Red Guitar Music

News, reviews and more

  • Home
  • News
  • Album Reviews
  • Live Reviews
  • Features
    • The Baker's Dozen
    • Inside The Song
  • Interviews
  • Tour News
  • Contact
Morganway album.jpg

Morganway - Morganway (Album Review)

July 31, 2019 by David Vousden in Americana, Album Reviews, Classic Rock

Morganway first came to my attention earlier this year when they unexpectedly appeared in the RGM inbox.  The track in question was ‘Frozen In Our Time’ and my classic rock taste buds were instantly sated as Morganway presented a sound that owed a debt to the likes of Dire Straits (musically) and Fleetwood Mac (vocally) while the addition of fiddle delivered a folky musical curveball. This early positive impression would be further enhanced by subsequent singles and cemented by a really terrific live show at Black Deer Festival. I had a feeling that Morganway might be on to something a little bit special, and I’m pleased to report their debut album doesn’t disappoint.

From the opening bars of ‘My Love Ain’t Gonna Save You’, it’s immediately apparent that the band has taken a straight-ahead approach to capture their live energy in the studio. Callum Morgan and SJ Mortimer’s voices combine beautifully to usher in the tune before Kieran Morgan’s choppy guitar licks accentuate the chorus and effectively glue all the various parts of the song together; throw in a beautifully constructed breakdown, some terrific vocal harmonies and the album is off to a great start. ‘Let Me Go’ is punchier, built around Ed Bullinger’s propulsive drum track and an insistent guitar riff from Kieran - who also finds plenty of room for some neat slide guitar licks - but the star of the show is SJ whose gritty vocal adds an edge that perfectly matches the intensity of the playing. Nicole J Terry’s fiddle comes to the fore on ‘You Can Only Die Once’ adding a nicely judged counterpoint to Kieran’s crunchy guitar parts while the harmonies and the vocal interplay between SJ and Callum are again sublime.  On an album with plenty of highlights, ‘You Can Only Die Once’ might just be the cherry on top of the cake. The band switch gears for ‘In A Dream (Coming Home)’ taking a sideways step into bouncy, folky pop territory and they pull it off with aplomb driven on by a pumping bassline and Ed’s drums.

The afore-mentioned ‘Frozen In Our Time’ is up next. Matt Brocklehurst’s keys take centre stage on a track that owes a debt to Dire Straits and Pink Floyd (Kieran’s guitar lines channel David Gilmour) while SJ’s vocal is equal parts angelically smooth and devilishly gritty. Nicole’s fiddle really stands out here, adding a different dimension to the sound while emphasising the strength of the songwriting and the arrangements, which are uniformly superb throughout.  Nicole is again to the fore with her playing central to ‘London Life’, which finds the band at their most folk/country/Americana as Callum delivers an impressive vocal, while those harmonies are again to die for. For some bizarre reason when I hear ‘London Life’ it conjures up images of Del Amitri jamming with The Proclaimers; which sounds pretty strange to me, but I can’t get the thought out of my head.  As usual, the band makes the vocal harmonies sound so easy and natural, which is surely the result of many hours of hard work honing their sound.

The muscular ‘Hurricane’ is a monster live and the band do well to capture that intensity on tape. SJ absolutely owns ‘Hurricane’ her phrasing and delivery is out of this world - the catch in her voice as she belts out “Hit me like an avalanche” is a real goosebumps moment. ‘New Way’ has a sultry power with Callum delivering an impressive lead vocal aided and abetted by Kieran’s ringing guitar and those, by now, trademark harmonies. Harmonies which when employed on ‘Daylight Rising’ are as good as any you’ll hear anywhere. By the time we get to ‘I See People’, especially after the glorious ‘Daylight Rising’, I’m starting to think Morganway will never run out of terrific songs. ‘I See People’ has the anthemic quality of the very best Big Country / Del Amitri tune awash with ringing guitars, upfront fiddle, pounding drums and perfect vocal harmonies. The album concludes with ‘I Want No Other Love’ which builds slowly to a crescendo of vocals and then, almost as quickly as it arrived it’s gone, cleverly leaving the listener wanting more.

Morganway should be very proud of their debut album. The band have obviously taken a lot of care and invested a lot of time to get things just right. The combination of the personnel involved, the songs and the arrangements has resulted in a debut album of which they can be very proud. The future looks very bright for Morganway.

Featured reviews @RGM
The Speaker Wars (Album Review)
Jun 8, 2025
The Speaker Wars (Album Review)
Jun 8, 2025

Life is full of surprises. At a time when the majority of people would be content to retire, potter about in the garden, and leave new music to the young folks, erstwhile Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch is back with a new band and an impressive new record. The other surprise is that the Italian Frontiers label, usually the home of all things AOR and melodic hard rock, continues a welcome expansion into other musical realms. The Speaker Wars and Frontiers seem like unlikely bedfellows, but the label is to be commended for landing this particular release. More please.

Read More →
Jun 8, 2025
Jaywalkers - Move On
Feb 27, 2025
Jaywalkers - Move On
Feb 27, 2025

Jaywalkers first came to prominence via an appearance in the finals of the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2008. In the years since, the trio has built a solid following, effortlessly merging folk, country and bluegrass into their particular brand of English Americana via a combination of impressive musicianship, impeccable harmonies and a knack for identifying a good tune. Their latest album ‘Move On’, sensitively produced by Joe Rusby, is an impressive addition to their discography.

Read More →
Feb 27, 2025
John Surge and The Haymakers - Maybe You Don't Know Me EP
Sep 18, 2024
John Surge and The Haymakers - Maybe You Don't Know Me EP
Sep 18, 2024

To quote John Surge, “These five songs represent a real cross-section of the music we make”. John is referencing a new EP aptly titled, ‘Maybe You Don’t Know Me’. The ‘Almost Time’ album from last year was well received, but Surge still had a host of material that wasn’t quite right for that record but worked well in his live set. A live set that had gotten John noticed on the LA country scene in the first place. Surge re-connected with highly regarded Texas producer Tommy Detamore  {Doug Sahm, Jim Lauderdale, Sunny Sweeney, Jesse Daniel} and reenlisted many of the ‘Almost Time’ crew including his right-hand Haymaker guitarist Randy Volin, plus Brennen Leigh on harmony vocals, Brad Fordham (Dave Alvin/Hayes Carll) on bass, Tom Lewis (Junior Brown/Raul Malo) on drums and Floyd Domino (Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard) on keyboards.

Read More →
Sep 18, 2024
Fred Abbott and The Wild Unknown - Shining Under The Soot (Album Review)
Jul 7, 2023
Fred Abbott and The Wild Unknown - Shining Under The Soot (Album Review)
Jul 7, 2023

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. 

Read More →
Jul 7, 2023
Ledfoot and Ronni Le Tekrø - Limited Edition Lava Lamp (Album Review)
May 4, 2023
Ledfoot and Ronni Le Tekrø - Limited Edition Lava Lamp (Album Review)
May 4, 2023

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.

Read More →
May 4, 2023
Sam Outlaw - Popular Mechanics (Album Review)
Mar 2, 2022
Sam Outlaw - Popular Mechanics (Album Review)
Mar 2, 2022

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.

Read More →
Mar 2, 2022
Jack Francis - Jack Francis (Album Review)
Feb 4, 2022
Jack Francis - Jack Francis (Album Review)
Feb 4, 2022

Listening to Jack Francis is a bit like getting reacquainted with an old friend. The Southampton troubadour has a knack with a melody and a transatlantic approach reminiscent of 70s songwriters such as The Band, Paul Simon and Van Morrison. The route to his self-titled album might have been a long and circuitous one, but the resulting record is a triumph that should crack a smile on the most stone-faced individual.

Read More →
Feb 4, 2022
Noah Guthrie - Blue Wall (Album Review)
Jan 21, 2022
Noah Guthrie - Blue Wall (Album Review)
Jan 21, 2022

In 2022 everybody and their dog is making a record which can be both a blessing and a curse (as the RGM inbox often reminds me). The upside to this situation is the myriad ways to discover new artists, which brings me to Noah Guthrie. Admittedly Noah Guthrie is hardly a new name, as watchers of reality TV talent shows will already be well aware (Guthrie reached the semi-final of America’s Got Talent in 2018) and even appeared in the final season of Glee. Neither of these events popped up on my radar, but late one night, lost down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, I stumbled upon guitarist Rhett Shull preparing for a gig with a bloke named Noah Guthrie…

Read More →
Jan 21, 2022
John Hinshelwood - Called Back (the poems of Emily Dickinson) (Album Review)
Jun 9, 2021
John Hinshelwood - Called Back (the poems of Emily Dickinson) (Album Review)
Jun 9, 2021

For his sixth solo release Scottish singer and songwriter John Hinshelwood has taken a different approach to his craft inspired by the poems of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). The reclusive Dickinson, who wrote almost 1800 poems during her lifetime, conducted most of her correspondence with the outside world via letter, especially after she retreated to her bedroom in later life. The sheer volume of Dickinson’s work was not discovered until after her death and she is now considered one of the finest American poets of her generation. John Hinshelwood readily admits that his connection to Dickinson was initially limited to a mention of her in a Paul Simon song, but the purchase of a volume of ‘Selected Poems’ would spark an interest that would become an obsession (in a good way).

Read More →
Jun 9, 2021
Jesse Terry - When We Wander (Album Review)
May 19, 2021
Jesse Terry - When We Wander (Album Review)
May 19, 2021

Jesse Terry is the kind of musician you could happily take home to meet your folks, safe in the knowledge that your imminent engagement would get their full endorsement. Your mother would ask, flushed, “is he too good to be true?” I don’t think there is anyone quite as clean-cut as Jesse Terry in the whole wide world of Americana. It’s just a pity for all you singletons that he is already married (to wife Jess – Jess, I know!) and has a young daughter. Unsurprisingly, then, family is at this record’s heart, as Jesse and Jess were raising their child on tour until being forced off the road by the pandemic. It’s the first time Terry has properly pulled over in a decade, having been a full-time troubadour with Jess by his side since 2010.

Read More →
May 19, 2021
M G Boulter - Clifftown (Album Review)
Apr 21, 2021
M G Boulter - Clifftown (Album Review)
Apr 21, 2021

As concepts for albums go, faded Essex seaside towns might not be the most likely choice but singer-songwriter M G Boulter has carefully hewn a hugely affecting set of songs from the rocks of Clifftown, a pseudonym for his beloved Southend-on-Sea. For those new to the name, Boulter has been making solo records since 2013, having cut his teeth in various bands and he’s now signed to the independent label Hudson Records, alongside Karine Polwart, Bellowhead and Jenny Sturgeon. With a vocal that is as vulnerable as Neil Young but as English as Nick Drake, M G Boulter has concentrated the promise of his first two records into an extremely accomplished third that marries his poetic lyrics with intricate (but unshowy) guitar playing.

Read More →
Apr 21, 2021
Amigo The Devil - Born Against (Album Review)
Apr 14, 2021
Amigo The Devil - Born Against (Album Review)
Apr 14, 2021

2018’s ‘Everything Is Fine’ was one of that year's finest releases and marked Danny Kiranos aka Amigo The Devil as one to watch. ‘Everything Is Fine' is a terrific record full of dark imagery unhindered by genre stereotypes. It might not be quite everyone’s cup of tea but if you like a good murder ballad delivered by a heavily bearded man with a banjo then ‘Everything Is Fine’ could well become your go-to album. As it turned out the album only told half the story as the RGM team found on our last but one pre lockdown night out in February of 2020. The Amigo The Devil live experience is something else entirely, ‘Everything Is Fine’ is a fantastic record but put ATD on a stage and the results are very special. In forty years of gig-going, I’ve rarely seen an artist connect with an audience in the same way as ATD. The subject matter might often be jet black but ATD is not without humour and his followers appreciate the honesty within and can relate to his grasp of the daily problems we all face, and how we deal with those problems that have, in many cases, been exaggerated by the world around us in 2021.

Read More →
Apr 14, 2021
July 31, 2019 /David Vousden
Morganway
Americana, Album Reviews, Classic Rock
  • Newer
  • Older
News RSS
Album Reviews RSS
Live Reviews RSS
Foreign Music CDJapan

Red Guitar Music is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk and affiliated sites.

Powered by Squarespace