Breaking Slow, Anthony D’Amato (from the Blue Rose Music release At First There Was Nothing)
Anthony D’Amato is on a creative tear. Fresh from the this summer’s debut of Fantastic Cat, the songwriter collective of which he is a founding member, D’Amato has released an album that ranks among the finest of his on-going career.
D’Amato has long been a phenomenal lyricist, filling his songs with wordplay that is both intelligent and impactful. Album opener “The Long Haul” is a fine example. The joyous song professes his commitment to what we can assume is a loved one, singing “I won’t let you down, I’m in for the long haul.” Of course it’s lines in the song like “Each night I call from a new state, first depression and then New Jersey” that showcase how well he can turn a phrase.
Dealing with adversity as well as the quest for happiness and contentment are a recurring themes. I’m particularly partial to “Trying to Change” and its upfront recognition that change is difficult – “I’m trying to change but it’s fucking hard to do.” The horn-fueled swagger of “Broken Tooth Smile” finds D’Amato declaring, “You can knock me down down down nine times and then just watch me get myself right back up ten”.
He turns the attention away from himself on the somewhat funky folk rock of “The Oyster and the Pearl”. “The going’s tough and the quitting’s cheap,” he says, “but that don’t sound like you to me.”
The album’s standout, at least to these ears, is the majestic “Breaking Slow”. An insistent piano, accompanied by regal horns, avoids the maudlin while letting the lyrics portray the pain of heartbreak.
You think by now I’d recognize this pounding in my chest
You think by now I’d torn out all my ribs to get some rest
You’re never gonna drown it out with volume or with noise
‘Cos honey it’s the silence that’ll drive you out your mind
and steal your voice…
That’s the sound a heart makes oh when it’s breaking slow
At First There Was Nothing further cements D’Amato’s reputation as one of the leading songwriters of his generation, an artist who excels at exploring the depths of human emotion and relationships with a perceptive eye and evocative lyrics.
Problem With It, Plains (from the Anti- Records release I Walked With You a Ways)
Plains, the collaboration of Jess Williamson and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, strike gold with I Walked With You a Ways. There’s an airiness fostered in part by the combination of their voices (think the country version of Lucius) and the restrained but sparkling arrangements. These are songs that are filled with a dusty desert air yet they flow with an inviting warmth.
Williamson’s “Abilene” finds the singer leaving behind both a town and a lover. “I’d a stay there forever, ’til death do us part,” she says before declaring, “Texas in my rearview, Plains in my heart, couldn’t hold it together when Abilene fell apart.”
Crutchfield takes a companion to task on the feisty “Problem With It”, chastising “If you can’t do better than that, babe, I got a problem with it” while “Easy” is a gentle but heartening song of empowerment as the duo harmonize:
It’s not gonna be easy, bab? and you’re not gonna believ? it
When you shake off
What’s weighing you down heavily
But it’s not gonna be easy
“No Record of Wrongs”, with its biblical reference, is an upbeat ode to a relationship that moved too fast, the singer wanting to slow things down but realizing that doing so likely results in its end.
The closing title track is a breathtaking reflection on a past relationships.
On the winding path of life
Sometimes you walk alone
‘Cause people come and go
There is a season for each one
They change your heart, and then it’s done
Well I’ll be better all my days
‘Cause I walked with you a ways
I Walked With You a Ways is an album of tremendous warmth and beauty… and hopefully the beginning of an ongoing collaboration.
When In Rome, When In Memphis, Cory Branan (from the Blue Elan Records release When I Go I Ghost)
There are few songwriters whose bite is as sharp as Branan. And on When I Go I Ghost it is as sharp as ever. “When In Rome, When In Memphis”, a bruising rocker that features Jason Isbell and Brian Fallon, kicks things off in glorious fashion. Branan sings about someone living it up on the road but still not finding contentment that can be found at home:
All these echoes of what I coulda, woulda, shoulda said
But I prefer not to speak ill of the dead
Another bender won’t bend no bars apart
Be still my incarcerated heart
“That Look I Lost”, featuring Muscle Shoals style strings and horns, finds the singer regretfully looking back on a failed relationship. “I’ll spend the rest of my life dying to find that look I lost, that look I lost, dying to find that look I lost in her eye.”
The relationship roles change on the following “When I Leave Here”. The electric guitars are dark, brooding, and loud as Branan sings, “I said, I give you my love; the fuck you think it’s for?”.
The storytelling gets exceptionally dark on “Pocket of God” and “Room 101” which both chronicle characters falling into the depths of drug addiction. The jangly and happy-go-lucky melody of “One Happy New Year” follows but, Branan being Branan, things aren’t quite what they seem. The lyrics chronicle a couple fighting on New Year’s Eve until the singer exclaims, “Can we have just one happy new year?”.
When I Go I Ghost is classic Branan, with nary a punch pulled – either lyrically or musically.
Bad Spell, Larkin Poe (from the Tricki-Woo Records release Blood Harmony)
Don’t be lulled in by the restrained slide guitar that kicks off Larkin Poe’s latest album. It takes all of two and a half minutes for opener “Deep Stays Down” to explode in a blues rock fury. And it only gets more intense from there as sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell take no prisoners on Blood Harmony.
“Bad Spell” recalls Jimi Hendrix in the best possible way, guitars wailing as Rebecca sings, “boy you cast a bad spell, when I catch you you’re gonna catch hell.” “Southern Comfort” and “Bolt Cutters and the Family Name” are especially potent – classic Southern rock fueled by the sisters’ ferocious guitars. “Kick the Blues” does its title proud, with Megan’s slide guitar particularly fiery.
“Georgia Off My Mind” reflects on the sisters’ journey from Georgia to Nashville and the gravitational pull of their home state (“Spinning Ray Charles records till the sun goes down; but I cry when he sings that song of you.”).
They slow things down – without losing any of the emotional punch – on “Might As Well Be Me”. It’s only a brief respite though, as the explosive guitars return on the bruising “Summertime Sunset”.
If you like your music raucous and loud, you won’t find much better than Larkin Poe. Blood Harmony further cements their reputation as one of today’s finest purveyors of blues-based rock.
Miles and Miles, The Heavy Heavy (from the ATO Records release Life and Life Only)
Although they hail from Brighton, UK, the Heavy Heavy seem to have been born of 1960’s San Francisco. Their debut EP channels that storied period of music history with vocal harmonies that call to mind the Mamas and the Papas and music that recalls the brawniness of the Jefferson Airplane. Yet even with a familiar sound, the group infuses their music with a youthful energy. Couple that with their strength of their songwriting and they are a band to watch.
Paranoid Heart, John Fullbright (from the Blue Dirt Records release The Liar)
It’s easy to lament that Fullbright isn’t more prolific with his albums, this being only his third studio album and his first since 2014. But I guess music of this caliber takes time… and it was worth the wait. The Liar is a gem from start to finish – from the songwriting to the musical performances to the singer’s expressive voice.
The title track, fueled by a tremendous slide guitar, is the tale of using alcohol as a means to overcome disheartenment and anxiety. “God grant me whiskey and I won’t lie no more,” he sings, adding in a moment of clarity that “half of life is looking back on what you’re trying to be.”
That topic continues on the insistent “Social Skills”, Fullbright describing a character for whom alcohol has become a crutch:
Some people suffer from a social stage fright
Like the world is a sniper with a bright spotlight
You can hide behind a curtain
You can hide behind a mask
Or stand in the center with a high-ball glass
Yet the song also shows the other side of the story, as Fullbright acknowledges, “But the very next morning ain’t it hard to find that you’re leaving every single thing you love behind” and later adding “nothing ever suffers but the liver and the soul”.
“Paranoid Heart” is best described as an atypical love song. It starts off with a simple strummed guitar but builds into a spirited rocker as Fullbright declares, “Well maybe reckless hearts come in pairs, maybe that’s the only shake we’ll ever get to call fair.”
“Lucky” is a heartbreaker, the tale of a woman whose broken heart has taken a toll on her soul:
There’s a darkness in a broken heart
That fights off every dawn
And staves away each place to start
To heal and carry on
Inviting new pain
Like moths to a flame
That burns a hole inside
Until it can’t hold love again
Musically, The Liar further establishes Okie Fullbright as a true steward of the Tulsa sound, continuing the musical legacy of legacy of Leon Russell and Shelter Records. He does so, however, with a songwriting voice that is definitively his own.
See Shawn’s take on the album here.
Heartbreak, Benedicte Braenden (from the self-released Raging River)
What is it about Norway and Americana music? The country is putting Nashville on notice with the wondrous music emerging from across the Atlantic. The latest addition to the list of Norwegian artists worthy of your attention is Benedicte Braenden.
Braenden leans in the country direction, blending the attitude of the 1960’s with the music of the 1970’s. Think Dolly Parton’s engaging combination of confidence and grace. And like Parton, Braenden isn’t confined to a specific corner of country. Her latest album stretches from the harmonica-fueled romp of opener “The Place That Satan Ever Slept” to the slow dancing goodness of “Can’t Feel My Heart” to the insistent groove of “Heartbreak” to the retro piano and string laced “If I Write You a Love Song” to, well, you get it. Raging River is steeped in Nashville country, even if it wasn’t written there.
Nobody’s Sweetheart, Caitlin Rose (from the Missing Piece Records release CAZIMI)
Who says that the music industry can’t be challenging. Just ask Caitlin Rose, who is releasing her first album in a decade. Fortunate for us she picks up right where she left off – delivering an album’s worth of songs that bristle with lyrical confidence and melodic charm.
The album’s finer moments find Rose exploring relationships at all stages of their evolution. Whether she’s counseling a friend with a broken heart on the fiesty “Nobody’s Sweetheart” (“When you’re nobody’s sweetheart you make the rules; nobody’s sweetheart, nobody’s fool”) or empowering herself on the glorious “Getting It Right” (“Call it bad timing, call it whatever you want; but I won’t spend another lifetime getting it wrong”), Rose calls it like she sees it. She cushions the blows, however, with the warmth of her voice and the charm of her pop melodies.
Leaving Me (Is the Loving Thing to Do), Nicki Bluhm (from the Compass Records release Avondale Drive)
Nicki Bluhm sure knows how to write a R&B pop song, a point well made on her latest album. Songs like “Friends (How To Do It)”, her duet with Oliver Wood, and “Love to Spare”, where she tells a lover “I got love to share but none to spare right now”, crackle with a soulful goodness. “Feel” combines upbeat percussive and horn-driven verses with a simmering and bluesy chorus.
The album’s standout, however, is the somber and moving ballad “Leaving Me (Is the Loving Thing To Do)”. It hearkens back to the gut-wrenching heartbreak of the 1960’s and 1970’s classic country ballads. “The loving you is leaving me,” sings Bluhm, “it hurts to know it’s true that leaving me is the loving thing to do.”
Crow’s Feet, Jasmine Jang (from the self-released EP In Circles Now)
New York City singer-songwriter Jasmine Jang makes quite a statement on her latest EP. The collection of five songs is tied together by a theme of trying to find one’s place in the world – understanding what it is for one’s self and how one relates to the those around us. Jang examines the topic by asking questions more than offering definitive answers, an approach that deepens their impact. In doing so, she uses her words selectively and intentionally, painting lyrical pictures that are delicate yet meaningful.
The musical arrangements, all performed by Jang and producer Harper James, are warm and engrossing. They gently wrap themselves around the melodies, atop which sits Jang’s gentle and enthralling voice. It all comes together to create a wonderful – and poignant – musical statement.
Silver Lining, Truth & Salvage Company (from the Blackbird Record Label / Indie AM Gold / Oakwilde Records release Atoms Form)
Truth & Salvage Co. are true rock and roll survivors. Their latest release was actually recorded in 2012 but didn’t pass muster with their record label. So now, ten years later, the group have pulled it off the shelf and are giving it a proper release. Atoms Form is filled with hearty California roots rock that is brought to life with rich vocal harmonies. And although the band features multiple singer-songwriters, the album’s 14 tracks have a cohesive and engaging sound. Which all begs the question as to what the label was thinking – this is one fun and tasty collection of songs.
Here at the End of the World, Alex McMurray (from the self-released The Recent Future)
Alex McMurray is a New Orleans institution. His idiosyncratic style, not to mention his guitar prowess, is immediately recognizable. On his latest album, McMurray takes stock of recent times with his unique perspective. Song titles like “Here at the End of the World” and “Crazy World” give an indication of his point-of-view. The former is rather fatalistic, the singer inviting a companion to slowly dance with him as the world collapses around them – “we can simply stand right here when the oceans cry and the bullets fly.” He infuses the latter song with a desire, if not hopeful expectation, that things could be better:
it’s a crazy world but who knows maybe
today is the day
that everybody say
to hell with this screaming
let’s do a little dreaming
roll up our sleeves
and see who believes
that this might be worth saving
McMurray takes a respite from such weighty fare with “Million O’Clock”, his ode to hazy late nights at the bar. He soberly captures the experience as he sings, “will you find your way home in the broad daylight, somewhere between sunday or saturday night” later adding “better know where you’re going or you might lose your way.”
Wake Up America, Willie Nile (featuring Steve Earle)
Willie Nile sure knows his way around a rock anthem, a point he drives home with his latest single. With an assist from Steve Earle, Nile makes a plea for civility.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.