Singing, playing guitar, accordion and percussion, Matt Patershuk mixes blues, folk and roots with his team of Gary Craig/dr, Steve Dawson/g, Jeremy Holmes/b, Fats Kaplin/banj-uk-harm-fi, and Keri Latimer/voc. He and the band sound like English minstrels on “Shane MacGowen” while he shows how to spin a yarn on “Clever Hans” and “Sunny” . Rural guitar and banjo make way for “Stay With Me” and things get bluegrassy with violin on”1.3 Miles”. Dark effects create long shadows on “Afraid to Speak Her Name” with some troubadour’d tales taking place on “Turn The Radio Up”. A night at the local pub-ready for a singalong?
The avuncular John Wort Hannam plays guitar and sings folksy blues and rural reads with a team of producer Steve Dawson/g, Jeremy Holms/b, Gary Craig/dr, Chris Gestrin/key, Fats Kaplin/fid-mand-banj-harm and Keri Latimer-T. Buckley/voc. You get a two step twang on “Wondeful Things” while piano and guitar frame a story on “Beautiful Mess”. Soft Nashville lights glow on “Young At Heart” . The team boogies well on “Meat Draw” and an intimate delivery is put to 5/4 on “What I Know Now”, with homespun charms in abundance for “Other Side of The Curve”. Songs by the campfire.
Harmonica man Charlie Barath blows a strong storm with a wide variety of blues busters on this collection of 17, count ‘em, 17 originals. There’s a dirt under the nails earthiness to “The Forgotten Man” with ching ching-in’ guitars, whel the two step “No Smoking” is a honky tonking foot stomper. He shuffles the blues like a card shark on “Have Yourself A Ball” and teams with Max Schang’s cool guitar tones for “Heart of Mine”. A trip to Chicago gets dark and bluesy for “Highball and a Covered Dish” and the team swings to the Woody Woodpecker’d “Losin’ My Mind Over You”. A strong storm off Lake Michigan.