FINE GOLD UK  

JEFF & VIDA: THE LONESOME DUO

It's the voice, the stories and the honesty of the music that make Jeff & Vida a must listen to.

It's hard to believe a woman as sexy and assured as Vida Wakeman could ever be lonesome or two-timed. Every note is sung with conviction, the conviction of a soul who's lived the words, survived to tell the tale, and just ain't gonna let no man do that darn thing to her again.

Vida, along with musical partner Jeff Burke, blend blues, old-time country and Appalachian bluegrass into simple songs of deceptive depth and melodic simplicity. One Horse Town, their debut album, is a story-book that unfold from the first track, Take These Memories, all the way to the last, the title track itself.

Highlights come thick and fast. The Land That You Love sees Vida take on a masculine persona, her vocal range making 'the change' all too believable. A sorry tale sung in world weary tones, with our narrator bemoaning the fact that: "The land that you love/is the land you will curse."

The Road To Abilene, is all Wild West banjo and country tones. There's something that would make our heroine happy at last .. visiting Abilene. But, in her best Johnny Rotten phrasing, she tells us she'll go .. but "without him." Life just ain't easy for a cowgirl.

Tradition is the butt of the anger in the excellent Elizabeth. A girl bemused by the city and all its evils. She'd been raised in the country where a man-was-a-man who'd provided for his family till his dying day. The cad Elizabeth met and married in the city, left her for the travelling life. Now she's old before her time and condemned to all the struggles of a modern-day single parent. A traditional tale relevant down all the ages.

As a body of work, One Horse Town, never simmers but remains on the boil. As a debut its only fault is it will be nigh-on impossible to match. Jeff & Vida are up there with their musical greats but also down here with us, observing as we scratch a day-to-day living and get trodden on by the ones our mothers warned us about.

For more info on Jeff & Vida's 'One Horse Town' visit them on the web @ www.jeffandvida.com
or email: [email protected].