Jenee Halstead’s The River Grace is not completely new anymore, but such a self-released debut easily disappears in the enormous supply. Still popmagazine Heaven reviewed the record favourably already in no. 58, January-February 2009/no. 1. That was justified, because what Halstead shows is impressive in ten songs that were sometimes written together with others.
In a mix in which country and folk struggle for the upper hand, but in which clear influences of singer-songwriter and gospel can be heard too, she evokes anguished atmospheres with simple means. Continue reading
Category: English pieces (Page 9 of 11)
Purified singer-songwriter.
MaHarry’s career came to a standstill after the dissolution of her contract, but she recorded twenty new songs, of which eleven live with band.
On stage and in the studio she proves to be matured: in the songs based on piano the accompaniment serves her vocals more than on her two CDs from the nineties. Baroque excess caused fragmented melodies sometimes then, but these are absent here, except in Dyan Is Resting, fitted with Ian Anderson’s characteristic flute.
The result is a rich collection of ballads and medio-tempo songs, in which MaHarry’s singing gains intensity by the space that she leaves and by the slight fray that her sometimes metallical voice has now. Continue reading
Click.
Scott Kirby has been making music fulltime for twenty years already and Row Me Home is his sixth CD since 1993. The ex-political consultant also does 150 to 200 gigs per year, but the Florida-based American is completely unknown here.
In these eleven self-penned songs he proves an experienced and inspired singer/guitar player. Hij combines influences from singer-songwriter and pop with traces of rock, jazz and roots in supple melodies. Continue reading
Brooks Williams lives up to his reputation (and more than that!) on his seventeenth CD as an acoustic and slide-guitarist/songwriter in seven songs of his own and five covers of Son House, Mississippi John Hurt en Duke Ellington’s I Got It Bad o.a.
He plays intimately, serving the songs, plays sensitive solos and sings with a free timing. Because of that Baby O! proves to be a late discovery.
***1/2
Signs of life.
David Brewbaker’s new CD only contains seven songs. That is in line with his two previous releases, both of them singles with two and three songs respectively.
In these new songs Brewbaker proves much more to be a jazzy singer-songwriter with a lazy timing than in those older songs. The versatile musician played guitar, bass and keyboards, while he also programmed the drums.
For his sound he drew inspiration from fusion and singer-songwriter. Continue reading
Harlequin Goodnight ***1/2
Just For Fun, Songs For Little Ones ***
Accurate melancholic.
Forest Sun’s seventh (!) CD contains ten of his songs and Dylan’s She Belongs To Me. In both catchy and rootsy melodies the musician/painter does not only sing, but he also plays the guitar, piano, wurlitzer and drums. Friends on dobro, cello, accordeon and background vocals even enrich these miniatures.
Melancholy continually overshadows Sun’s by no means small craftmanship. In creating an atmosphere he needs only few instruments. He uses them very effectively: brushes and a plopping bass for instance propel Queen Anne’s Lace. On top of that a repetitive acoustic guitar riff sounds and an electric guitar plays long notes. Because of that relative simplicity his beautiful compositions attract all the more attention. Continue reading
Personal New Orleans melting pot.
Swedish expat Osborne, living in New Orleans, was considered promising for a while by Sony, but got dumped after one CD already. His previous CD proved that label wrong convincingly: it was a desparately sounding record about a lost love, obsessedly played and produced clearly. This one does that too. Overall it sounds optimistic, recorded with a lot of fun in the playing and breathing a swampy and relaxed live feel.
Fourteen songs long Osborne mixes his trusted influences (blues, gospel, second line, country-folk, jazz and pop) at the intersection of those styles. He reverts to them, but after two stereotipic openers he manages them at will with beautiful, natural melodies. Continue reading
New Orleans/Texas.
Before Katrina hit New Orleans, many fled to Texas. The musicians among them were taken on board by the Texan music family. As a result, this CD contains sixteen tracks by fourteen acts, eight from New Orleans and six from Texas. Although unknown, these artists have, apart from much experience, talent too. Label owner/piano player John Autin discovered and produced both new Orleanians Anders Osborne and Theresa Andersson, whereas Rockin’ Jake has been a well-established name in the Mississippi delta for ten years. Many others combine playing for others with their own music, which is audibly more to them than work.
Full of inspired playing this tribute cd reflects the versatility of New Orleans well. Continue reading
The debut of city of Utrecht’s Swamp Chicken was reviewed favourably in the Dutch domestic music press, but caused few waves after that.
That is also incomprehensible today, because what Dirk-Jan van der Hoeven – drums/vocals, Joris Reijn – bass/vocals, O.J. Strijbis – keyboards/vocals, Andre Stevens – slide guitar/guitar and Eric Kerns – vocal/acoustic guitar demonstrate in eleven songs mostly written by Kerns and Stevens, is impressive.
Their mix of blues, jazz, funk and bits of country and pop is inspired by the Band, the Black Crowes and especially by Little Feat, but original at the same time. Especially of the kind of the Feat and Swamp Chicken there are too few bands to call this music a genre. Continue reading
John Batdorf seems a debutant, but almost made it big in the seventies with Batdorf & Rodney. That group made two LPs and scored a hits as Silver later too. After that Batdorf remained active as a songwriter and producer/composer of scores for tv-series. He also issued four CDs with Michael McLean in the nineties.
His solo-EP Side One and his solo-CD Home Again lead to Old Man Dreamin’, for which he wrote with McLean again. Their experience of years results in eleven songs in which Batdorf mixes country rock and folk with catchy melodies.
Batdorf sings lyrics in which he combines his personal life with involvement in both a crystal clear and emotional way, backed by a rootsy band. The layered close harmony background vocals and the firey guitars also make this a CD of a kind of which too few are made.
****