Reviewshine part #1: Truckstop Darlin’, Greater Pacific, White Pines

I’ve gotten a bunch of greats album through reviewshine.com, but the problem is that I will never have enough time to properly review all of them. Therefore I thought that instead of completely ignoring them here at onechord.net, it’s better that I at least say a few words about the ones that I really enjoyed.

Truckstop Darlin’: Truckstop Darlin’ (2010)

Truckstop Darlin’ comes from Portland, Oregon and their self-titled debut album is full of great countrified rock’n’roll. If you are into groups such as Drive-By Truckers, Lucero and Glossary, I’m pretty sure you are going to love this. The whole record is thoroughly enjoyable and then there’s a couple of really stunning songs like Bluegrass State and Broken Valentine. Oh and the drummer’s name is Eric Kotila, so it feels like they are part Finnish.

listen to Bluegrass State:
[audio:http://onechord.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/02-bluegrass-state.mp3]

Truckstop Darlin’ Website

Greater Pacific: Rainfall EP (Yer Bird, 2010)

And then something little or whole lot different, but equally brilliant. This is the comfort deluxe. This is atmospheric and captivating americana from southern California. Greater Pacific makes music that will take care of you and bring you home safely, if stress & anxiety are lurking behind the street corner. What a lovely EP. These guys also have a great folk rock / country band Travel By Sea. I’ve been listening to their latest album Two States and the Blindness that Follows on Spotify and it’s also pretty fabulous (I really should buy it asap).

Greater Pacific, Distance (2011) from Henkydory on Vimeo.

Greater Pacific at Facebook

White Pines: The Falls (Yer Bird Records, 2010)

If it’s on Yer Bird Records, I’m going to love it. That’s the new rule here at the onechord.net headquarters and so far I haven’t found any exceptions to that rule. White Pines is Joseph Scott from Ohio and his debut album The Falls came out a couple of month ago. It’s certainly a pretty amazing album full of delicate and magical folk sounds.

Listen to Woods:
[audio:http://onechord.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/03-woods.mp3]

White Pines at Facebook

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Caleb Stine – I Wasn’t Built For A Life Like This

Caleb Stine: I Wasn’t Built For A Life Like This (Self-released, 2010)

Caleb Stine is a country/folk troubadour from Baltimore and I Wasn’t Built For A Life Like This is already his fifth album. He hasn’t enjoyed a huge success, but based on this intimate, bare and beautiful album, the reason for that certainly isn’t the lack of quality in his songwriting and phrasing. This guy is the real deal and not just another country singer-songwriter. The whole album is filled with acoustic beauty, gentle confessions and down-to-earth warmness. The highlight of the album is the song When She Comes, which is just pure magic to me. That song can travel far deeper into your body than where an army of doctors could reach. I suppose there are a couple of songs that only falls into the category “really good, but nothing spectacular”, but it doesn’t change the fact that I Wasn’t Built For A Life Like This is a very convincing album.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSQh29Iv0I]

Caleb Stine Website

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Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil – Victims, Enemies & Old Friends

Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil: Victims, Enemies & Old Friends (Southern Discipline Recording Company, 2010)

Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil from Muscle Shoals, Alabama makes me want to rewrite my albums of the year 2010 list. Their debut album Victims, Enemies & Old Friends is just pretty damn impressive from first note to last word. The core of the album lies deep in the americana soil and Victims, Enemies & Old Friends contains lots of captivating americana/folk rock songs  flavored with the greatest instruments like mandolin, banjo & fiddle. Doc is certainly a great storyteller and the lyrics remain major part of the charm throughout the record. I also love the fact that they are willing and able to bring a lot of haunting melodies and pop sense to the table and it makes this album one of the most delightful americana albums I’ve heard in a while (they show that you can deal with emotion-filled subjects in a country song without sounding like you’re shaking your broken heart in an empty whiskey bottle). Gritty southern pop is how the bio describes it and I suppose that’s about right. Call it what you want, it sounds absolutely thrilling to my pop-soaked heart. This is a fantastic album and would have been a serious top ten contender, if I had heard it before making those end of the year lists.

Listen to Prove Me Wrong:
Prove Me Wrong by Doc Dailey & The Magnolia Devil

Listen to Sunday School:
Sunday School by Doc Dailey & The Magnolia Devil

Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil at Bandcamp
Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil Website

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Review: Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans – The Falcon Lake Incident

Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans: The Falcon Lake Incident (Maple Music, 2010)

Jim Bryson is a canadian folk singer-songwriter who has teamed up with one of the best bands in the world, The Weakerthans. Last winter they packed their gear and and travelled to Falcon Lake, Manitoba and spent six days in a cottage recording this beautiful album. Based on the press photos, the weather was extremely cold, but the end result of these recordings still sounds quite warm and very comfortable. Even so comfortable that I’m smiling also during the heartbreaking moments. I’m just in love with the overall feel of the record. It sounds very down-to-earth, but still has a lot of depth & detail. The song material is mostly amazing as well. Beautiful folk songs are the centerpoints, but Jim Bryson also has a good pop sense. For example Metal Girls is just a great folky pop song. Only minor issue that I have is that the quality of the material drops a tiny bit during the last third of the album and especially Up All Night and Decidedly seem “only good” to me. Of course, It’s mostly because I got too used to the almost perfect quality of the first half of this extremely lovely record.

Jim Bryson Website
Jim Bryson at myspace

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbA89cLxBYQ]

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