SARITHAYER,CONNIEWARD
THE AMERICANS’ profile is still pretty low-key, but the band comes with high-end endorsements. Greil Marcus was swept up by 2017 debut I’ll Be Yours and was left hankering for more. T Bone Burnett and Jack White commandeered them for The American Epic Sessions, with Burnett singing their virtues as “genius 21st-century musicians that are reinventing American heritage music for this century. And it sounds even better this century.”
Belated second album Stand True reveals the West Coast threesome of Patrick Ferris (vocals/ guitar), Jake Faulkner (bass) and Zac Sokolow (guitar) to be keenly attuned to the kind of roots-up music that built America. You can hear the heartland bleat of Springsteen or Bob Seger in their raw grooves, along with the rugged Southern churn of Jason Isbell or Drive-By Truckers. There’s plenty of soul here too, with Ferris clearly in thrall to ’70s Van Morrison on songs like “The Day I Let You Down” and “What I Would Do”, the latter flavoured with a distinct twist of Memphis. His quivering voice is particularly striking on the title track, a paean to commitment and staying power, often in the face of overwhelming odds, that sets up the lyrical theme of the album.
It’s the kind of impassioned stuff that demands a big canvas, the band reaching for the epic on the blustery “Give Way”, the brutish, scorned “Romeo” and “Sore Bones”, the heaviest thing on here. On “The Day I Let You Down”, Ferris sounds desolate – “If there’s penance to be paid/That’s just what I’ll do/I’ll get down on bended knee” – before being hauled up into a great surging chorus. A folkish acoustic guitar picks out the silken rhythm of “Guest Of Honour”, another song of loss that weighs heavy on his jilted heart. “I feel like nothing that you loved,” he pines, “And everything you touched”. As emotional drama, it sounds wholly persuasive. Much like Stand True itself, in fact.
ROB HUGHES
AMERICANA ROUND-UP
IN an inspired move, kindred spirits Mekons and Freakwater have decided to pool resources. Their self-titled debut as Freakons – what else? – features Jon Langford and Sally Timms alongside Janet Beveridge Bean and Catherine Irwin, abetted by lauded guitarist Jim Elkington and the string and vocal harmonies of Jean Cook (Tara Jane O’Neil, Skull Orchards) and Anna Krippenstapel (Joan Shelley, The Other Years). Rooted in British folk and American country, expect traditional songs about coal mining, heroic union organisers and hardship, plus a handful of originals. Out on Fluff & Gravy in the States, a UK release date is imminent. Acclaimed singersongwriter and author Mary Gauthier returns in June with Dark Enough To See The Stars (Thirty Tigers). The album is part requiem -mourning the loss of good friends John Prine, Nanci Griffith and David Olney on songs like “How Could You Be Gone” and “’Til I See You Again” – and part celebration, offering perspectives on the joy of new love and personal contentment. Typical of the latter is the title track, co-written with Beth Nielsen Chapman. Meanwhile, there’s still time to make it to this year’s Ramblin’ Roots Revue. The three-day indoor festival in High Wycombe, held in late April, boasts a pancontinental variety of roots, bluegrass and Americana turns, among them Jeffrey Foucault & Kris Delmhorst, Native Harrow, The Hanging Stars, Curse Of Lono, The Dreaming Spires and Kathryn Williams.
Getting their Freakons
ROB HUGHES
GOLDEN BROWN
Luminous INNERISLANDS
8/10
More rich, spaced out instrumental visions
Colorado’s Stefan Beck has been quietly releasing music under the Golden Brown moniker for several years now, staking out a meditative zone made up of glittering guitar, spaced-out lap steel and field recordings. The aptly titled Luminous sees Beck expanding his vision while retaining a humble mood – head in the clouds but feet firmly planted in the Rocky Mountain soil. The album’s seven instrumentals blossom beautifully, creating a sonic landscape that grows richer and more detailed with each spin. On the 13-minute closer “Safe And Somewhat Sound”, Beck duets patiently with the sounds of the natural world, his fingerpicked guitar rippling like a pebble thrown in a pond.