Red Pine Timber Co. : Sorry For The Good Times

Red Pine Timber Co.

Sorry For The Good Times

Goldrush Records

Don’t try to categorise this band as it’s a slippery slope and I ended at the foot of it.  I was quite sure they were Stateside, and with a terrific horn section, maybe Memphis or Philadelphia.  I was wrong on all accounts.  This 8-piece throng is from Perth, Central Scotland.

Sorry For The Good Times showcases a dazzling array of musical styles with lyrics of grit “The Duke” might have slid off his horse to hear about.  Katie Whittaker in the country ballad Put Down The Bottle, throws down a gauntlet to established Country music stars.  Soulful sax and mournful trumpet hit hard but one expletive and the line, “cause you’re drinking from the Devil’s cup”, hits even harder.

First single, Hollow Tree opens with fiddle, pedal steel and acoustic guitar and sounds not unlike Bad Company, with the vocals of song writer for the whole album, Gavin Munro.  The horn section stakes its claim before handing over in turn to mandolin and with the bass and drums, Southern Rock doesn’t get much better.

Opener, If You Want To is pure rock, Talking In The Snow is pure Americana.  Cutting You Loose could have come from the film Walk The Line and Katie’s last line “Sorry for the good times, I ain’t making no excuse” is out of the ball park.  It’s Gavin’s turn on Bar Stool, a lament in which he “travels light with a heavy heart…done things that weren’t smart”.  Doleful trombone emphasises that “days go by..”.  Get Right With You begins slowly but ends like an impassioned spiritual hymn, “I need shelter from my sins, and Lord I’ve got a few” Gavin sings. Don’t we all?

NE

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Review

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real

Fantasy Records

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real release their sixth album which continues to build the brand of strong song writing and emotionally charged vocals.  Its appeal is broad and there is little to dislike – except for the last track which should have been left off altogether.  It’s all-the-more surprising when six of the 12 songs are really absorbing with towering performances from the band whose name is their badge of integrity.

Sharing stages with Bob Dylan, BB King and of course his father, mentored by and working on the road and studio with Neil Young, has been time well spent but it’s their own hard work that is reaping the dividends.

Two expansive tracks impress the most.  Opener, Set Me Down on a Cloud, is about loss of life which many of us must face that features Lukas on guitar and has a Southern Rock feel.  The autobiographical Forget About Georgia at the other end of the album, also over seven minutes, matches and references the best songs containing the name of the Southern state.  Possibly the best country song I’ve heard, it’s the painful tale of losing a girl called Georgia, only to be reminded of her whenever he has the misfortune of singing Georgia on My Mind with his father on tour.  Emotive vocals in the first half are matched with sombre guitar in the second and should have been the last track.

Perhaps the band are having fun, or maybe they are listening to the advice of Messrs Young and Nelson Snr about keeping your audiences keen and carving out a career.  Six outstanding tracks on an album isn’t an accident.  If I’d been in the band, I’d have been thrown out for the quaint complaint of musical differences.  I enjoyed this album tremendously but feel it could have been invincible if the choice of songs had been more consistent. 

NE