Jaywalkers Move On Self Release
English trio Jaywalkers crisscross the Americana highways, merging bluegrass, folk, old time and country music into a delicious rootsy melange on their fifth album, MOVE ON. Together as a band for eighteen years (which in itself is no mean feat) they combine top class musicianship with impressive songwriting and three-part harmonies, all of which are on show here. Mike Giverin is the main songwriter, and also plays mandolin and guitar. Jay Bradberry is the fiddle player with the stunning lead vocals, and the essential beat is held down by Lucille Williams on upright bass.
Opening song The Radio is a tongue-in-cheek, rocky number, with the protagonist wondering how to get their song played on the radio. Jaywalkers shouldn’t have any problems like this, given the strength of this record. Two of the strongest songs, which at first glance both sound like they will be ‘broken heart’ numbers, actually concern themselves with the theme of climate change. The Longest Day opens with the unmistakeable dobro sound of guest Rob Ickes, emphasising the sombre realisation that the summer droughts are presaging the inevitable slide towards global warming. Gone Forever opens with Giverin’s sweet but mournful mandolin and features Ickes again, with Jay Bradberry’s powerful vocals channeling Mother Earth, ‘you know how you can save me/stay on this path and I’ll be/gone forever’. Chilling.
Move On is an actual heartbreak song this time, a combination of banjo (Stu Williams) and mandolin giving it an old timey feel but with a modern sensibility - it’s time to pick up the pieces and move on. The erratic flight pattern of the snipe (a waterbird in decline) is emulated in the swooping and soaring of fiddle and mandolin in the breathless instrumental Flight of the Snipe, and another illustrious Nashville based guitarist, this time none other than Trey Hensley, adds phenomenal acoustic guitar.
A couple of contrasting covers are included: the jazz standard Aint’ Nobody’s Business allows Jay Bradberry to show that her sultry vocals are perfect for this genre too, while she adds great bluesy fiddle parts, and Larry Cordle’s oft-covered bluegrass standard gets a successful outing, with more hot guitar from Trey Hensley - no ‘dialling it in’ here! Playsuit, co-written with Bradberry, is a fun whimsical number, while the album closes with a lonesome country ballad, December in the Desert.
They didn’t have to go far from their Cheshire base to find their producer - Joe Rusby produced, recorded and mixed the record in his Chester studio. Jaywalkers have produced an album that is up there with anything coming out of the US right now - seek out and enjoy.
Eilís Boland
Tip Jar Road Of No Return Self Release
Dutch couple Bart de Win and Arianne Knegt are the central source that spins the magic dust through the songs of Tip Jar, with superb harmonies mixing with the bright melodies in creating songs about love and life. The true spirit in the music espouses a loving awareness and a code for life that is one of inclusivity. Indeed, their last album was titled SONGS ABOUT LOVE AND LIFE ON THE HIPPIE SIDE OF COUNTRY (2022), and involved many of the musicians who appear on this new collection of twelve songs. They include friends from both sides of the Atlantic with the recording process split between Austin Texas (USA) and Eindhoven (The Netherlands).
The combined talents of Bart de Win (piano, keyboards, accordion, Wurlitzer, vocals) and Arianne Knegt (lead vocals), are complimented by Harry Hendriks (banjo, guitar, ukulele, harmonies), Eric van de Lest (drums, harmonies), Joost van Es (violin), Tonnie Ector (double bass), Baer Traa (harmonies), Walt Wilkins (acoustic guitar, harmonies), Bill Small (bass, harmonies), Pat Manske (drums), John Chipman (drums), and Scrappy Jud Newcomb (electric guitars). This eclectic mix of talent from both sides of the divide come together to produce really inspiring music and the superb arrangements linger in the ether long after initial listening.
The highlights include a simple love song Corner Of Your Heart, played on piano by Bart de Win and beautifully delivered as a tribute to his wife. The opening song Road Of No Return is another stand out song with a country blues feel making an impressive statement. The soulful groove of All Good is infectious with the collective harmony vocals lifting the song to great heights, while the Bluegrass vibrancy of Standing On the Corner features some outstanding violin, courtesy of Joost van Es. The reflection on Be Someone has Arianne wanting to break beyond stereotypes and allow for a different perspective.
The love song I’ll Be Here is a declaration of devotion through hard times and Window Girl is another statement of togetherness through life’s challenges. Another song On My Way is a late night rendezvous with a warm fire and a glass of your favourite drink, reflecting upon the vagaries of love and life, with the risk of leaving yourself vulnerable in relationships stacked against the urge to remain private and closed, ‘I will try to see it through, And in the end I’ll be someone new.’ Another example of the excellent songwriting, and the entire album is a strong statement of the joy to be found in talented musicians coming together with a shared vision. Superbly crafted and delivered.
Paul McGee
Slowman The Invisible Son Slow
The opening track The Invisible Son is a strong rocking statement for all that follows here. A song of rebellion that also features a tribute to a father who displayed his love in a quiet way, the song highlights a great dynamic that continues across the eleven songs included. Restless is another rocker that highlights the guitar prowess of Svante 'Slowman' Törngren on guitar and vocals, ably assisted by Owe Eriksson on bass, and Thomas 'Tompa' Björklund on drums.
On/Off is a great example of the fluid musicianship and prowess as the trio ruminate on relationship woes ‘It’s hard to do it right, When she’s always holding the key.’ Songs like Crying In the Rain and Best Years Yet To Come highlight an acoustic blues and a swamp groove that really captures the essence of the band.
Harvest Home is a warm tribute to a local watering hole where the local community gathers together to celebrate life and Walking Down Our Streets is a slow song that honours the past and a relationship that endures in the memory ‘I miss you darling, But I’m still on my feet, Walking down our streets.’ It is a tribute to a loved one who lost a battle to cancer at a young age and it’s a fitting tribute to end an album that includes much to admire in the collective musicianship and the heartfelt delivery of these songs.
Paul McGee
Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters Good Morning Sunshine Blackbird
Portland, Oregon, has long since been a hotbed for alternative music. Alongside household names like The Decemberists, The Shins and Elliott Smith, more underground bands like the now defunct Richmond Fontaine and, in more recent years, Kassi Valazza, Jeffrey Martin, Anna Tivel, and Jenny Don't and The Spurs have been keeping the Portland artistic flag flying. Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters are another talented crew that can be added to that list.
Formed in 2017, they are an all-female Portland-based group that lands somewhere between rock and roll and honky tonk. GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE is their fourth album. It features founding members Ashleigh Flynn (lead vocal, acoustic guitar) and Nancy Luca (electric guitar), alongside artists who have been part of the band's rotating membership. Those players include Carmen Paradise (bass), Leila Chieko (drums), Jenny Conlee (piano & organ), Kathryn Claire (violin, harmony vocals), and Kat Fountain (vocals and harmonica).
The title track, named after the sun rise in the Columbia River Gorge, is more than just an admiration of those spectacular occurrences; it's also a cry for empathy and recovery. With tingling piano, thumping bass lines and crisp pedal steel guitar, its sound recalls mid-career Stones, and that rugged rock and roll is a regular feature on the eleven tracks. They also excel in raw, knees-up, barroom blues with Deep River Hollow and Little Red Wing. It's not all foot firmly on the gas pedal, and Love Is An Ember, complete with weepy pedal steel, and Shake The Stranger tick the country ballad box. A wild drunken night, most probably autobiographical, is recalled in Drunk In Ojai.
All in all, Ashleigh Flynn and her cohorts have aimed to recreate the dynamism of their live shows, and with GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE, they have hit the bullseye.
Declan Culliton
Alison Krauss & Union Station Arcadia Down The Road
It is fourteen years since the release of Alison Krauss & Union Station’s PAPER AIRPLANE, Krauss's first number-one Billboard Country Chart album. ARCADIA finds the exceptionally talented musician and vocalist reunited with Union Station for another contemporary folk, and sometimes bluegrass, album. Those intervening years have yielded a number of projects by Krauss, most notably her solo record, WINDY CITY (2017) and a second collaboration with Robert Plant, RAISE THE ROOF (2021).
Unsurprisingly, given its commercial success, ARCADIA follows a similar template to that which worked spectacularly well with PAPER AIRPLANE. Angelic vocals, exquisite playing and selecting and reworking carefully chosen material are once again the order of the day. The only notable variation with this record is the inclusion of Russell Moore of bluegrass outfit IIIrd Tyme Out, who takes the lead vocals on a number of the tracks, a role which was filled previously by Dan Tyminski. Moore also adds guitar and mandolin and Tyminski is also credited as contributing acoustic guitar and mandolin. The remaining players are Ron Block (bass, vocals), Jerry Douglas (dobro, guitar, lap steel), Adam Steffey (mandolin), Viktor Krauss (piano, strings), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Stuart Duncan (fiddle).
There's so much to enjoy here. Krauss' vocals are simply divine on the two Jeremy Lister-written songs, Looks Like The End Of The Road and album closer There's A Light Up Ahead. Krauss came across the former during a pandemic-driven low point when uncertainty and confusion reigned ('Goodbye to the world that I know, looks like the end of the road'). Moore takes the lead vocal on a reworking of JD McPherson's North Side Gal and The Hangman. The latter is based on a poem by Maurice Ogden, and the musical arrangement is credited to Alison’s brother, Victor. Granite Mills tells the tragic 1874 tale of a factory fire in Massachusetts that took the lives of twenty-three workers, most of them children.
Further highlights are the gorgeous ballads One Ray Of Shine and, Forever and the Civil War tale of a fallen soldier, Richmond On The James, although it's fair to say that Krauss and her players don't put a foot wrong across the ten tracks.
It's business as usual for Alison Krauss & Union Station with ARCADIA. An album that lyrically and musically acknowledges both the past and the present, it will most certainly be featured when the Grammys are next being handed out.
Declan Culliton
The Slow Harvest Selections From The Sad Bastard Songbook Self Release
If your music of choice is an upbeat Saturday night type listen, you are best advised not to read on. However, if the dark and gothic Alt-Country impressions created by the likes of The Handsome Family, Will Oldham, Wovenhand and the late Willard Grant Conspiracy are in your record collection, read on. Wisconsin-based band The Slow Harvest's debut album is a haunting and often unsettling deliberation on mortality, survival and self-reproach, which falls into the masterly territory inhabited by those mentioned above.
The album's title may be somewhat tongue in cheek, but inclusions of There Has To Be More ('I'm being haunted, an old friend he visited me. We sat together talking in my dream, just like we had for years') and This House Is Too Quiet ('The laughter is gone. A tree decked out in tinsel, but it's a week into June') are as spine-chilling as they are enthralling.
The Slow Harvest is songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bryan Kroes, bass player Matt Villmer, Harrison Dole, who plays organ and pedal steel, and drummer Partick Tomter. Tamara Kroes is also credited as a backing vocalist.
Despite its upbeat and groovy delivery, the country two-stepper We're Already Dead plays out like a session on a psychiatrist's couch, and the twangy Time Doesn't Matter grieves sudden and unannounced loss. On a less bleak note the album opens with the tender ode to parenthood, Evensong and closes with an anthem very much of its time, We Could Use A Little Rain. The latter questions living in an increasingly messed up world ('Every morning, there's more bad news like a plague across this town. The crazies are getting crazier while the good ones go insane') and asks if it's time to hit the reset button and start all over again.
'Don't worry, there are a few love songs buried in there too, but honestly, there are no promises for the future of anything. Buyer beware,' warns Bryan Kroes to any potential listener. Heed the warning by all means, but be reassured, this is a body of work that is full-blooded Americana, narrated by deep baritone vocals and perfectly matched players.
Declan Culliton
Tom Dunphy Everything Was New Self Release
With his wife Tara, Tom Dunphy has fronted the award-winning Canadian traditional country band The Rizdales since 2003. Now with this solo album, Dunphy takes a step back to an earlier ethos with some stripped back late 40s, early 50s styled country. The age-worn ache in his voice is full of lonesome heartache, as well as taking as much from those experiences to start all over. The songs are all originals, which he has written as if they were obscure gems from that earlier time, with a cover of the T Bone Burnett written Song To A Dead Man, the track which closes the album and the song from which the title is taken. It is a song that deals with being young, meeting a girl and finding out what the world had (or hadn’t) to offer.
The overall disposition draws from a stripped back approach, comprised of the trio of Dunphy on upright bass and acoustic guitar, with the integrated and effective accompaniment of lap steel from Burke Carroll and Steve Briggs on electric guitar. They effectively keep things moving along without a drum beat (something that you are not particularly aware of as you listen). With that line up, the album plays almost as a live set in a welcoming honky-tonk, with the individual skills of the three players well to the fore. That, in effect, doesn’t allow for a great deal of variation over the length of the album, which will please those who appreciate music from a time when country music was often a more simple and distinctive offering, and often local to specific areas and likes, perhaps not so popular now with those who are used to more contemporary and diverse musical stylings.
The titles here often indiacte where the lyric’s direction is heading, these include Gone For Good, Leaving Train, Headed For A Fall and Big Fool - many a tear in many a beer. But the honestly of the vocal delivery is bolstered by the authenticity of the accompanying arrangements, fitting the overall intention of placing the music in an earlier (if not an easier) time frame. The track You Make Me Shake is a good indicator of the music on offer, both lyrically and musically. “Your cruel seduction’s coming / And I should be running / But the longing starts / And so I’ll let you in / And then the fun will begin / But soon I’m crying.” The material here from Dunphy is well considered and well executed, something that is not always the case on retro oriented projects.
So there is much to like on this solo outing from Dunphy but I don’t think that means we won’t hear more from the Rizdales band again, and this release should please fans of the band as the overall aim comes from a similar frame of mind. The old is again new here, particularly for those who have not previously been exposed to the tight, stripped down sound that was so effective in the past and is again here.
Stephen Rapid
Mike Delevante September Days Truly Handmade
This first solo album from Mike Delevante opens in fine style, with ringing twelve string guitar on a harmony laden slice of roots power pop that is as accomplished as it is enticing. Initially a part of the duo The Delevantes with his brother Bob, both went on to have separate careers within the design industry. Bob has released a number of solo albums, but this is Mike’s first foray under his own name. It is produced by Joe Pisapia and Gary Tallent. Both have previously been associated with the brother’s recordings, but Tallent (best know for his work with the E Street band) has been there from the beginning. All three are based in Nashville now, having moved away from their roots in New Jersey to further their music. Tallest co-produced the band’s Rounder debut LONG ABOUT THAT TIME back in 1995. He also added his lauded aptitude as a bass player along the way, as he does here on this album.
The unit involved in the recording include the aforementioned, along with Bryan Owings and James Dick on drums and Bob also joins in on occasion, playing harmonica. The sound is a throwback to those early recordings which bring ringing guitars and melodic structures throughout, over the solidity of the understated rhythm section. Pisapia adds guitar, keyboard and pedal steel as required throughout, adding colour and tone to those structures. There are thirteen tracks that capture an overall sound that, outside of the brother’s work - either solo or as a band - you don’t get to hear that often in the context of Nashville recorded roots music, with a more timeless and crafted soundscape. Overall Delevante focuses, in these songs, on the positive aspects that later life has brought him. There are moments that are more regretful such as the opening track The Rain Never Came and Only Sometimes, though the former musically is an uplifting gem. There are also redemptive themes as in I Wrote To You, and the more openly affectionate feelings that permeate When You’re Around, and those moments of emotional release mentioned in Good Cry. But largely this album has some sparkling arrangements that hit home. There is also a sense of contemplative meditation in the album’s closing song, Coming Home. So Delevante gives us a range of emotion and ruminations throughout the album, delivered with a sense of unruffled intent.
Delevante is thoroughly at ease here in this company, simply playing music that doubtless makes all involved feel good and it also extends that to the listener. This is an album that has an unpretentious mood, that gets better with familiarity and frequency. As acknowledged, this is an appealing sound that mixes that Rickenbacker guitar sound with keyboards, pedal steel and a solid beat. It’s a sound that seems to have been overlooked for some time, a roots rock melodic confection, that is sometimes heard in more power-pop related settings, all good omens for this writer. The last album the brothers released together was A THOUSAND TURNS back in 2021,and one hopes that there will be more from this talented pair, either together or as individuals. Given how the industry has changed and that both have alternate creative outlets, this may take a little more time, but I think an investigation of the albums under the Delevante name shouldn’t disappoint the discerning seeker.
Stephen Rapid
John Howie Jr & The Rosewood Bluff The Return Of … Schoolkids
For those with a memory for some good hardcore country from back in the mid-90s, the name Two Dollar Pistols was considered among the best bands from that era. They came from the country scene in North Carolina. During their time, they released an EP with Tift Merritt and four albums, all excellent, three on the Yep Roc label. However, despite critical acclaim, the band broke up after a number of different issues. Front man and writer John Howie Jr has now released a brand new album that, once again, highlights his love for classic country, 30 years on from his entry into the fray. Prior to that there was an album LEAVIN’ YESTERDAY with his current band, released in 2011, five years after the last Pistols album.
The opening song Who Needs The Neon? lets you know that Howie hasn’t embraced hip-hop, pop, or any current mainstream deviation from what he believes in and does best. Howie produced the album with Tim Shearer, with Shearer also appearing on electric guitar, alongside Nathan Golub on pedal steel, bassist Mark O’Connor and Dave Hartman (also of Southern Culture On The Skids) on drums. Additionally, John Teer from Chatham County Line adds some fiddle and backing vocals, as does Alec Ferrell, and there’s some cello too from Sarah Glasco to round the sound out. It is one that has an edge, authenticity and heartfelt delivery. As expected the songs deal with heartbreak, hang-ups and the expected the minutiae of honky tonk hearsay, straight-up country rock and soulful roots balladry.
Howie’s material always has the necessary hooks to catch you and pull you in. At varying points the steel guitar, twang-laden guitar, fiddle and danceable rhythm section all mesh as they should to bring the songs out of the barroom and into your consciousness. The tales told are of losing a lover and the regret that follows, and the need to then get over the break-up and move on. If anything, over the years, Howie’s voice has some added depth and grit that add to the overall appreciation of his talents. A look at the titles tells you as much as you might need to know about their origin: Breakin’ Up, Gotta Getaway, How Can I Make You Love Me and The Only Problem I Really Have (Is You), though all the designations deal a similar set of cards.
One song runs into another, as they would if you were witnessing the band live in some appropriate venue, where the dancers are enjoying the sound that surrounds them regardless of what the detail of this particular piece of disappointment might be. Rather you just want the sound to continue to surround you. There are songs that step a little more lightly for the slower dances, like Some People or In The Back Of My Mind. Then there’s those with a little more of a broadly rockin’ roots sound, as in Never Enough. In other words, there’s more than enough here to satisfy and to really welcome the return of Howie Jr. He joins the ranks of some other more recent bands and artists who have an equal love and appreciation of a genre that, not so long ago, seemed to be on the brink of extinction under the weight of a wave of imposters and non-believers. You can believe in this though.
Stephen Rapid