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Josh Taerk Stages

Josh Taerk - Stages EP (Album Review)

November 16, 2017 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Country, Country Rock, Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter

Toronto native Josh Taerk (pronounced Turk) is a new name to me but, with heavy-hitting support on his bio from E-Street Band drummer Max Weinberg and John Oates of Hall & Oates fame, my guess was his new ‘Stages’ EP would be well worth checking out. I’m pleased to report this assumption would prove to be correct as ‘Stages’ is a little gem.

The Taerk story actually goes right back to 2010 and includes two previous album releases ‘Josh’ and 2015’s ‘Here’s To Change’ which was recorded in Nashville with a host of quality players and John Oates adding backing vocals. I’m quite surprised that Josh is a new name to me as he’s toured regularly here in the UK. I’m not sure how I missed that, too much music and too little time I guess.

The first thing you notice about Josh Tuerk circa 2017 is the positivity of his lyrics. Opener ‘Learning to Let Go’ looks at how life experiences shape the people we become “Are we living life to live it, or casting judgements from the side lines” is something to which we should all be able to relate. The positivity of the lyric is enhanced by an uplifting chorus and some nicely played slide guitar. ‘Learning to Let Go’ is a co-write with producer / guitarist Teddy Morgan (Kevin Costner & Modern West).  ‘Anywhere That Love Took Us’ is next up and comparisons to Modern West are valid. If you like your country rock to be relaxed, tuneful and well played (nice guitar licks here) this should work well. Teddy Morgan has put together a terrific band here with Modern West alumni Park Chisolm (bass) and Richard Medek (drums) alongside Jon Coleman on keys with top session drummer Greg Morrow (Blake Shelton / Luke Bryan) adding his skills to two tracks.

Gentle acoustic guitar ushers in ‘After the Fall’ and we shift gears into big epic balladry, complete with orchestral backing. ‘After The Fall’ originally appeared on Josh’s ‘Here’s To Change’ album so it seems a little odd that it makes another, admittedly very welcome, appearance here. Am I missing something?

The reflective lilt of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ features fine interplay between guitar and organ, with the highlight a really nicely rising guitar solo, the lyric again looks at the life choices we make which is very much a theme of ‘Stages’. The closing track ‘Neverland’ benefits from gentle tremolo guitar parts and brings ‘Stages’ to an early end that leaves you wanting more. Throughout the EP it’s apparent that Josh Taerk knows his way around a song and exhibits a real knack with a hook. He seems equally comfortable with a foot in both pop and country camps and the merging of genres seems very natural to him.

Josh returns to the UK in early 2018 with a show lined up in London at the Academy Islington on January 13th which should be well worth checking out.

Singer / songwriters @ Red Guitar Music
Molly Murphy - Tigers In Your Backyard (Nocturnal Edition)
Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Molly Murphy - Tigers In Your Backyard (Nocturnal Edition)
Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter

A new name to me, but based on the new EP, ‘Tigers in Your Backyard (Nocturnal Edition)’, Molly Murphy is one to watch. Initially, Molly embarked on a promising college career as a double Film and English Major pursuing a career in screenwriting but left all that behind to form a band (as you do). Murphy’s latest release finds the singer-songwriter adding a modern sheen to her traditional Celtic roots.

Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Fred Abbott and The Wild Unknown - Shining Under The Soot (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Americana, Classic Rock, Country Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Fred Abbott and The Wild Unknown - Shining Under The Soot (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Americana, Classic Rock, Country Rock, Singer-Songwriter

Fred Abbott may be better known to you as the guitarist from the much-loved and hard-to-pigeonhole band Noah & The Whale.  A popular live draw, their refreshing, inventive approach to songwriting and record-making set them apart from the crowd but ultimately the band split in 2015, with four albums to their name.  Abbott’s solo debut, Serious Poke, appeared shortly after, sporting a more straightforward, guitar-centred sound.  Eight years later - and having gained broad experience as a session musician and producer in between - Abbott has returned with Shining Under The Soot, a mature and beautifully crafted follow-up, brimming with energy and heart. 

Album Reviews, Americana, Classic Rock, Country Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Ledfoot and Ronni Le Tekrø - Limited Edition Lava Lamp (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Americana, Blues, Singer-Songwriter
Ledfoot and Ronni Le Tekrø - Limited Edition Lava Lamp (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Americana, Blues, Singer-Songwriter

Ledfoot aka Tim Scott McConnell and Ronni Le Tekrø seem, at first look, like an odd pair. Tim, born in Florida, has been based in Norway for many years, adopting the Ledfoot moniker in 2007 after a string of solo releases on major labels and as frontman of The Havalinas. Ronni Le Tekrø is best known as the guitarist in TNT, Norwegian rock royalty, enjoying considerable international success since their formation in 1982. The Norwegian connection would seem to be the cement here, and ‘Limited Edition Lava Lamp’ is their second record as a duo.

Album Reviews, Americana, Blues, Singer-Songwriter
Scott Matthews - Restless Lullabies (Album Review)
Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Scott Matthews - Restless Lullabies (Album Review)
Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter

For bands and singer-songwriters, 2020 was hardly the best year to release a new album.  And let’s face it, 2021 wasn’t much better.  The only hope for artists with new music was that they could somehow connect online, as reaching fans via physical touring was out of the question.  As a result, countless records were overlooked, under-noticed and sailed away, unloved.  Scott Matthews released his eighth album, the sonically ambitious New Skin, in December 2020, at the start of a winter most of us are keen to forget.  Three years later, Restless Lullabies sees the same set of songs reborn, and, in an effort to ensure that each are properly heard, they have been stripped of skin, flesh and - in some cases - their very bones, in his most exposed and intimate record to date. 

Acoustic, Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Richard Marx - Songwriter (Album Review)
80s, Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Country, Pop, Singer-Songwriter
Richard Marx - Songwriter (Album Review)
80s, Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Country, Pop, Singer-Songwriter

From his self-titled, triple platinum-selling debut album in 1987 to ‘Limitless’ in 2020, Richard Marx has had an unerring knack for a melody (not to mention a pretty wonderful voice). Marx's songwriting skills have enabled him to stay relevant throughout his nearly forty-year career. His sound has evolved over time, with the punchy guitars of the late 80s replaced by a smoother, more R&B/pop sound tailored to radio and streaming services. Along the way, his song craft has been in high demand, co-writing and/or contributing songs to a startling array of artists from Kenny Rogers to Keith Urban via NSYNC, Luther Vandross and Vixen. An impressive CV, but where does that chameleon-like ability to pen hit songs come from? How does he do it? Hopefully, ‘Songwriter’ might give us a bit of a clue as we take a journey through twenty tracks encompassing four genres; pop, rock, country and ballads.

80s, Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Country, Pop, Singer-Songwriter
Miriam Jones - Reach For The Morning (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, CCM
Miriam Jones - Reach For The Morning (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, CCM

Back in 2015, Miriam Jones was treading the well-worn path of the folky singer/songwriter. Her Simon Edwards (Fairground Attraction) produced album ‘Between Green and Gone' was acoustic-based but recorded with a full band and received radio support from Bob Harris and Robert Elms. An impressive record, it looked like we would be seeing a lot of Miriam but the Canadian native slipped off the radar (well, my radar anyway) until recently when she reappeared with new music that showed a marked evolution in her sound.

Album Reviews, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, CCM
Jack Broadbent - Ride (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Blues, Singer-Songwriter
Jack Broadbent - Ride (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Blues, Singer-Songwriter

Jack Broadbent’s 2019 album ‘Moonshine Blue’ was an impressive release that found the singer and guitarist dabbling in various genres. Jack wasn’t a slave to his reputation as an excellent slide guitarist and bluesman and seemed content to go wherever his muse took him to showcase his talents as a singer, songwriter or, as I put it, folky troubadour. For his latest release, at least at first glance, he’s seemingly sticking to the blues, but there are still plenty of twists and turns along the way on what might well turn out to be his best and most cohesive release yet.

Album Reviews, Blues, Singer-Songwriter
Anna Howie - The Friday Night Club (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Country, Singer-Songwriter
Anna Howie - The Friday Night Club (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Country, Singer-Songwriter

If anything positive came out of the pandemic for musicians, it could have been that artists had to get inventive if they wanted to be heard. Anna Howie had spent time in Nashville pre-pandemic recording the ‘An Idiots Guide To Love’ EP with producer/guitarist Bob Britt (Leon Russell, Delbert McClinton and Bob Dylan) and attended a songwriting camp with Gretchen Peters. As with so many artists, Nashville had been inspirational, so a return was on the cards until it wasn’t. Undaunted, if a little apprehensive, Anna embraced the world of online streaming to connect with her audience and The Friday Night Club was born. The 28 online sessions would be a great success attracting almost two million views creating an online community almost by accident, offering Anna the freedom to try out new material before an appreciative virtual audience. Those Nashville plans might not have come to fruition, but Anna connected with producer and multi-instrumentalist Lukas Drinkwater (Jacob & Drinkwater, Emily Barker) and slowly but surely, over six months, pieced together ‘The Friday Night Club’ album at his Polyphonic Studio in Stroud, UK.

Album Reviews, Country, Singer-Songwriter
John Illsley - VIII (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter
John Illsley - VIII (Album Review)
Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter

For many, John Illsley will always be the imposing figure standing next to Mark Knopfler as Dire Straits left the London pub circuit behind and achieved worldwide domination via their fifth album ‘Brothers In Arms'. The band almost singlehandedly convinced every household they needed a shiny little 5” silver disc to replace all those old and antiquated black slabs of 12" vinyl. Approximately 30 million of us did just that (which, in 2022, is pretty ironic considering the perceived cool factor of LPs these days). Alongside Mark Knopfler, John Illsley was the only other band member to do a full tour of duty with Dire Straits on their almost twenty-year run before the band slowly faded away in the early 1990s. John’s solo career actually began during his time in Dire Straits with the ‘Never Told A Soul’ LP in 1984. John has continued to release albums on a semi-regular basis, with VIII being, unsurprisingly, his eighth studio album.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Sam Outlaw - Popular Mechanics (Album Review)
80s, Album Reviews, Americana, Country, Singer-Songwriter
Sam Outlaw - Popular Mechanics (Album Review)
80s, Album Reviews, Americana, Country, Singer-Songwriter

The press release that accompanied ‘Popular Mechanics’ referenced Kenny Loggins, Tom Petty and Cyndi Lauper, all acts that have a home in my collection, so I was intrigued to hear what exactly Sam Outlaw had in mind on his new album. Listeners familiar with Outlaw and his impressive back catalogue might find the mention of Cyndi a tad incongruous as his previous records had received positive reviews for their take on the southern California country sound. As it turned out, I was pleased to find Outlaw might have taken a left turn, but he was far from lost.

80s, Album Reviews, Americana, Country, Singer-Songwriter
November 16, 2017 /David Vousden
Josh Taerk
Album Reviews, Country, Country Rock, Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter
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