Three Chords and the Truth UK

  www.brigittedemeyer.com The soul soothing sultry vocal style of Brigitte DeMeyer has long been a favourite here and her latest album release SEEKER does nothing to diminish the mantle that she parades on. Once again it's collaboration that flourishes at the heart of an album with on this occasion trading Will Kimbrough for Jano Rix of the Wood Brothers as a key person to work with. A further decision has been to ditch her own instruments on this record and give the vocals extra impetus to meld with a soundtrack that ebbs and flows with a mix of southern coolness and quirkiness.  The circumstances surrounding this album release are encapsulated on the cover with DeMeyer reversing her original musical voyage and heading back west to California from a steady and fruitful stint in the southern states. Of course no journey back home is complete without a detour to the Bayou and a full on tribute to her passion for New Orleans in the simply titled track ' Louisiana' .  On SEE...

  www.justinrutledge.com Is it is ok to hail a collection of old tunes as your album of the year at the quarter mark pole? Too right you can, especially when you throw into the mix hearing them for the first time. When Justin Rutledge decided that the moment had arrived to re-work a sample of songs from his extensive back catalogue and finally turn his hand to recording a couple of personal favourites from elsewhere, the hope maybe was there that new fans might catch on. ISLANDS does just that to the extent that the nine songs chosen for this collection exist as floating oases in a tranquil sea of exquisite song writing. In a haze of optimal stripped back exertion, Rutledge has reflected back to project forward with stunning consequences.  Shamefully, but not without an intent for redemption, there is a raft of male Canadian singer-songwriters stretching back to the mid 2000s lying well known yet largely undiscovered in my book. A plausible excuse has been savouring so many fe...

  Transatlantic trio Morning Bride, with a common northern thread of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Massachusetts, have positioned themselves well to move their band forward by finally collating the eight concept linked tracks found here into a fully fledged album. The seven songs and sole instrumental have been lying a little low on the band's bandcamp page for a couple of years and now is the right time to give them a little nudge in the direction of folks who will love this style of darkish Americana.  This is the second 2021 album to at least have some grounding in the concept of the faded seaside town and proof that a little delve into the murky world of loss, nostalgia, revenge, grief and obsession can make great song writing material. However themes are only one part of the jigsaw as Morning Bride add the missing pieces by cleverly curating some meaningful songs and then beautifully delivering them with a sharp creative edge.  The vocals are led by the mesmerising prese...

  www.janetsimpsonmusic.com Janet Simpson has been an active musician for well over twenty years as part of bands and other collaborations. Now this singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist takes a huge step as a solo performer with the release her debut album. SAFE DISTANCE is the latest in the line of acclaimed records to surface via the helping hand of Birmingham Alabama-based label Cornelius Chapel Records. So joining the likes of Austin Lucas and Caleb Caudle we have an artist fairly local to the location of the label and in tune with the vibes of a shared sound that drifts leftwards in an alternative direction from the mainstream roads of rock and country.  The twelve tracks forming this debut solo release roll out as a moody atmospheric batch of tunes, perfectly set up to what you would hear among the mist of dry ice in a mid-size indie venue. Simpson effortlessly glides between a smattering of punchy upbeat numbers and those of a more mellow disposition. A...

  www.davidolney.com www.ananakaye.com David Olney passed away in January 2020, but what finer legacy could he have left than this mystical and epic compendium of collaboration with Anana Kaye. In a titanic meld of highbrow Americana and Eastern European mystique, WHISPERS AND SIGHS ebbs and flows across a landscape punctuated by sensitive ballads and jagged pieces of quirky rock. The eleven songs when you deduct the meagre thirty seconds of prelude and interlude listed to make it thirteen rotate around the two protagonists who dig deep within their own distinctive styles to blend a record both demanding and rewarding in listener reception.  The core team enlisted to bring this project to fruition concentrated on the trio of Olney, Kaye and her partner Irakli Gabriel. As well as providing vocals, acoustic guitar, assorted keys and electric guitar, they all took equal status in the writing credits. To bolster the team John Hadley chipped in with the co-writing on half a dozen t...

  www.jakeian.com From the northern outpost of Edmonton Alberta emerges another singer-songwriter getting down to the crux of things in the empty barrel of a stripped down sound. The acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica from Jake Ian may roll around the walls of disused landscape but they prove the launching pad for ten songs as raw and real as you are likely to come across. Not that this Canadian is a novice as EVERYTHING HAS HOLES is his eighth album release and he his noted as a stalwart of Western Canada's folk and country scene.  From the contrasting cover of a rather run down location standing stoically in the foreground of the most brilliant blue sky outpours ten songs that pay homage in some places to Townes Van Zandt and for a more contemporary comparison sound like a refined version of Rod Picott. The songs have a therapeutic appeal and are just the tonic when you want to chill out after a stressful day to some simple tunes. Of course like all singer-songwriters,...

  When you have been party to writing a bucketful of million selling tunes, it is likely that the knack is not going to diminish when new pastures are ventured and sought. This is the scenario of INXS founder Andrew Farriss who continues his foray into the world of expansive country and Americana music with the release of a debut self-titled album consumed by a strong passion within. His arrival in this field was met with approval in 2020 when a seven-track EP was released. At the time a swift follow up was promised and within six months twelve further songs emerge to stake a valid claim of someone with inbuilt substance not chasing a quick buck.  Farriss draws upon his own depth of expertise and passion to deliver an album that finds a consistent groove on a plane higher than most contemporaries in his field. He uses a successful mix of a heavily produced and stripped sound to form a record that is both experimental and explorative while retaining that expected classy edge....

  Power pop is not on the agenda here much these days, but it definitely played a part in the formative years when adolescence spawned an intrigue to cock an ear to twangy guitar-fuelled jaunty numbers infiltrating the charts both past and present. Fast forward to many years later and sprinkled among the Americana, country, folk and roots music that spearheads current tastes sprang an eponymous debut album from a trio labelled that very genre.  So for a heady dose of continuous optimistically driven spritely numbers, Portable Radio serve up hefty and desirable portions of appealing tunes. Hooks, harmonies, ethereal tendencies and retrospective emotions all pour out of the eleven tracks that keep this album on the straight and narrow. It works for those moments when the mind needs a soundtrack to reminisce and music decides that a simple uncomplicated route is the right option to take. Stirring stuff to check out when you visit Bandcamp next.  Portable Radio by Portable R...

  www.melodyduncanmusic.com Talented and accomplished musician Melody Duncan opens up a new chapter to her career with the release of a debut album. Prior to WOLF SONG demonstrating a smart movement from supporting player to spotlight performer, this Atlanta-based artist born and raised in Mobile Alabama toured far and wide adding violin/fiddle/keyboards and vocals to The Mulligan Brothers, an act frequently rubbing shoulders with the stars of the Americana world. Now there is no hiding place. It's just Melody Duncan exposed to all the elements armed with a distinctive voice, plenty of song writing acumen and a crafted musicianship to cut a niche in a highly competitive field.  Eleven tracks are plastered across the sleeve of this album, though you can deduct two for analysis in the shape of a 20-second violin led prelude kicking things off and the literal recording of a ' Rain Storm ' closing things out just over half an hour later. The slight quirkiness of the finale is...

  www.johnnyironsights.com 'No-one really gives a damn what we do on Murder Mountain' blasts Johnny Ironsights in an angry mood after a thirty-second twang fuelled introduction, thus setting the scene for what to expect from an album bound together by the power of punk and the substance of haunting pedal steel-driven alt-country. There is a mean and harsh streak from that stark opening to the point where the curtain is drawn to ' When I'm Gone, When I'm Dead '. In between Arizona-based Johnny Ironsights stumbles a few hundred miles west to his California roots to piece together a dip into some dark extremities of both place and mind. What unravels is a moving spin of hardened tunes that puts the emphasis on alternative, and pounds a slice of up front-in yer face impact.  MURDER MOUNTAIN is as distinct a record as you are likely to hear decked with some sort of Americana pretence. Not that Ironsights is likely to concern him himself too much about fitting into ne...

  www.ninebarrow.co.uk Dorset-based musical duo Ninebarrow literally spring into life with the early March release of their brand new album. Not only are Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere at one with nature in their themes and outlook, they also branch out into many familiar staple features of the folk world including exploring the traditional, drawing influence from poetry and turning to the trusty old shanty. A POCKET FULL OF ACORNS is Ninebarrow's fourth release and packed with a multitude of credentials to seal an acclaimed status in a genre that can be as demanding as welcoming. Any demands are met head on in the way Jon and Jay present the whole package of their music from song selection to the insightful comprehensive booklet that accompanies physical copies of this album, similarly to what they have done before.  You could literally turn a review into a thesis if you took a real deep dive into the world of Ninebarow, but the beauty of albums like this is the experienc...

  2021 is set to be a busy and extended year for Dean Owens. In a model closely shadowing what My Darling Clementine did last year, the plan is to strategically release a trio of EPs ahead of a full album appearing in the autumn. One difference to what MDC did in 2020 sees Owens only put one or two album teasers on each EP rather than effectively preview the entire record.  The trio of EPs are titled The Desert Trilogy with each one of the March, May and July released records getting an appropriate sub-heading. THE BURNING HEART is the first of these EPs to see the light of day and comprises of four songs including one rehashed from the distant past.  ' New Mexico ' opens this quartet and is probably the pick of the short sample. It began life on a distant album - THE DROMA TAPES - and in Owens' own words gets a 'technicolour' makeover. This is one of two songs set to appear on the full album alongside ' Here Comes Paul Newman ' a Spaghetti Western inspired ...