AJ Downing
Album: Good Day
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.ajdowning.com

AJ Downing was not a name that I was familiar with but I thought I would try this album to see if I liked it. And I do [like it, that is]. This is AJ's third album and is self-released. AJ now lives in Texas Hill Country, after living in California, Michigan and Nashville.

He is, by trade, an electrician but he is also a fine songwriter, singer and musician. Of the ten tracks on this album, he wrote nine and the tenth was a co-write. He also plays guitars, banjo and harmonica.

On the album, he is backed by a stellar band which includes Jordan Teitelbaum [drums], Andrew Carrell [bass] and Kim Deschamps [lap and pedal steel guitars]. The legendary Ian McLagan guests on piano on one track [Lonesome Town] and AJ's wife Carrie sings on a couple of tracks.

What about the music? Well it's what Gram Parsons might have been referring to when he coined the phrase "Cosmic American Music". AJ weaves together various strands of Americana music/country, soul, rock 'n' roll, blues and bluegrass and produces a distinctive sound that is very much his own.

The album is a cracker from the funky opener " My Wagon Just Won't Roll" to the accordion and banjo -driven closer "Aimless Sea" and all points in-between. I particularly enjoyed the hard-core honky tonker "Willie[Had We Never Been High] and the superb slide guitar on "The Other Cheek".

It really is an impressive album. Lovers of Steve Earle's music should lap it up like a cat with double cream.

I'm really glad I took a chance on it and would recommend any lover of American music to do the same.

Peter Cowley