The Wynntown Marshals: Westerner (Charger Records, 2010)
Another reviewshine favourite of mine is The Wynntown Marshals from Edinburgh and they deliver high quality scottish americana and alt.country. After being addicted to scottish pop music and alt.country in general for the past ten years, The Wynntown Marshals often sounds oh so familiar. Sometimes I think of records as my friends (just how sad is that) and I surely can form a strong friendship with Westerner, because it seems like we come from the same place and know groups like The Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo, Teenage Fanclub, Richmond Fontaine by heart. Despite that familiar sound, The Wynntown Marshals aren’t mindless copycats. They just have better influences than most and have been able to create a versatile album that works beautifully as a whole. There’s this kind of lighter country jangle with pop melodies and (should-be) hit potential, slower and moodier country balladry and everything in between. Maybe that one completely stunning and outstanding song is missing, but there’s a bunch of really good songs and I like everything that is on the record.
