Album Review - All I Own - Jessica Lynn

 

Jessica Lynn is an absolute bundle of energy, which shows in both her live performances and in her recordings.  With musicians for parents (who are part of her band) it is fair to say that Jessica was born to be on stage, and if you’ve had chance to see her, you will probably agree!

 

It would take too long to list all of Jessica’s attributes, but being a fighter is near the top of that list, and the new album – All I Own – is testament to her resilience.  Dealing with health issues, wider global problems that affected tours and even adopting a disabled dog, Jessica doesn’t let anything hold her back – in fact, she seems to channel it all into her music!

The first track, Bet On It, lays down a marker for the album.  Heavy guitar riff, strong rhythm and Jessica’s Country Rock vocal lets you know from the off that this is not an album of soft ballads! Something Bout You continues the vibe, albeit with a slightly lighter instrumental line, putting more focus on the words and emotion in them.  Ain’t Done With You shows that the band can drive a song in different ways, always guitar driven but this time with a great drum/percussion added to it.  The title track All I Own takes a small break from the rock, with acoustic guitar and strings perfectly accompanying the first softer song.  Jessica has the ability to switch between rocking out and emotional, at live shows she has reduced an audience to absolute silence while listening. 

Shame changes tempo again, a very Latin feel incorporating some pop style production and using the best of these styles.  If Shame is Latin, Mixed Signals is unashamedly rock, summoning up a smoke-filled dive bar sound and feel, bringing in a bluesy edge.

 

Scott Vincent

The entire album is incredibly listenable, as Jessica goers “twisting and turning” through different styles, changes of tempo, fabulous use of instrumentation to accompany each track.  From the near theatrical Mixed Signals into the more country sounding Straight Outta Luck and then the beautiful, heartfelt duet You Save Me, any part of this album takes you on a journey.  While the songs form part of Jessica’s journey, you are able to use them for your own story too.

From the evocative harmonies and steel of You Save Me, the drums and rock edge are back with 16 Miles, but this time with a gospel feel, and strings playing the part of the backing choir.  Despite setbacks – medical, global and personal, Jessica will never hide, never use anything as an excuse.  The recording of this album was a physical trial and so it is fitting that the closing track is I Never Said It’d Be Easy.  Maybe the most obviously personal track of the ten, it is an anthem to overcoming struggles but in the uplifting style that we have come to expect from listening to Jessica in the studio and live.  It’s the perfect ending to an close to perfect album

 

Silverball Country

The talent, the passion, the fight is all clear to see.  Behind the performer is a tight family and a fabulous welcoming manner.  The album is a personal journey, but one we are invited to join in with and interpret our own way.  It’s like a ten track recording of Jessica cheering us all on from the sidelines.

All I Own, the new album from Jessica Lynn is available to download or stream from Friday 17 January.

You can find Jessica on Facebook and Instagram and follow her music on Spotify

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Gig Review - Emilia Quinn Bare Faced Tour - Hare and Hounds Birmingham

 

The Emilia Quinn Bare Faced tour has been around the country, and on Sunday night it reached its final stop in The Hare and Hounds, Birmingham.  The venue has a special place in music history, and in Emilia’s own journey.  A year ago she played here with her full band on her very first headline tour, and the show was recorded so that a series of live singles could be released.  This time around there was no band, just Emilia, her guitarist John W Doyle, a coffee table and some mugs of tea.

 

The relaxed set up suited the intimate, seated audience and perhaps was a welcome rest at the end of a tiring tour.  In another break from the “normal” concert style, the warm up act was John – just him, his guitar and his stories.

 

If you’ve seen Emilia live over the last couple of years you’ll easily recognise John W Doyle, not just for his amazing beard, but also for his skilled guitar playing.  This tour allowed him to take centre stage, if only for a while, and show off those quite incredible guitar skills and his songwriting.  Normally with either Emilia’s band or a blues band, he displayed a fabulous intimacy with the listening audience.  Although he doesn’t believe in talking too much about the songs “because if you've done a good job, the song should tell the story” John is fun to listen to, with a mix of stories and one liners – and great song writing.  Inspired by his time on this tour he performed a song that he had finished that morning with the great title and repeated line Whiskey Into Wine, a song that really suits his soft yet gruff voice.

Before finishing his solo set, John apologised for singing depressing songs but said “A brighter future is coming”  Throughout the whole evening, from Emilia coming out to introduce John on stage, to the duet main show the genuine affection and mutual respect was very obvious.  These two have a genuine chemistry and have clearly enjoyed this quite special tour – the catchphrase being “I’ve had a lovely time”

 

There was a short break before Emilia came to the stage along with John – slightly delayed by eating cake in the green room!  Somehow even hearing about the cake added to the feel of the evening as we all shared in the story, if not in the actual cake!

 

Emilia is the ultimate rock chick.  An Outlaw, a firecracker, the baddest bitch in the land and has rocked out festival stages with her boundless energy, but on this tour she has gone “bare faced” and stripped back – and it suits her just as well as those big stage performances.  We were promised old songs, new songs and reimagined songs – and boy did she deliver!  Notable was the smoky, jazzy version of her anthemic Outlaw, so reimagined that it took a moment to even recognise it.  Vocally and stylistically, it was Emilia channelling her inner Amy Winehouse.  If there was ever any doubt about Emilia’s sheer musical range, this one song crushed that! 

We had a new song inspired by a chat gpt prompt, we witnessed Emilia play cello on a number of songs (incredibly well!) including on a reimagined Pretty Pink Pills, we had a “full circle” moment when we heard Let It Burn which was recorded at this venue and only ever released as a live track.

Emilia paid tribute to the important people in her life – during Father's Daughter she sang to her Father on Facetime, she dedicated the next song to her ever-worrying mother and of course she praised her wife, tour manager and voice of reason Tammy – “Everybody needs a Tammy”

 

All too soon this show, and the tour, had to come to a close (with a cover of Chris Stapleton’s Fire Away and an encore of Without You) but Emilia can’t sit still for long – she’s already announced her next live shows!

 

An album being recorded, a single release planned for February in London and Manchester all on the heels of a great tour with a change of style.

It seems there is no stopping Emilia.

Find Emilia on Facebook, Instagram and her website and follow her on Spotify

 Silverball Country attended the show as guests of Emilia Quinn

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Single Review - Best Things - Wood Burnt Red

 

Wood Burnt Red are one of the bands that we will be looking forward to seeing at this weeks The Long Road Festival as they make their TLR debut on Friday night – on The Front Porch for the Ariat take over hosted by Two Ways Home

To make the weekend even more special they are releasing their new single – Best Things – on Friday too. 

As we have come to expect from Wood Burnt Red, the song is about real life – in this case the struggle to have it all, and the expense that goes with that!  Many of us can probably relate to the lyrics

I got a nice home, that I don’t own, 

And a car on the drive that’s not paid for.

It’s Wood Burnt Red, so it’s got a heavy sound, its got gruff vocal delivery but this time they have broken away a little from their Malvern roots and gone quite American with the sound, especially in the intro and opening verse.  As they hit the chorus they sound more like themselves and a little more comfortable, and there’s a lovely instrumental break where they sound like they are just having some fun with guitars and keys!

Unashamedly starting out as a “Dad Band”, each release and each stage performance sees the boys getting more polished with their playing and songwriting – but the songwriting hasn’t lost any of its realism or integrity, as they are not afraid to tackle real topics head on – which has included personal appearance in the past, and the difficulties of the modern, materialistic world that we all live in.

The Long Road isn’t the only festival this summer for Wood Burnt Red, having played main stage at Buckle and Boots, Black Deer with the BCMF in Blackpool to come

Best Things, the new single from Wood Burnt Red, is available to download and stream from Friday 23 August.  

Catch the band at The Long Road Festival, The British Country Music Festival and on their socials Facebook and Instagram.  If you stream music, give them a follow them on Spotify

 

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Single Review - Boy On The Train - Morganway

 

Described by the band as having Primal Scream and Rolling Stones vibes, Boy On The Train, the new single from Morganway, does indeed have those influences – at first at least!  Once the violin kicks in you know its Morganway - but with a difference.  It’s Morganway because of the energy in every line, the difference is in the vocal with Callum opening and  SJ sharing the lead this time.

It has always been hard to pin the band down to any one genre – we coined the expression “Rowdy folk” for them previously – but it is safe to say that by blending Country, Americana, Rock, and Folk they have developed their own sound, best described as “Morganway”.

The song starts with guitar, which is joined by violin, then drums – then just an explosion of energy as, well, everything joins in!

The song originated from Callum strumming a guitar at night on tour and developed into the finished article – fittingly a story of family and the separation and connection caused by touring, the inspiration being Callum’s family on their way to join the band on tour.  It’s a perfect time to release the song too, as the band have just come off a tour with Belle and Sebastian and will be playing across festivals this summer including the main stage at The Long Road Festival in August.

Boy On The Train is destined to be a crowd pleaser, and you can already hear the sing-along that will be happening as the audience join in with the incredibly catchy chorus.

Get yourself ready for the Morganway performances at this year’s festivals…

She’s got the ticket, and the Boy On The Train

Boy On The Train, the new single from Morganway is available to download and stream from Friday 28 June.

You can find Morganway on Facebook and Instagram and follow them on Spotify

Morganway are represented by Zimagined Artist Management

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Single Review - 18 Stone - Wood Burnt Red

 

When you watch a band perform, up there on stage it is obvious that everything is great for them, that they are smashing it and they have not a care in the world.  Right?  Wrong.

The reality – at least for Wood Burnt Red lead singer Tom Franklin is very different.  Tom tells us that he has endured a lot of negativity in the past:

“Throughout my life growing up, I've had constant comments about my weight, my height (not that that can be helped), the clothes I wear, even my music taste, and it bothered me right up until a few years ago”

Tom, and his fellow band members are using their voice to shout back against this with their new single 18 Stone. 

A song with a social message could be expected to be a heartfelt ballad – but not from Wood Burnt Red.  This song very clearly sticks two fingers up to the haters and detractors and is as much a song of power as of empowerment.

Opening with a crash of guitars and an absolute declaration “Six foot four eighteen stone” it is clear that this song apologises to nobody and for nothing.

It’s a rock song from its instrumentation to its lyrics and in its message.  The repetition of “six foot four eighteen stone” shows that he isn’t bothered – at least not anymore!  “Take me as a I am” is an absolute affirmation for everyone and should be painted on lounge walls instead of the more usual “Live love laugh”.

Having met the band when they headlined the Paddock Stage at Buckle and Boots you can’t help but be struck by their honesty and reality.  This song cements that – it isn’t an attempt to look good or fit into a trend, it’s heartfelt, saying what they want to say whether you want to hear it or not.

“…I wrote this track as a big 'F*** you' to those certain people. This song is about me, so take me as I am... because I'm not changing for anybody!"

The song isn’t one sided, its not just about the storyteller shouting about himself

But right before we do, I want to know a little more about you.

Like where’d you grow up, what fills your cup, what kind of movies are you into?

Authenticity is at the heart of Wood Burnt Red, and at the heart of this song.  No airs and graces, no big time sense of grandeur, these are a set of blokes from the Malverns who happen to be really good at playing their brand of Southern Rock.

Demonstrating that difficult topics don’t have to mean reflective songs, Wood Burnt Red have taken a message and shouted it out in a true Country Music style.  Strident guitars, thumping bass line, excellent lyrics and a powerful vocal delivery make this song an absolute anthem, an anthem to self-acceptance which will resonate with listeners making you think – as well as sing along!

18 Stone, the new single from Wood Burnt Red is available to downloads and stream from Friday 10 November.

You can find the band on Facebook and Instagram and follow them on Spotify

Wood Burnt Red are represented by Zimagined Artist Management

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Single Review - Saving Grace - Georgia Nevada and Emma Moore

 

We’ve hosted both Georgia and Emma onstage at Buckle and Boots and at Millport CMF, and it is fair to say that both give a power performance, both of them can certainly perform on the rock side of country!

With their new single the two have come together to duet a song which is – well, about coming together! Celebrating friends that are always there, even in the middle of the night Saving Grace is a wonderful blend of both singers and rather than being purely “country rock” it actually blends the two styles together – a powerful country song but written and performed with the rock edge that we have seen from both of them. 

You will be drawn in by the acapella opening, you might think you’re going to hear a ballad until that guitar kicks in.  The opening lines describe the friendship

I’m your front row, first in line, call me up in the middle of the night.

And then the rock hits you, showing you the energy of that friendship.  This isn’t just about sharing secrets and confidences but the fierceness of having your friend’s back through everything

From the cradle to the grave

My sounding board and saving grace

Opened by that pure vocal, the rest of the track is absolutely driven by the guitar, with Emma and Georgia’s voices combining and taking control.

This an anthem to friendship, to supporting each other through troubles – and maybe sometimes causing some mischief, together

This is not a song that can fade out – the last few seconds we revert to just those two voices…together.

Saving Grace, the new single from Georgia Nevada and Emma Moore is available to download and stream from Friday 24 February

Find and follow Georgia  on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

Emma is also on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

 

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Single Review - Driftwood - Mike Ross

Teasing his forthcoming album – The Clovis Limit Tennessee Transition – Mike Ross has today released the single Driftwood.  We have been sent the full album ahead of its scheduled release on 28 May and it is so tempting to listen to the whole album rather than just this one track!

Moderation in all things though! For now, Driftwood.

I’m not sure if I should be describing this single as pure or raw.  Perhaps it is both.  Mike is a multi-instrumentalist and, apart from the occasional guest collaborator, his albums are all him on both vocals and instruments.  Driftwood opens with a count in, a guitar and pure Mike – although the lyrics are far from “pure”!  The sound, with a bit of slide and a certain gruffness summons up the image of a log cabin, or perhaps a shack with a singer plying his trade. The song, the music, the vocals are bluesy, rocky and raw.

This isn’t just a flight of fantasy – Mike really has recorded in a shack – or “a cabin retreat” – but despite the heavy southern influence very evident in his sound, Mike is actually a Durham lad.  When you discover that he was raised on 70s rock you begin to understand his influences.  Don’t try to pigeonhole though, Mike is a bit of rock, a little blues, some folk, Americana… his style is recognisable and at the same time uniquely him.  From shack to Nashville to Brighton, Mike Ross is happy to incorporate styles and environments into his music and the outcome is incredibly listenable. 

With Driftwood as a teaser, it is so tempting to listen to the rest of the album, and ahead of its release we certainly will do so, but for now it’s a pleasure to listen to Driftwood, in a shack, accompanied by sips of a fine whiskey.  Trust me – try it!

Driftwood, from the forthcoming album The Clovis Limit Tennessee Transition is available now to download and stream.

 

You can find and follow Mike on Facebook, Instagram, his website and on Spotify