New Music -Country/roots

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2009 (6308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jim Bryson

Live at the First Baptist Church (Kelp)

Recorded last February in his hometown of Ottawa, singer-songwriter Jim Bryson’s 16-track live outing is a fitting picture of a performer who’s known (almost) as much for his unpretentious stage presence as for his stellar roots songs over the course of three solo albums.

A nice selection of songs from all three turn up on the setlist of this warm, welcoming, warts-and-all affair, which puts you right in the concert hall, or church pew, as it were. Bryson’s excellent, low-key band is a supporting player here, adding just the right twangy, atmospheric touches but letting the singer take centre stage — and he’s in particularly fine form, playing up both the husky vulnerability and rough-hewn fervor his voice is capable of.

The two final tracks, Sleeping in Toronto and Mean Streak, were recorded at the Black Sheep club and according have a less reverent, more rockin’ tone. If you can’t catch Bryson at either the church hall or the pub, this is a supremely satisfying substitute. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

— Jill Wilson

JOHN SCOFIELD

Piety Street (Universal)

Tell me, brothers and sisters, have you accepted the electric guitar into your lives? If not, let Brother Sco show you the way on this 13-track album of gospel tunes, New Orleans style.

Guitarist John Scofield has had many faces over his career. Some of his recordings have been jazzier, some funkier and some enter jam band territory; he’s done the Ray Charles songbook and grooved with Medeski, Martin & Wood on record and on tour.

And this foray into gospel is a treat. Sco has surrounded himself with a righteous band, including Meters bassist George Porter Jr., drummer Ricky Fataar, singer John Boutté, keyboard player Jon Cleary and drummer and percussionist Shannon Powell.

The guitarist is ever-present, but not in your face; he treats the songs as songs, not a launching pad for endless guitar solos. The set list includes standards such as The Old Ship of Zion, Something’s Got a Hold on Me and Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.

The best is Dorothy Love Coates’ 99 and a Half. If you love guitar, or if you enjoyed Sco’s treatment of Ray Charles, this disc is for you. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Chris Smith

The Divorcees

Last of the Free Men (Hay Sale)

Oh, the difference a producer and studio can make. The Divorcees claim it took “14 days, 800 beer, 24 bottles of wine, five jugs of whisky and a full-time chef” to record their sophomore release at Lake Ontario’s legendary Bathouse studio. However, producer Josh Finlayson of the Skydiggers may have assisted in finally capturing the power and the glory of the band’s live performance, something sorely missing from the Moncton quintet’s first disc.

Last of the Free Men unapologetically delivers a 12-pack of authentic, beer-soaked outlaw-country songs Waylon and Cash would have been proud to record. These talented storytellers create vivid head-flicks about classic cars, miners, raisin’ hell and heartbreak, guided by lead singer and guitarist Alex Madsen’s cocksure, attitude-filled vocal. Then, just when you think things can’t get any better, they toss in a cover of AC/DC’s Shoot To Thrill that makes you forget the original! ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Bruce Leperre