My Darling Clementine are Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish, who were married for 10 years before they formed the band, both being professional musicians.

They play country / Americana and say they are influenced by country duos from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Tammy Wynette and George Jones, or Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Their Wikipedia page photo is taken at Biddulph Town Hall, so some of you must have seen them.

Most recently the duo released three EPs called Country Darkness, re-interpretations of the country songs of Elvis Costello, in collaboration with Steve Nieve, an actual member of both Elvis Costello’s Attractions and Imposters.

The recordings also feature Colin Elliott, Shez Sheridan and Dean Beresford, from the Richard Hawley band. The album was produced in collaboration between Nieve, King and Elliot, who also produced Hawley.

So: a classic country/Americana band playing country tunes by master songwriter Costello and featuring Richard Hawley band members; you can predict the sound. And our problem with this is that you can predict the sound – it’s well played, luscious, nicely paced and the songs are all good, leaving us nothing to say.

If you’re a fan of soulful country, or like Elvis Costello, you’re clearly going to think it wonderful, which it is. It opens with a nice, slow arrangement of Either Side of the Same Town that sets the standard, and the tone. The Crooked Line varies the sound with a Cajun feel and Stranger In The House brings in some rock n roll, while That Day Is Done is proper old school country. Piano ballad Heart Shaped Bruise is beautiful.

If you bought the EPs, this is all 12 songs plus the predictable bonus track, a My Darling Clementine song, Powerless.

Help the artist make a living. Buy from here.