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| Beth Williams "In this old house" (Willow creek records) I was surprised to hear that this was Beth's fourth album. This makes me look for her former cd's. Her cd is produced by Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines, which is mostly a guarantee for a splendid cd. Lloyd brings also his usual instruments as steel-guitar, dobro, banjo etc. There is a variety in her songs like blues, folk, country, and even a yodelling song. All songs are written by Beth,who has a lovely twangy voice. Highlights ("This Farm", "Ruby and John" and "My God and I". www.bethwilliamsmusic.com |
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| Stevie Elliot & Lucie Walker ��Straight up� (self-released) A really country-roots-rock cd from the Vancouver duo. This is country music like they don�t make it anymore in Nashville. They wrote all the songs themselves. Up-tempo songs(�Feel the fires rage�,�Tumblin� down�) are varied with mid-tempo songs(�A girl would have to be a fool�,�It�s all right�) and nice ballads(�Borderline�,�No winner takes all�). They save the best for last : �The truth is in your eyes� is a great country-blues song. Listening to Stevie and Lucie reminds me of the Woodys and Buddy and Julie Miller. This is a great cd for every country-music lover. www.rockincountryblues.com |
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| Stewboss - "Sweet Lullabye" A band for the new century. Their cd consists mostly of great laid back country-rock songs. Only a few times they raise the pace ("Counting to 7 at your old barstool","Let's got to Texas" and "A little goes a long way"). Gregg Sarfaty is the driving power behind the band. He wrote all the songs and plays also a number of instruments. Another cd for my top-20 of this year. I can't wait for the 5th of October when the band is performing at the TAKE ROOT festival in Assen(Netherlands) www.stewboss.com |
| The Dark Horses-"Come Along" Another great alt. country-rock band from the North-East(New-York). Members of the band are Sam Park(guitar,mandolin,vocals), J. Hughes(drums,vocals) and Philip Cohen(bass,vocals). They get some help of Jon Graboff on pedal steel, Eric Ambel on guitar,organ and others. Roscoe Ambel also produced. Songs, which are written by Park and Hughes, deal with broken relationships. Some stay in your head for a long time. Very recommended to all country-rock lovers. www.thedarkhorses.net |
| Cris Talley -"Palace Cafe"(Hokey Spoke Recordings) Cris Talley has the exact crying plaintive voice for the sad songs, he has written for his first cd. The songs get a nice americana feeling using the traditional rootsy instruments such as dobro,fiddle and mandoline. This isn't a bluegrass cd though, think more of a singer-songwriter effort(Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark). The cd was recorded in Nashville with artists like Ron de la Vega(also producer),Chas Williams, Pat McInerny, Tom Wild, Tim Lorsch, Andrew Larsen and Matt Flinner. Recommended to all lovers of the americana singer-songwriter stuff. www.cristalley.com |
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