Willy Gantrim
Album: Alone & Adrift
Label: Win Some Lose Some
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.willygantrim.com

Alone & Adrift is the debut album from Willy Grantrim - it is a real hotch-potch of Americana. From the sonic haze which starts the journey in the title track to the honky-tonk piano of Trouble in Mind until the penultimate Dylan-esque offering Tender Lovin' Hold, we are taken on a fairly sombre journey.

Will Gantrim was born in Wisconsin, raised in Texas, and moved to New York to get his music career up and running. In between times he has had quite a few interesting jobs - from bartender, a dental floss factory worker and even a casino surveillance officer.

If that's the case I was expecting to get a flavour of those times but I was sadly disappointed. The majority of songs are fairly one-paced, and no end of instruments - be it vibraphone, slide guitar or organ - can disguise a lack-lustre affair.

Willy's plaintive vocals are distinctive and I felt his songs worked better with simpler arrangements as with Tender Lovin' Hold, but even that - at just over two minutes long - left me wanting more.

John Knighton