Turnpike Troubadours and Marlon Williams are this week’s standout releases.
Jesse Welles
Middle
The political songs have the exact same smug veneer of “principled centrist” condescension as South Park, toxic in ways that undercut whatever points he might have. Outside of that mode, he can certainly write a memorable and clever tune, though the vocals are quite rough.
Turnpike Troubadours
The Price of Admission
Brilliant songwriting that deepens on repeat listens, and it’s a testament to their generational talent that this album is still among their and the year’s best in spite of Jennings’ complete inability to mix their sounds in ways that enhance rather than distract.
Kelby Cooper
Love You, Goodnight
Allegedly, he cut his teeth on the Red Dirt scene, but this record is a 50/50 blend of Morgan Wallen knockoffs and adenoidal butt-rock country. It’s slick, professional, and utterly anonymous.
Bradley Gaskin
Unfinished Business
But for the Loudness War engineering, if you’d told me this had been recorded during prime Joe Diffie / Tracy Lawrence era, I’d have believed you. Nothing at all revolutionary here, but it’s a solid 90s throwback, and Gaskin has a rather strong voice.
Lucy Dacus
Forever is a Feeling
Something to be said for the tension between her incisive songwriting and the deliberately easy-listening style of this record, but also something to be said for a greater range of tempo and dynamics. An accomplished album that’s at least kind of… dull.
Ashley Flynn & the Riveters
Good Morning, Sunshine
Another alt-country triumph in a resurgent year for the form, this crew foregrounds the queer and the twangy elements in their songwriting and aesthetic, and the album’s all the richer for that purposeful, confident choice.
Cimarron 615
Cimarron 615
Would I be impressed by this if they were playing as the house band at a bar? Sure would. Would I actively seek out this album of its own accord? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s quite solid country-rock, performed well enough, but it’s never more than that.
Jon Pardi
Honkytonk Hollywood
Inexplicably leans into the worst recent radio-country trends when the traditionalism he claims to love is at a new peak. He seems more committed to maintaining A-list status at the expense of genuine artistry: His gen’s Chris Young w a more Gorgonzola vocal tone.
Marlon Williams
Te Whare Tīwekaweka
I can’t speak authoritatively on Māori musical traditions, but I can say that it’s important and riveting when one of the most gifted singers in the broader country universe leans into his ancestry to create new music that is this exquisitely rendered.
Williams cites influences including John Cale (!), Elliott Smith (!!), and Jesse Winchester (!!!) as key to this project, and he hits those marks with precision, and this album feels like it opens up a whole new-to-us wing of a tent that was already pretty big.
Leave a Reply