, french horn, keys and accordina (look it up!). He is joined throughout by the other two members of The Coal Biters: George Holcomb playing bass and clarinet and Ryan Gentry on percussion.
There are four songs telling the true story of the Martain family over three generations, from Henry’s arrival from France in Henry Martain, the enforced march on the Trail of Tears because his wife was Cherokee, through to their ne’er do well grandsons Curly and Tom. Ben de la Cour guests on mandolin on the fascinating 1919 murder-suicide tale, Ab Clayborn. The life story of Granny Brisco is truly remarkable - she was a midwife who rode her horse all over Osage and Possum Trot day and night to reach her patients, until she was thrown from her horse and forced to retire in her early 80s. The kindness of strangers and the unkindness to strangers are recounted in The Snow Child and Dead Man’s Hollow respectively. Sadly, bassist George Holcomb passed away after the recordings.
The package is available direct from Aaron Smith’s website (aaronsmithsongs.com).
Did I mention that I loved it?
Eilís Boland
John Miller and His Country Casuals Losers Hall Of Fame Folk ’n’ Western
That this cover names Miller and his musical comrades is very fitting, as they provide exactly the kind of musical backing that the music requires to give it a resonant authenticity. LOSERS HALL OF FAME follows three previous solo albums and two releases with the band Radio Sweethearts, the last of those released in 2010, showing that no matter how good this music, it is still a struggle for an independent artist who self-releases to bring all the necessary elements together to release new material, especially in physical form (CD and 10” vinyl in this case). Such a release is also, for most artists, a prerequisite to having the reason and opportunity to play live. The performance fees and gig sales are what, all too often, helps to keep an artist (and/or band) afloat.
Perhaps none of this would really matter if the end result sounded undercooked or less than satisfactory. Therefore, that this album is perhaps the best that Miller has yet released is both positive and necessary. It is further enhanced by the fact that Miller’s vocal delivery is top notch throughout. So too is the playing of the band who include Martin Barrett on guitar, double bassist Sy McBain, JT Davidson on steel guitar and drummer DC Amero. All add backing vocals and the arrangements for the songs are shared by Miller and the band, with Sean Read joining him as co-producer. It sounds very much like a labour of love. That Read has previously been a member of The Rockingbirds (an equally bona fide UK country band) and a sought after producer (Dexys and Edwin Collins) shows the effort that has gone into getting this right.
The fact that they all hail from Scotland shouldn’t be an issue, but with so few credible performers from the UK delivering such strong original material these days, it is another mark in their favour. They can stand alongside Ags Connolly and a number of others whose music, past and present, could just as easily have come from Austin, Los Angeles or Nashville.
The eight tracks on this album fall easily into the perennial traditional country themes of failed romances, regret and forbearance. The title track is the tale of a man who is never going to be a winner but consoles himself with the thought that he might end up as noted for that lack of success. That other regular subject matter of turning to alcohol to compensate or at least deaden the loss is what Kissing The Bottle is about - kudos to the vocal from Miller here too. My Side Of The Bed follows a similar pattern and has another impassioned vocal. A man who resorts to tears is self admitted as The Town Crier. The arrangement though is more upbeat on this track.
A time to move on and try new pastures is the topic of The Pity Part Is Over. Memories of a man who has been left behind is where we find him on Old Bus Tickets. It is a cleverly written commentary on living with a past. We’re back on lonely street for Who Am I Supposed To Love as the protagonist asks the faithful question. The album closes with Love Not Alibis, another high note as there is a resolution to a partnership gone cold.
The album does not take the currently popular route of emulating 90s country but rather seems rooted in 60s and 70s era melodic country. There are individual elements that listeners can relate to and be reminded of old favourites and that’s what these eight tracks sound like. It can be only hoped that this leads to a resurgence of activity and acclaim for John Miller. He has stuck to his musical guns for a long time and never fails to show his faith in his love for his chosen musical path. This album will doubtless be in my hall of fame this year.
Stephen Rapid
Andrea & Mud Institutionalised Self Release
The dynamic duo of all things surf western and a myriad of 60’s sounds that draw from the fringes of roots music are back with a new album. As you would expect, they are never going to go anywhere other than where they want to go. They mix their original songs with songs chosen to fit their oeuvre and those tracks are right at home here. There’s Psycho from Leon Payne, the Johnny Cash penned Committed To Parkview, the song written by Mickey Newbury and made famous by Kenny Roger’s First Edition I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In and Mama He’s Crazy written by Kenny O’Dell and recorded by The Judds. All point to an eclectic music collection and some considered choices that fit with the theme of the title and the cover photo (taken by Colburn). These choices also sit comfortably beside their own co-written material. Soundwise, they also get the same consideration to overall sound and arrangement as the original songs. That they produced the album alongside the album’s engineer Damon Moon is further testament to doing it their way without outside influences. They did a damn good job, to these ears.
Both Andrea Colburn and Mud Mosley played multiple instruments for the sessions but also brought in a number of additional players to add an extra depth to the material. Some fourteen musicians contribute, on bass, drums, fiddle, banjo, brass, dobro, keyboards, pedal steel and backing vocals, all of which shows a real commitment to getting the sounds they heard for the recordings done with actual human players rather than through samples. On top of that are the joint and shared lead vocals of Colburn and Mosley, which are the central to the whole venture, Mosley’s deep baritone contrasting with Colburn’s sweet clarity.
Lovers of gothic country duets and baritone guitar and twang will be satisfied here too, as they easily live up to their description of ‘surf and western’, evoking many a memorable movie soundtrack. There is a generous fourteen tracks included, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the overall sound and psycho-situationists set-up. This is not something that will find favour with certain segments of the Americana fraternity, but for those who favour something heading more towards the outer limits, this will be something to savour following the wait since they released their last, equally individual, album.
It’s undeniable that some of the songs touch on dark topics ,such as the these lines from the title track which speak of a dysfunctional relationship: “The pain inside I can no longer hide / From the things you’ve done to me / I’m institutionalized.” Or the situation of bank closures in Bankman: “The bank may own my house / They don’t own my soul / Can’t take it from me / No matter what I owe.” There is also an example of the kind of phone conversation within the song that many have had. Owing your space/home is talked about in Trouble’s Gone too. The kind of hard times many deal with on an ongoing day to day exchange is summed up in a simple two line ultimation from This Time: “Choose the bottle or me / You only get one this time.”
It would be misleading then to think that because these lyrics are undoubtedly cryptic means that the music is following that same path - it doesn’t. Or that the writers are themselves the subjects of the songs. Rather, they are writing about associations that are common indeed but from a character perspective, rather than any personal one. That they have written and recorded this album together highlights the harmony in their discordant soundscape.
This album is a step forward for Andrea & Mud, one that has taken time, money and much creativity to achieve. It’s a lot of fun to boot. So sit back and enjoy as Mama, we’re all crazy now. Locked up and loaded.
Stephen Rapid
Jay Gavin Road Ready Self Release
From the opening track Mexican Food, Cold Beer And Tattoos you know you’re in good company. Jay Gavin comes close to the humour, observation and humanity of John Prine. Prine was a true original but Gavin, while bringing to mind one of his particular heroes, follows a similar path that makes his own take on life a road to follow in its own right. A Canadian by birth Gavin grew up in Prince Edward Island. He soon decided to making a living by labouring on such hard-working jobs as that of a fishing boat, through to other occupations like those of construction sites in a number of different locations. Music, however, was also a central inspiration that eventually saw him touring around North America with various bands; playing bass with both punk and metal bands. However he returned to the earlier influences of folk, country and bluegrass in more recent times and we all gain from that decision.
In 2019 he released BOAT ON A WHALE, an album he recorded with Jeff Zipp and later he recorded a number of single releases including his version of Prine’s classic song Paradise. So, unsurprisingly, one song here Rhythm & Rhymes refers to that anthem and how the story of that landscape still continues. This time out, on the recommendation of fellow long-time troubadour Billy Don Burns (who joins Gavin on backing vocals on Better Man), he decided to record this new album in Nashville with producer Denny Knight, who had worked previously with Conway Twitty and Waylon Jennings. They also added another country-oriented engineer in Bobby Bradley, and they were joined by a host of sympathetic players like pedal steel player Steve Hinson, Jeff Williams on guitar, bassist Jay Gorman, William Ellis on drums, keyboard player Jeff Armstrong and Deanie Richards on fiddle. All did a great job in getting this right.
As mentioned at the start, Gavin has a well-worn, life-seasoned voice that is easy to like and one that brings these material to life with the appropriate amount of authenticity and attitude. One that makes you smile as well as revealing the truth that exists in many of these songs. Seen Better Days details a life that has seen just that; it has a nice mix of banjo and keyboards over a solid toe-tapping beat. The title track sums up an early inclination to travel the highways. It was something that he understands, that the foot-loose need to keep on keeping on. “Daddy gave me traveling bones / I’m going to make some miles.” The belated self realisation of why his woman left him is there in Maybe It Was Me in which his analysis comprehends that he, in fact, maybe had it back to front after all with “I was thinking it was you / I was certain it was you … alright, maybe it was me.”
The slow paced tale of trying to understand what’s happening and what might not be changed is something that he outlines in Government Tobacco, pleading to “Let me die with my boots on.” The aforementioned return to Muhlenberg County is a jaunty tale told in Rhythm & Rhymes, wherein the central character in John Prine’s song is also mentioned here. That Mr Peabody’s train is “still rolling on / it gets longer everyday.” Perhaps more serious in nature and full of great fiddle and twanging guitar is the sometime cowboy philosophy of Better Left Alone. The final songs has two parts, firstly another infatuation with Girl From The Liquor Store which leads to Bear Loves Honey looking at the things that he knows that he loves, it speeds up towards the end of the song as he outlines those things and makes a good place to bring the album to a conclusion.
Jay Gavin was a new artist to me, but one I can recommend, as all the songs are memorable and enjoyable in equal measure. This is not an album that is about reinventing the wheel, rather it is about keeping it turning and knowing that the road still goes on forever.
Stephen Rapid
Matt Owens Music, Jack Cade, Cody Jinks, Aoife O'Donovan, Niall McCabe, Aaron Smith & The Coal Biters, John Miller and his Country Casuals, Andrea & Mud, and Jay Gavin.