Ed Dupas
Album: A Good American Life
Label: Mackinaw Harvest Music
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.eddupas.com

Born in Texas and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the baritone-voiced Duplas readily calls to mind the likes of Ryan Adams, and Earle, the latter particularly so on the title track highlight, an acoustic strummed number that views his homeland through the same ironic prism as Springsteen's Born In The USA, an approach he also brings to the questioning patriotism of Flag with its punch to the gut ending. Indeed, there's very much a Springsteen filter here, albeit that of the wearied Nebraska and Tom Joad rather than his full-blooded anthemic rock, cases in point being the melancholic This Old Town (where producer Michael Crittenden adds subtle organ and Drew Hoard provides pedal steel), the sparse Home In Time, the terrific guilt-laden end of an affair You Don't Get To Explain and emotionally naked introspective album closer Without You.

Not that he can't flex musical muscle with the best of blue-collar mid-western Americana, as firmly evidenced by the pedal-steel streaked reflective Whiskey Bones with its electric guitars erupting in a sturdy climax before the calm play-out, the riff waltzing Too Late Now or the slow build five minutes slow build of the bluesy Train.

Disappointingly, the album doesn't come with a lyric book nor are they posted on his website, but all the more reason to forget background distractions and really listen to what he's singing. Given that this is his debut, his name won't yet be much known beyond his stomping grounds. I seriously doubt that will remain the case for much longer.

Mike Davies