Three Chords and the Truth UK

Amy Speace first came to my attention when she played a set at last year’s Maverick Festival. The favourable impression left from that appearance led to downloading her most recent album at the time LAND LIKE A BIRD which confirmed what a high quality singer-songwriter Amy is. Just under twelve months on from that UK visit, which also included a slot supporting Alejandro Escovedo around the country, Amy has announced the next phase of her career with a brand new album and hopefully some dates later in the year. In much the same vein as her previous material, HOW TO SLEEP IN A STORMY BOAT showcases Amy’s extraordinary talent to write, perform and sing beautiful songs in a style that straddles country, folk and all points in between on the Americana spectrum. A classical trait from Amy’s earlier theatrical career can be found in her vocal style as well as the folk influence that brought the subsequent and fruitful attention of the genre’s legendary singer, Judy Collins. Yet Amy has ...

When the Maverick Festival Canadian artist preview  was published in April, it was admitted that little was known about Dennis Ellsworth. Well this has now been corrected as his new album has hit the UK in advance of his mid-summer visit. DUSK DREAMS is the third solo recording from Dennis who hails from Prince Edward Island on Canada’s Atlantic coast and it is an excellent release that will have no problem finding its niche in the UK country, roots and Americana music market. With ten tracks carefully put together by acclaimed producer David Barbe in his Athens, Georgia studio, DUSK DREAMS captures the versatility of Dennis’s ability to master a range of sounds. The album eases through a combination of seamless gear changes to take you on an implicit journey of imagery, emotion and soul searching in a style that encompasses a lot of country, a hint of rock and a touch of lounge jazz blues. With the evocative sound of Matt Stoessel’s pedal steel echoing across the bulk of the ...

The gradual migration of the music of Kenny Chesney from the heartland of his Tennessee upbringing to the tropical climes of an offshore existence has long been a topic for discussion. Perhaps now with no streak of CMA awards to maintain and the opportunity to set his own agenda, the hugely successful country superstar can continue to go about re-defining his sound. This is very much in hybrid mode as while there are strong undertones of a Caribbean influence in LIFE ON A ROCK, some of the more explicit offerings do not really define the album. In particular this refers to the ‘ Spread Love’ track where Chesney has decamped into an alternative world to record, with The Wailers and Elan Atias, an unabated attempt to re-create a soft reggae sound. While it will certainly polarise the country music fraternity, the positive laid-back vibes generated are in sync with many of the other songs which have a more conventional back porch feel to them. There is a greater subtleness to an ext...

As you would expect from two artists who have considerable media experience, Eric Brace and Peter Cooper have once again demonstrated that uncanny knack of delivering a product straight into the approval arms of those music critics seeking a little sophistication. The two stalwarts of the East Nashville alt-country scene have utilised their own talents and engaged with some esteemed contributors to record an album brimful of articulate storytelling and sublime musicianship. As well as creating an intelligently designed listening experience, the duo has skilfully packaged a product that subtly adds value thus ensuring an effective engagement with their target audience. THE COMEBACK ALBUM is a tongue in cheek title as, although it’s only the third album since Eric Brace and Peter Cooper decided to formalise their collaboration as a recording act in 2004, the pair are also extremely active in other projects. Peter Cooper regularly crops up in the UK in his role as a highly regarded c...

With her trademark cowboy hat, rousing vocals and boundless energy, Stacie Collins continues to be an international trailblazer for a raucous rock n’ roll sound that successfully straddles honky tonk, country and rock. After making that iconic migratory journey from Bakersfield, California to Nashville Tennessee, Stacie’s influence continues to spread this side of the Atlantic with an increasing number of venues happy to welcome back her band and their brand of high octane electric fused roots music. Amongst these include the exceptional Musician in Leicester which regularly hosts Stacie in a crowd friendly weekend slot to the delight of her Midlands based fans. In the twelve months since Stacie’s previous extended UK visit, the composition of her band has altered with a Scandinavian segment assigned to support this year’s European trip. With a significant country music contract luring away lead guitarist Jason Graumlich, Swede Conny Bloom has been drafted in, with fellow Scandin...

Nine months after discovering her playing down the order on a bill at a city centre Birmingham pub, this show at the Kitchen Garden Café was the perfect opportunity to check out the progress of Midlands based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Louise Petit. Since the discovery, her double header gig with Annie Dressner in January has also been covered, so in terms of promotion, this headline show with special guests was a positive measure of the evolution of her live performance. Although there was a slight hiccup in the availability of the advertised special guests, fellow local singer-songwriter Tim Judson filled the gap by making the relatively short journey from Wolverhampton and thoroughly entertained the audience with his brand of acoustic folk. As well as fascinating tales of his travels, Tim also demonstrated his musical versatility with a simultaneous playing of guitar and sax. Following this lively opening set, the way was paved for Louise and her rhythmic stal...

Perhaps the most important trait of this sophomore album by the Pistol Annies is that a major Nashville label is prepared to back a project that is drenched in a traditional sound and wraps it heart right round the roots of country music. There is no finer young female talent plying their trade in Music City than Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley and the fruits of their latest collaboration ANNIE UP is a consummate masterpiece of heritage with a contemporary twist. This is an unashamed attempt to strip back the metaphors and imagery in song writing and produce a string of explicit accounts of everyday issues that have been a central theme of country music over the decades. Each Annie has drawn on their specific and diverse experience of a southern upbringing to cover in no particular order – drink, sin, love, loss, pretense, god, defiance, eternity, sadness and heartbreak. To achieve this in a compact 12 track – 43 minute release, aligned with sassy vocals, exp...

The divorce between country music and Natalie Maines happened a long time ago and the transition towards discovering her new niche has been a lengthy process. The importance of TAKING THE LONG WAY and its wider industry appreciation cannot be underestimated in the life and career of Natalie Maines, often cast as a polarising figure which has to be said has been debated extensively in the past. However with this debut solo release, MOTHER may just be the catalyst to open a new chapter in the same way that the last Dixie Chicks album closed one. Much has been muted about Natalie’s migration to rock, which you could say began when the band sought solace in the studio of Rick Rubin to record their 2006 Grammy winning album. While undeniably MOTHER has considerable rock undertones, to say a simple statement such as this defines the record is unfair to the multitude of influences absorbed into the making of this album. Just as elements of the alt-country music movement free themselves ...

One of the recurring themes for this year’s reviews is the high quality output from our commonwealth friends Canada. Alongside the many fine releases being received are an ever increasing number of tours being undertaken to the UK and the latest artists to cross our paths are the west coast duo Dustin Bentall and Kendel Carson. Keen followers of country, roots and Americana music will be aware of Kendel who through her twin albums, association with Chip Taylor and plugging from Bob Harris, enjoyed some UK coverage a couple of years ago. Well the good news is she’s back and keen to re-engage with the UK as well as introducing us to her musical collaborator Dustin Bentall.  In what can be described as a low key Birmingham gig at the slightly eccentric Ort Café, an enthusiastic audience was treated to a set predominantly designed to feature Dustin’s material with Kendel offering her trademark fiddle input and backing vocals. Although she did take centre stage to deliver ‘ Oh B...

With his trademark cap, banjo and Juno nominated latest release, Canadian roots troubadour Old Man Luedecke is the epitome of a light traveller. The bard of Nova Scotia doesn’t need a touring entourage, just a bunch of great tunes, an engaging personality and an extraordinary ability to produce a wonderful sound from that much maligned but increasingly fashionable acoustic instrument. Those who braved the elements on this lousy un-spring like evening couldn’t fail to appreciate another fabulous artist booked to grace the stage at Leicester’s premier quality music venue. Old Man, or Chris if you want to get a little more personal, may have had to settle for his latest album TENDER IS THE NIGHT remaining at nominated status and thus conceding the Best Traditional/Roots record award to Rose Cousins at this year’s Canadian version of the Grammys. Yet this excellent release was the centrepiece for his 2013 UK visit which is split into two parts, intersected by a return home for a pend...

Having last month previewed the impressive Canadian contingent due to appear at this summer’s Maverick Festival, attention now turns south of the border to see what delights are being offered from the nation that gave us the Americana genre. The whole ethos behind this festival is to maximise quality from its modest budget and, while the likes of Springsteen continues to grace other venues this summer, there are several fine US artists to catch down at Easton Farm Park in July. Mindy Smith The festival organisers are more likely to trawl the American Music Association for acts rather than its brasher fellow Nashville resident, the Country Music Association, and the star draw this year is a previous winner from their prestigious awards ceremony. Back in 2004, Mindy Smith won the hearts of the AMA awards panel and, partially on the back of her Dolly Parton ‘ Jolene ’ cover, took the Horizon Rising Star honours at that year’s annual shindig. In the near decade since th...

The imagery of their name conjures up a free wandering kindred spirit sauntering around the sprawling suburbs of the City of Angels and onwards into the wider expanse of the vastness of the Golden State. If you spend a little bit of time immersing yourself into MYSTERY DRUG the new album from I See Hawks in LA then this imagery will appear more apparent and ultimately you’ll be consumed by an agenda-free band that leaves an impression of dancing to no other tune than their own. By exhuming all the past influences of west coast country rock, the band formed in 1999 by Rob Waller and the Lacques Brothers, Paul and Anthony, have become torch bearers for this iconic sound. They have perfectly captured the mix of rock riffs and solos, gentle pedal steel laced harmonies and a driving acoustic beat. The song writing of Paul and Rob, aided by several other contributors varies between the implicit and the explicit with an element of mystery to just keep those brain cells lubricated. ...

Any show which opens with ‘ Return of the Grievous Angel’ and ends nearly two and a half hours later with ‘ Sin City’ always has the potential to be a special evening. When you throw into the mix the hosts being two highly respected artists in the wider country music world who have just produced a stellar duet album, then the fulfilling of that potential is never in doubt. They may have first been acquainted almost forty years ago but the current collaboration between Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell has had the critics drooling despite both performers being significantly past their sixtieth year. The album OLD YELLOW MOON is set to receive enormous accolades at this year’s AMAs and in an ideal world also the CMAs but we’ll leave that debate for another day. Audiences in the UK have supported both performers for a very long time and those fortunate to be present tonight witnessed a comprehensive and very enjoyable evening. Those who like their concerts structured were in l...

The concept of judging a book by its cover can have its music analogy in how deep you go past the musical overlay to analyse the lyrical content and meaning of the songs. Obviously it’s down to personal preference to what importance you attach to the depth of a recording and after all, music is such a subjective form of entertainment. WHEELHOUSE , the latest studio album release by leading Nashville artist Brad Paisley is a multi-faceted record that will please both camps. Those with deep pretensions will love to delve into the inner southern naval gazing observations of Paisley while there is sufficient merit in the multitude of ear pleasing country rock and pop anthems to satisfy the casual consumer. Vast amount of media coverage has emerged over Paisley’s attempt to appease the southern racial stereotype in ‘ Accidental Racist’ and while it may appear to have been a brave move from the conservative heartland, he is hardly perceived as a great radical. As an artist probably at...