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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

27th of November

Holly Golightly & The Brakeoffs - Sunday Run Me Over (2012)


Whatever syntagma "Garage Rock" means, Holly Golightly and her partner Lawyer Dave fit in. Country, Traditional R&B, Folk, Rockabilly, Alt.Country, Blues, Rock'n'Roll and everything else that comes to mind are mixed up in this unique music sung in optimistic key (this time). Good humor, joy and happiness radiate from this album trying to contaminate us with those nowadays undesirable feelings. The choice of covers, starting with The Davis Sisters No.1 from 1953 "I forgot more than you'll ever know (about him)", through Wayne Raney's (of Delmore Brothers fame) "We Need A Whole Lot More Of Jesus (And A Lot Less Rock And Roll)"with their "less Jesus more Rock'n'Roll" change to Mac Davis' hit "Hard To Be Humble", show us their intention to make us laugh and transcend us in the good mood. The originals have the same spirit and that all together force us to push repeat button over and over again. Maybe my exaggerated enthusiasm for this album comes from overdose of depressive singer/songwriter regulars on my playlist, but I still think this could be one of the best "under the radar" albums of the year.


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

7th of November 2012

Andrew Combs - Worried Man (2012)


Andrew is, for me, the unquestionable future of American country music. Maybe it's too audacious to compare the significance of this album with the first Willie Nelson album "And Then I Wrote" from 1962 but both announced to the world the appearance of great songwriter. Better comparison would be with debut albums of two great country artists Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett, because Andrew covers up the whole range of moods and emotions of both Steve and Lyle. Andrew's songwriting is first class, singing also, still I'm afraid he'll suffer the faith of Matraca Berg, another great songwriter, whose songs have made famous other singers, but she stays almost completely anonymous. The disturbing factor for superficial listeners is always-present thin line of sorrow in his voice, which Steve and Lyle also have, but the greatest mainstream country stars e.g. Clint Black, Garth Brooks or George Strait don't. However, I don't think Mr.Combs wants to be mainstream country star. He just wants to play his songs and to improve musically and as a performer. The progress could be seen if you listen continuously his EP Tennessee Time and this album. The first is top notch material, specially my favorite "Hummingbird", but looser, more relaxed and musically simpler, on the second one, the band is more prominent and tighter in fast numbers. It sounds like rock'n'roll, and it's compliment!

I'd rather not bother you anymore, fortunately you can hear it all for free and buy if you like on BANDCAMP