Alameda, Anna Rose (from the White Pony/Electric Child Music release Last Girl of the Rodeo)
Anna Rose doesn’t pull any punches – lyrically or musically – on Last Girl of the Rodeo. The LP cycles through the collapse of a relationship, bleeding raw emotion as it does.
The deeply brooding “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” finds Rose questioning a relationship, knowing that it isn’t healthy. “And I could see it coming like a train car running off its tracks, I’m not alright,” she sings before an electric guitar starts tearfully wailing towards the end of the song.
“Alameda” is a centerpiece that captures the angst of the break down. The rawness of her vocals is chilling as she proclaims, “Well, I tried my best to love you, to say your name out loud but you can’t shine a silver lining on this dark a cloud” before she unleashes its full power on the song’s chorus.
Rose takes her lover to task, even as she maintains a sense of vulnerability, on “Already Gone”. She opens the song confesses “you really messed me up this time” before declaring, “you want to stand in the same place forever when I’m already gone.”
She hints at new beginnings with the closing title track, admitting “Now I’m back at the line, back at the start”. The song builds in volume and intensity before concluding in what sounds like a fiery explosion. “If I will or I can, it’s for me to decide,” she asserts, “My freedom ride, it’s my freedom ride.”
Stay, Esther Rose (from the New West Records release Safe to Run)
You can take people out of New Orleans but you can’t take New Orleans out of the people. Such is the case with Esther Rose’s Safe to Run. The singer-songwriter may have relocated to New Mexico from her long-time home in New Orleans, but the sounds of the Crescent City flow through the album – from the fiddle and acoustic guitar on “St. Francis Waltz” to the simple electric guitar paired with brushed drums on “Insecure”.
The album’s 11 songs vacillate between a curious wanderlust and a quest for contentment. In some cases, it’s about finding comfort in companionship, as in “Stay”. “Well, I’m okay, my baby… if you’re alright,” she sings before adding, “stay if you want to”.
In other cases it’s about finding one’s own path. That sentiment is most notable on the title track as Rose reflects:
Everybody’s telling me good, good luck
I don’t know what it means, or have I got enough
What if I left the city behind
Just dreaming in the trees, untie my mind
New Orleans or New Mexico, it really doesn’t matter – Safe to Run has a bright and airy grace, one that is anchored by Rose’s charm.
I Need a Little Shame, Whitney Rose (from the MCG Recordings release Rosie)
For better or worse, the definition of country music has gotten muddied in recent years. That’s why it’s good to get a reminder of what true country really is – and that’s exactly what Austin by way of Canada singer-songwriter Whitney Rose delivers.
Opener “Tell Me a Story, Babe” is a wonderful plaintive ballad that finds the singer asking a companion to comfort her after a bad day. She looks back fondly on the summer days of her youth on “Can’t Remember Happiness”, declaring, “can’t imagine happiness that’s happier than this.”
She indulges in a moment of escapism on the laid back “Honky Tonk in Mexico”. “What’s that on your shoulders, darling? It looks like the weight of the world,” she sings before counseling “ain’t no harm in escaping even if it’s just for one day.”
Rose, of course, is equally proficient on the less happy side of the musical fence. The frolicking “My Own Jail” explores the self-inflicted difficulties that people can manifest for themselves. “Minding My Own Pain” is a winsome tale of sitting at a bar and drowning one’s sorrows. In this case, Rose wants to be alone yet ends up listening to the laments of those around her. “Yeah, you sure hear a lot when you’re mindin’ your own pain.”
“You’re Gonna Get Lonely” is a classic country kiss-off in the finest sense of the word, with fiddle, steel guitar, and honky-tonk piano trading licks as Rose declares, “You found freedom’s making your heart race, won’t be long until it slaps you in the face,” before adding “change your mind and bless your heart, ‘cause it will be too late… You’re gonna get lonely.”
Dark Cloud, Shinyribs (from the Hardcharger/Blue Elan Records release Transit Damage)
Kevin Russell and the band Shinyribs have built a reputation as a wonderous party band. Their music is an amalgam of Memphis soul, New Orleans R&B, and Texas country; their live shows always raucous affairs. Transit Damage, however, finds songwriter Russell in a more somber mood. Songs like “Pink Turns to Blue” and “Dark Cloud” chronicle characters facing down difficult times, from an unplanned pregnancy (the former) or a desire to escape from a troubled past (the latter).
He offers a more encouraging point of view on “All the Best Things” and “Reconsider It”. “The best things aren’t always the things we want,” he sings on the former, “all the best things they’re there for you.” On “Reconsider It” he counsels “Every change is a form of liberation, liberty is a kind of alteration.”
Musically, the funkiness that is a Shinyribs hallmark persists, albeit in a more restrained fashion. Transit Damage rollicks with plenty of horns, harmonies, and charm.
Something Beautiful, Ashton Nyte (from the Intervention Arts release Autumn’s Children)
Ashton Nyte’s Autumn’s Children is an album for the season in more than just name. It musically conjures up chilling temperatures and greying skies that foreshadow winter’s approach.
Some of the album’s finer moments are acoustic and quiet. “Something Beautiful” and “Cinnamon” offer differing views on relationship dynamics. In “Something Beautiful”, Nyte tries to identify what his partner sees in him, something that he doesn’t see in himself. “She believes in something beautiful,” he sings, “something I have never been.” In the latter, he reflects on a past relationship, “I still taste the cinnamon and poetry of you.”
Yet Nyte doesn’t shy away from using elaborate arrangements to paint majestic musical landscapes. A sinewy guitar and emphatic bass combine to give “Rivers Run Black” a simmering uneasiness while an ominous guitar contrasts with resolute drums to give “Into the Dream” a powerful dark undercurrent.
And then there is Nyte’s voice, which is an instrument unto itself. It is rich and compelling with a Bowie-esque intensity. It resonates even when he whispers, adding to the dramatic tension that underpins Autumn’s Children.
Runaway, James Maddock (from the Songs of Avenue C release Night Work)
New York’s James Maddock is a wonderful storyteller, a point he reinforces with the opening line of his latest album. “I see it all from the center stage, I know how to read a room,” he sings in lead-off track “Runaway”.
The songs that follow wonderfully capture the experiences of people – mostly working class – who are earnestly, if not always happily, making their way in life. The topics range from every day moments to more complicated junctures, all told with a compassionate eye for detail. Maddock’s weathered voice, coupled with his warm and melancholy sense of melody, give the songs tremendous depth and emotion.
On the lighter end of the spectrum are songs like “Lavender Blue”, a warm-hearted ode to small town life and sharing it with a loved one. “The sun comes up on our sleepy town, you’re in the garden in your dressing gown, in your lavender blue,” he sings, “The sun beams dance in your long grey hair, I get all sentimental when I see you there in lavender blue.”
At the darker end of the spectrum is the ballad “The Tornado and the Trailer Park”. The song documents a couple dealing with the end of their relationship – she at a bar, he, a truck driver, on the road.
A trucker pulls off the road to cry, cleans his mirrors and wipes his eyes
he makes his money the good ol’ fashioned way
She’s not even thinking ‘bout him any more as someone buys her another shot
You’re the tornado, he’s the trailer park
He closes the album with the notable “Ordinary People”, a reserved yet uplifting ode to the universality of the experiences we all face – whether one is dealing with a broken heart or rescuing someone in trouble – and the need to celebrate the kindness and achievement that surrounds us.
So check yourself when you’re thinking everyone is a fool
And catch yourself when you’re telling yourself no one is hurting but you
Then stand up in the crowd raise your hand high and be proud
Because there ain’t no ordinary, no ordinary, ain’t no ordinary people ‘round here
Gutters of Fame, Bark (from the Dial Back Sound/Cool Dog Sound release Loud)
Tim Lee and Susan Bauer Lee have been doing the rock and roll thing for quite some time. How else to explain a song called “Gutters of Fame”? But with time comes consistency, and with Loud the Mississippi duo return with another collection of pop melodies that they bash and grind into gritty rock and roll. In some cases leaning into power pop territory (“Radar LUV”) at other times digging into garage rock (“Gutters of Fame”), and in all cases steeping the music in the Mississippi mud.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.