Review Corner

Category: Country

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    Margo Cilker: Pohorylle

    Unusual name, unpronounceable album, gloomy cover: we weren’t expecting much from this but it’s great, and it’s her debut, too. She’s a working, touring musician and the album is inspired by her experiences on the road. At heart it’s rootsy Americana but she draws in other influences. Keyboards are provided by the Decemberists’ Jenny Conlee,…

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    Neil Young and the Promise Of The Real: Noise and Flowers

    Young is churning out his archives at a prodigious rate, some of which are excellent, others for the completist only, as they say. This one is great and if you’ve got a Neil Young fan in the fam, this is one gift you don’t have to worry about for Christmas. The great thing about Young…

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    Mean Mary: Portrait of a Woman (Part I)

    This album is so good we forgot to review it; we played it and played and got to know it so well we thought we’d written about, but we never did. It is, as one might expect, really good. Mary James is basically a country singer, leading on her banjo, but if you can tolerate…

  • My Darling Clementine: Country Darkness

    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…

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    Steve ‘n’ Seagulls: Another Miracle

    For those who don’t know, Steve ‘n’ Seagulls (think about it) are Finns who play proficient bluegrass while doing covers of famous rock tracks. We think their cover of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck made their name, but looking for information on this, we found it riding high in the US bluegrass chart, so it must be good…

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    Peach and Quiet: Just Beyond the Shine

    This self-released album from a Vancouver Island duo is a pleasant mix of pop, country and Americana, with a nice organic feel, possibly recorded in minimal takes.Opener Empty To Fill is a catchy 60s pop tune reminiscent of The Byrds, while the next one up is For My Love, a gentler folk/pop tune with some…

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    Justin Wells: The United States

    The title is a pun: it’s about life in the USA in these divided times but it’s also about the fact that we have more in common than differences, particularly the fact that we’re all born, live and die. “This record starts in the womb, and it ends after death,” Wells says of the album.…

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    Courtney Marie Andrews: Old Flowers

    This new album sees Andrews reflecting on a failed relationship, and the hurt caused has resulted in her best album to date. We played some of her older albums this week and they’re nice but not much more than that; this new one is crisp and tight, and while the songs are not really any…

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    Jeffrey Foucault: Blood Brothers

    When we started this reviewing lark we’d sometimes have a record of the week, although we usually forgot: this week it would be this. Foucault’s from Wisconsin so this is Americana with some of the twang of country. He has an evocative voice and the songs are all good. We’ve not felt this much settled…

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    Harp and a Monkey: The Victorians

    This is a joy of an album, something a little different and with plenty of interest for the listener. The title seems to be from the fact that they’re from Manchester and sing of tales from the city’s industrial history; they’re a band that tells stories set to music. The cover sleeve is a peppered…