The Driving Test
A Musical Car Ride
Whilst we would love to give every album/EP/single a full indepth review,we are only human and don't have a time turner so we aren't able to give every release the time and attention it deserves.
In the past that would have ment that we either reviewed a release or we didn't, but now we have a third option, a middle way.
The solution here has been a simple one. Rather than review individual artists' CD's at length, we play them one after the other on a long car journey. The simple listening test is: "are they bearable in the car - interesting, enjoyable, not distracting". This may not be how the artists want us to hear their work, but it's how a lot gets listened to for the first time and at least raises awarenes! The rating system is simple and provides a shorthand for reference.:
Michael Johnathon - My Covers Volume One ***
www.michaeljohnathon.com
Jonathon clearly has an eclectic music collection, this trawl through favourite songs crossing several genres as he puts his own spin on things, some more effective than others. On the up side it opens with a lightly fingerpicked folksy dance through Blue Moon, proceeding to add a slowed down and drawled bluesy Satisfaction, an Appalachian-tinged take of Harry Chapin's Cats In The Cradle, a mash-up of Pete Seeger's Where Have All The Flowers Gone and Sailing Down My Golden River. On the other hand, faithful readings of Vincent, If You Could Read My Mind, Love Hurts and a Dylan's Make You Feel My Love don't bring anything new to the table, while the latter's Rolling Stone sounds like he lost interest the moment the tape started rolling. Rounded off with his own eight-minute Legacy, a title-dropping tribute to the songs and albums he admires. Pleasant but ultimately a bit self-indulgently pointless. MD
Hattie Whitehead - Bloom ***
www.hattiewhitehead.com
Hailing from South London and raised on 60s and 70s folk and jazz, her debut album is a well-manicured and polished listen that embraces both influences and, given she fronts tribute act Hejira, some inevitable nods to Joni. Informed my losing her mother to cancer and embracing themes of grief, re-growth, mental health, family, roots, self-discovery and female empowerment, it's a generally musically understated affair, her voice gently floating across the melodies, with its strongest moments coming with the slow breathily sung late night sway of Alive, the similarly shaped Too Much To Write, and closing piano ballad No Man's Land with the steady marching beat You Tell Me So, a bluesy Valentine and the percussive I Am Being Fed A Machine somewhat raising the musical temperature. Sophisticated listening for those who frequent places like Ronnie Scotts and favour mellow vintage reds over sparkling whites. MD
West Of Texas - Hot Motel Nights ****
www.westoftexas.com
Fronted by California-born Jerry Zinn who co-produced with Ted Russell Kamp, this is Western swing and traditional country music in the vein of Jones, Haggard and Owens with a musical line-up of fiddle, pedal steel, accordion, baritone guitar and glockenspiel and songs about love, loss and men doing the wrong things. Opening with the twangily-sung, fiddle-led honky tonk swing of Wall of Memories, it delivers a righteous good dance-floor time. moving to 'I Can Almost Taste The Whiskey', the first of several alcohol-titled tracks, the others being the fiddle adorned slow semi-spoken heartacher 'I'll Ask Gin' with its musical echoes of 'My Elusive Dreams' and the rousing swing 'Whiskey, Wine and Empty Bottles. Elsewhere, other highlights include the slow-paced, Haggard (and ex-wife)-inspired 'Only Listen to Heartbreak Songs', fiddle and piano crying in your beer Willie Nelson-esque number 'I Hate The World Again' and the Jones-like slow waltzer 'Tell Me'. There's no reservations about Zinn's honky tonk motel, where the music is as hot as the sauce in the tacos you get for breakfast the morning after a night to remember; this is where classic country comes to check in. MD
Martin Harley - Morning Sun ***
martinharley.com/
Produced by and featuring Nigel Stonier along with CJ Hillman on pedal steel, his first solo album in five years has the Welsh slide guitarist bluesman in fine fettle, opening with the title track written in a two year celebration of having sworn off alcohol, the same spur giving rise to the bubblingly lazy Leon Redbone groove (he namechecks Champagne Charlie) of the piano tinkling Lemonade. Equally laid back, 48 is a look back on approaching 50 while the chugging shuffle The Best Is Yet To Come looks ahead while the lullabying piano-backed Kite was penned for his daughters. Elsewhere brisk country Weissenborn picking and steel driven Shotgun And A Shovel, the bass and harmonica heavy Chop Your Own Wood and Stranger are respectively lurching/slow and swampy blues, the album rounded out with the choppy JJ Cale rhythm-like and twanged guitar I'll Carry You and the widescreen Americana folk Wolves with Luke Shenton's tumbling drums and electric guitar howls. The morning sun shines bright. MD
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus - Harbortowne ***
www.pattonbrokus.com
I have to confess their previous Big Red Gibson album left me cold, but this is a welcome return to their old school folksier and bluegrassy roots, even if some of the material is a bit of the ho hum variety. It's based around a collection of characters in the titular town, the briskly picked opening title track refers to Annapolis, where Patton (who has a Chip Taylor quality to his grained voice) and his mates would head to for a spot of youthful mischief. Originally a single back in 1985, the nimbly picked 'The Juggler', about a man struggling to find a place where he can fit in, is another strong number, as are, another from the archives, the fiddle flavoured first love tale 'Never Going Back' and the slightly calypso sway of 'The Lottery' about how you need to win it to live a half decent life in America today. Elsewhere, other highpoints come with the reflective piano ballad 'Missing You', the fiddle-led front porch stomp of 'Sally Brown' and, further social comment notes, the treading water just to stay afloat 'Back Out In The Storm' and the looking back down the years and settling for small victories Until the Fire Is Gone. Brokus, having provided backing, gets to sing world weary croaky lead on the poignant final piano ballad 'Start Again', a fine close to an album that, while no diamond, is a warm and engaging listen. MD
The W Lovers - For A Day Or A Lifetime ***
www.thewlovers.com
A husband-and-wife duo from Seattle, New Zealander Fleur and Washington's Wesley Wood, this is their third album and an easy on the ear collection of mellow Americana etched with mandolin, guitar, bass, drums and the occasional harmonica or banjo. Domesticity underpins the opening 'Little Ant'(There's a little ant coming for that piece of corn/Sweep it when the morning comes/Little hands tugging on my apron strings/I'll take it where I can 'cause you take me as I am") but counterpointed by the line "America is broken". The mandolin picked 'March' contrasts male braggadocio ("The boys go marching one by one/Holding hands around the gun/How can he be old enough/His head held high, his shoulders tough") as they head to war with the sorrow of those left behind ("He promised that he'd do his best/ But he's leaving her to weep"). Elsewhere, low key highlights include the muted melancholy of 'Jeanne's Lilac' and its botanical companion piece 'Dandelion Bouquets', the drawled Southern blues country 'Roll Up The Highway' and the wistful slow shuffle 'Throw the Line'. MD
Kate McDonnell - Trapeze ****
www.katemcdonnell.com
From Baltimore, her sixth solo album trades in a captivating mix of rootsy blues and folksier Americana on songs of love, loss and yearning, suffused with strong echoes of Janis Ian, especially on the wonderful follow your dreams ("When I am gone/When my breath returns to the air/Let the world know/That I did not refuse the dare") title track, 'Madeleine' with its mother's lament for an estranged daughter and, a widow contemplating her new life, 'All On My Own'. She compellingly mixes the personal with the political, a stand out, the lyrics interpolating Seeger's "when will we ever learn" phrase, being Step Right Up with its theme of child victims of gun violence. Elsewhere, turning to the personal, the simply strummed 'Breakdown Lane' charts the end of a wild ride relationship, but on the other hand Come Over Here' is joyous number about love's euphoria and 'Tea In China' a whimsical to win your love track. Meanwhile swampy blues opener 'Pretty Good Day', about rolling up your sleeve and putting your hands in the dirt to find higher ground, the self-explanatory 'Fight For Your Life', and the closing 'You Won't Blow Away' all share an underlying theme of resilience. She flies through the musical air with the greatest of ease. MD
Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk for all the artist information.