Jeff Austin
Album: The Simple Truth
Label: Yep Roc
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.jeffaustin.com/

The name may well be familiar as the mandolinist with Yonder Mountain String Band, but this sees him stepping into the spotlight with his solo debut, albeit fronting a hefty band that lines up as Danny Barnes from Bad Livers on banjo and guitar, guitarist Ross Marti, bass player Eric Thorin and North Mississippi Allstars percussionist Cody Dickinson. As is often the case when sidemen step out to flex their own muscles, the album encompasses a range of styles, looking to see which fit best, though not forsaking the progressive bluegrass (as on Fiddling Around and Ron Down) that brought him to where he is.

Austin has a decent enough voice, but it lacks the edge to really bring the emotional depth needed to ballads such as Scrapook Pages, the failed relationship of the Sarah Siskind co-write/co-sing Over And Over (which really needs an Orbison or Glenn Frey) or the banjo and steel flecked night sky feel of Falling Stars.

However, he's much stronger on the uptempo material where vocal nuance is of relatively less importance, focusing the album's strengths on things like upbeat Springsteenesque country rocker What The Night Brings with its big electric guitar, piano and rolling drums, the title track's nod to Little Feat, banjo mixing it up with some brass flourished funky southern boogie, and the similarly styled bluesy workouts of 15 Steps, Gatling Gun and the James Brown jamming groove of Shake Me Up. You get the sense that they're likely to really burn it up live, and next time round Austin might want to focus more on getting people on their feet than crying in the corner

Mike Davies