Josh Harty
Album: 7
Label: Magnolia Recording Company
Tracks: 7
Website: http://www.joshharty.com

Native of North Dakota and currently resident in Wisconsin, Josh's stock-in-trade as songsmith is warmly-voiced, deftly and fluently accompanied self-penned songs on the approved themes of life and perseverance that are delivered with an easy and natural conviction that's capable of simultaneously conveying contradictory shades of emotion (like resignation and hope).

Josh's own better-than-decent guitar playing is augmented on six of the disc's seven tracks by, among others, Trevor Krieger (fiddle, mandolin), Parker Brown (upright bass), Clay Green (percussion) and Chris Cunningham (accordion, vocal harmonies). The seventh track's a tumbling, instrumentally-virtuoso rendition of Richard Thompson's Vincent Black Lightning (recorded live) that surprisingly lacks both distinction and emotional commitment.

Elsewhere it's good honest Americana all the way; and yet I can't help wondering why Josh isn't more prolific - he seems to have been playing and writing for most of his 30-odd years, and yet this is possibly only his third EP release. In the end, there's not enough of substance here to make him stand out from the crowd, I suspect.

David Kidman