Pharis & Jason Romero
Album: A Wanderer I'll Stay
Label: Lula
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.pharisandjason.com

We now reach album number three for this husband-and-wife born-to-be-together duo whose stock-in-trade is prime back-porch Americana. And it's everything you can expect from even a cursory acquaintance with its predecessors, with whom it shares a very obvious kinship both musically and in terms of overall sensibility. OK, so this time round they've brought a few guest musicians on board (fiddle, pedal steel, bass and drums) but not so that you'd really notice any significant thickening of the sound since their talents are used real sparingly.

There's an extra dimension of aching lonesomeness on numbers like There's No Companion (just one of Pharis's half-dozen really fine compositions on the disc), but I'm not sure that the rhythm section (albeit laid-back) does much for Poor Boy (maybe it feels like it's reining in the sheer power of Pharis's voice here). What matters, however, is that the core of the Romeros' performance remains that archetypal uncanny empathic closeness between the two that irresistibly recalls Welch-Rawlings (if without quite the intricate guitar traceries of that act); the timelessly intimate Lonesome And I'm Going Back Home is a standout cut, with harmonies to die for.

Self-penned gems aside, there's a handful of well-appointed covers, including the Civil-War-era ballad The Dying Soldier, a sensibly paced rendition of Goodbye, Old Paint and an affectionate take on Billy Mayhew's It's A Sin To Tell A Lie, while Luke Jordan's Cocaine Blues makes for an interesting contrast to the other items. Away from the songs, Jason again contributes a couple of instrumentals expertly configured around his signature gourd banjo; these prove gently breathtaking in their idiomatic virtuosity and, like the remainder of the album, are sympathetically, resonantly recorded.

David Kidman