Seth Lakeman featuring Wildwood Kin - Ballads Of The Broken Few (Album Review)

September 15, 2016 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Album Reviews

Sometimes a project just has a way of coming together and the superb new album from Seth Lakeman is a case in point. When Seth met Wildwood Kin at a charity event he was struck by the ability of the trio (sisters Emillie and Beth Key and their cousin Meghann Loney) to effortlessly create harmonies. One roughly recorded demo on a mobile phone of Seth and the girls singing together enticed famed producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon, Paul McCartney) to get involved and the result is a sublime combination of strident instrumentation and delicious vocal harmonies.

Ian Hunter & The Rant Band - Fingers Crossed (Album Review)

September 07, 2016 by David Vousden in Classic Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Album Reviews

Ian Hunter can trace his career back to the late 1950’s but has demonstrated absolutely no signs of slowing down his touring schedule (UK tour dates are booked for November) and even less signs of a drop in quality with ‘Fingers Crossed’ his first album since ‘When I’m President’ received great reviews in 2012. Opener ‘That’s When The Trouble Starts’ is a rollicking, ramshackle barroom brawl of a tune that shows that Hunter is in no mood to retire to a life of watching daytime TV in his slippers just yet and for that fans of quality tunesmiths can be very grateful.

Ruth Theodore - Cactacus (Album Review)

September 02, 2016 by Rich Barnard in Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Album Reviews

It’s been a decade since I first heard Ruth Theodore. I remember a tiny girl playing in a tiny bar in Kentish Town to a tiny crowd. Nonetheless, she made a big impression. It was rare, at that time, to find a female singer-songwriter who wasn’t all insipid waif and whimsy (thanks, Dido) and Ruth Theodore, although blessed with a beautiful voice, backed it up with amazingly accomplished guitar skills, songs of substance and huge onstage cojones. It felt like I’d stumbled upon Britain’s answer to Ani DiFranco, because, basically, I had. She’s been a mainstay of the London circuit ever since and, living on a narrowboat deep in the East End, she’s a genuine troubadour of the capital. I’m very heartened to discover that with her fourth album, Theodore has matured but lost none of her youthful bite. Listeners ought to beware, Cactacus is a record with spikes.

Lydia Loveless - Real (Album Review)

August 23, 2016 by David Vousden in Alt-Country, Americana, Singer-Songwriter, Album Reviews

Hard to believe but ‘Real’ is the fourth album from Ohio native Lydia Loveless and she’s still only 25. On previous Bloodshot album releases Loveless has been compared to country and rock royalty in Loretta Lynn and Stevie Nicks alongside highly influential alt-rock pioneers The Replacements (needless to say with The Replacements name checked there are guitars on this record…actually that should read… there are GUITARS on this record). The album was recorded close to home at Sonic Lounge Studios in Columbus, Ohio with Joe Viers (Dr John, Twenty One Pilots) her regular producer and the result is a very fine record indeed.

Terra Lightfoot - Every Time My Mind Runs Wild (Album Review)

August 18, 2016 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Americana, Folk, Singer-Songwriter

Hamilton, Ontario singer and guitarist Terra Lightfoot is clearly intent on making a statement with the release of ‘Every Time My Mind Runs Wild’ the subdued vibe of her debut album, released back in 2011, is but a distant memory. For her sophomore release a new band has been enlisted and producers Gus Van Go & Werner F, best known for their work with The Stills, are behind the desk. The result is a strident rock record that manages to successfully perform the delicate balancing act of maintaining Terra Lightfoot’s roots, soul and blues influences while adding a catchy pop sensibility.

The Cadillac Three - Bury Me In My Boots (Album Review)

August 04, 2016 by David Vousden in Classic Rock, Country, Southern Rock, Album Reviews

Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee The Cadillac Three are perhaps an unlikely act to be enjoying success this side of the pond. The trio employ a sound that appeals to Southern rockers and country fans alike but historically this has proved a hard sell in the UK. For TC3 this has not been an issue as they’ve been incredibly well received and built an increasingly ardent following with a run of impressive festival slots and headline shows at increasingly larger venues. The release of new long-player ‘Bury Me In My Boots’ and a UK tour, that will include a show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, is confirmation that the guys are on a roll. The band are here to have a good time, turn the music up and crack open the Tennessee Whiskey which kinda helps and definitely works for me.

Darlingside - Birds Say (Album Review)

July 11, 2016 by Rich Barnard in Folk, Acoustic, Album Reviews

It’s little wonder that Darlingside’s quad-vocal acoustic loveliness has had glowing reviews back home in Massachusetts, with critics comparing them to the legendary likes of Crosby Stills, Nash & Young and Simon & Garfunkel. Even though their sound is heavily informed by these godfathers of acoustic music, Darlingside are much more than just hippy throwbacks. Amid the bliss of the mandolin, banjo, lush acoustic guitars and strings, more contemporary heavyweights Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes and Nickel Creek are all brought to mind as well. Birds Say gets a UK release on July 15th (the band already having released an EP and debut album Pilot Machines in the US) and they will be playing a short UK tour at the end of this month starting with a slot at the Cambridge Folk festival.

Blue October - Home (Album Review)

June 29, 2016 by Rich Barnard in Alternative Rock, Album Reviews

The last time I saw Blue October was at a packed-out London show in support of their 2011 album Any Man In America. To describe their live show as intense would be a serious understatement. Ferocious would be more appropriate. Petrifying would be accurate. The band’s sound was immense and frontman Justin Furstenfeld’s performance dripped with barely contained visceral rage as the album’s songs played out the bitter tales of broken family life and all its attendant carnage. It comes as something of a shock then that ‘Home,’ their new single from the release of the same name, paints a picture of total domestic bliss.

Ben Abraham - Sirens (Album Review)

June 16, 2016 by David Vousden in Singer-Songwriter, Pop, Folk, Album Reviews

Way back at the beginning of the year and my day started, as usual, with a trawl through my inbox when I discovered the link (cheers Jay) to a video entitled ‘You and Me’ by Australian singer-songwriter Ben Abraham. The video put together by the very clever people at Production Company Oh Yeah Wow is visually stunning, the set decoration / lighting in the final third really is a thing of beauty. The video perfectly complements the song and it really caught my attention. I had no clue who Ben Abraham was but I was keen to find out.

Mikko Joensuu - Amen 1 (Album Review)

June 09, 2016 by David Vousden in Country, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Album Reviews

“Sometimes it feels like darkness has taken over. I know sometimes it feels that hope’s just not there” are the opening two lines of ‘Enjoy It While It Lasts’ from ‘Amen 1’ the debut solo album from Mikko Joensuu. Needless to say when you match the lyrics to plaintive pedal steel, gently picked acoustic guitar and the swell of strings it’s obvious that Mikko Joensuu is dealing with some seriously weighty issues. The fact that the track has an incredibly stark, raw beauty to compliment the melancholy marks ‘Amen 1’ as the beginning of something a little bit special.

Aukai - S.T. (Album Review)

June 02, 2016 by David Vousden in Instrumental, Ambient, Album Reviews

The press release for the debut Aukai album tells us “Aukai is a Hawaiian word meaning seafarer or traveller. It’s also used as a proper name, and people who are called “Aukai" tend to have a mystical, philosophical, introspective nature.” Aukai aka Markus Sieber lives up to the ideals of the name and takes us on an introspective, aural journey that allows your imagination to decide where you are going and why.

Andy Shauf - The Party (Album Review).

May 16, 2016 by Rich Barnard in Alternative Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Album Reviews

With 2015’s self-recorded and highly acclaimed The Bearer of Bad News, Andy Shauf put himself firmly on the musical map, playing all the instruments and recording the album single-handedly. Barely more than a year later, here he is with The Party, his debut release for ANTI- and it’s a very impressive thing. As I write, Shauf is quite deservedly being exposed to a wider audience, supporting The Lumineers on their current European tour.

Afro Celt Sound System - The Source (Album Review)

May 12, 2016 by David Vousden in Folk, World Music

The original mission statement for Red Guitar Music was a simple one; write about music we liked in the hope that our readers would feel the same about the acts we covered. We had no idea of the range of music that would turn up in the RGM inbox or even, on occasion, on good old fashioned physical CD. It really has been a revelation and our musical horizons have extended far beyond the boundaries we set at the very beginning. This eclectic approach seems to have gone down well and we hope regular readers will continue to discover new music which brings us to Afro Celt Sound System.

Fraser Anderson - Under The Cover Of Lightness (Album Review)

April 29, 2016 by David Vousden in Singer-Songwriter, Folk

In late 2014 Red Guitar Music was pleased to review a very fine album by Scottish singer-songwriter Fraser Anderson. The album ‘Little Glass Box’ was originally self-released in 2012 and sold at gigs but a deal with the Membran label allowed the album to reach a much wider audience. This was a very welcome development as ‘Little Glass Box’ is a gem and the soulful, folk sound of the album was compared in the press to Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell and John Martyn, esteemed company indeed. Two years on and Fraser has relocated to Bristol, England after a decade living in France and has also returned, musically, with ‘Under The Cover Of Lightness’.

Treat - Ghost Of Graceland (Album Review)

April 10, 2016 by Rich Barnard in AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

I consider myself reasonably well-versed in the biggest of the big-hair hard rock acts but Treat are a band that have simply passed me by, in spite of their thirty-year pedigree as well-respected Swedish melodic rockers. A career that has seen them constantly in the shadow of the success of Europe might go some way to explaining how it happened, but Ghost of Graceland makes me think I may have seriously missed out.

The Defiants - The Defiants (Album Review)

April 10, 2016 by Rich Barnard in AOR, Classic Rock, Melodic Rock

The Defiants are Bruno Ravel: Danger Danger’s bassist, songwriter and co-founding father; Rob Marcello: longtime Danger Danger guitarist and Paul Laine: onetime lead vocalist for a band called... Danger Danger. So it's no surprise that this looks, smells and tastes a lot like a Danger Danger album. Recent shows in the US confirm that Danger Danger fronted by Ted Poley is still very much a going concern, hence the new moniker for this side project.

Steven Casper & Cowboy Angst - I Feel Like I've Got Snakes In My Head

April 01, 2016 by David Vousden in Singer-Songwriter, Country, Americana

Steven Casper is a new name to Red Guitar Music but his discography goes back a decade so we would seem to be a little late to the party. His latest release ‘Snakes’ was produced by Ira Ingber (Bob Dylan / Van Dyke Parks) in Los Angeles and the mini album / EP does a fine job of showcasing his particular brand of Americana which incorporates influences that range from Classic Rock to Country with a dash of Tex-Mex thrown in for good measure.

Gretchen Peters - The Essential (Album Review)

January 29, 2016 by David Vousden in Americana, Country, Folk, Singer-Songwriter

We enter 2016 and find Gretchen Peters embarking on a UK tour only a few months after her last visit to the UK where she performed a string of sold out shows. In 2015 the ‘Blackbirds’ album had given Peters her highest chart placing ever in the UK where she has been embraced as both a singer and a songwriter, which has not always been the case for artists in Nashville (Chris Stapleton may have recently changed that way of thinking). To coincide with the tour UK label Proper Records has put together a stunning two disc career retrospective set that will please fans old and new.

Find Me - Dark Angel (Album Review)

November 30, 2015 by Rich Barnard in AOR, Melodic Rock, Classic Rock

This is the second release from Find Me, a project headed up by vocalist Robbie LaBlanc (of Blanc Faces) and Swedish drummer/producer Daniel Flores. The press release boasts that Find Me is ‘another AOR behemoth’ and that Dark Angel is a ‘delightful and massive melodic rock album chock full of mighty AOR anthems’. My heart sinks at the prospect of yet another mechanical album-by-numbers. A cursory listen to the bombastic debut ‘Wings Of Love’ does nothing but add to my fears. I yearn for just a bit of invention, a curveball, something a bit daring from the scene, but I already know that this will be AOR played dead straight. But because I’m such a fabulously even-handed chap and a firm believer in second chances, I do my best not to pre-judge and vow to give Dark Angel the fair hearing it deserves.

T'Pau - Bridge Of Spies Remastered Expanded Edition (Album Review)

November 18, 2015 by David Vousden in Pop, 80s, Album Reviews

From the outside looking in the T'Pau story seems to bear all the hallmarks of an overnight success story. The band formed in Shropshire in the UK in 1986 and by mid 1987 they were signed to a major label and recording their debut album with legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, Journey). Despite the power of a major label and an A-list producer twiddling the knobs initially things were a little slow as ‘Heart and Soul’ failed to chart in the UK. The fortunes of the band would change when the single was featured in an ad for Pepe jeans resulting in a huge hit in the USA. A UK re-release would provide the band with their first hit before ‘China in Your Hand’ would spend five weeks at the top of the UK charts. Oddly the success of ‘China’ was not repeated to the same level in America despite it seemingly having all the prerequisite power ballad credentials to be massive.