Analysis/Opinion:
Is it me or do the Country Music Award nominations remind you of “Groundhog Day” — you know, the movie where Bill Murray relives the same day again and again and again?
Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church. I have interviewed them and many other serial CMA nominees repeatedly through the years. I like them and much of their music.
But it’s a big world of sound out there, and the industry continually chooses the same nominees.
It’s time to spotlight some great music that you likely won’t hear about through the industry awards or on commercial radio. Enjoy.
Jacqui McShee, featuring Alan Thomson and Gerry Conway
“Take Three”
Jacqui McShee’s soaring soprano makes it easy to forget that world-class musicians Alan Thomson and Gerry Conway provide her rhythm section. Those who bemoan the ravages of time on female vocalists’ ranges clearly have not heard Ms. McShee’s latest offering. She moves from achingly fragile to complex and powerful with a more mature and nuanced tone than when she deservedly won high praise as the voice of ’60s British folk group Pentangle.
The 10 tracks on this album include four traditional songs that Ms. McShee’s fans will recall from Pentangle’s catalog, including “The House Carpenter” and “Turn Your Money Green.” There are also nods to late, great guitarist Bert Jansch and succulent jazz numbers, notably “Willow Weep for Me.” Music just doesn’t get better than this.
Crow Moses
“Horse Heaven Hills”
This is the alt-country folk album with a splash of western outlaw (really!) that everyone wishes they created. Right from the album’s first track, “Blame the River,” it’s clear that Crow Moses (known to some as Chicago-based experimental musician Mike Muskianto) and producer Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) take listeners on a you-don’t-want-to-miss-this ride. The sound is raw with dusty, ragged vocals reminiscent of Kris Kristofferson in his heyday. The artists’ reps use the words “cowboy” and “picturesque” to describe the sound, and that’s no hyperbole. One listen to “If You Knew I Was Here,” a lovely, acoustic midtempo tune in which Crow Moses tries out some charming falsetto while trying to woo his lady love and you can almost see the dust rise on the prairie.
But Crow Moses is no throwback to yesteryears’ western singers such as the iconic Marty Robbins. His raw, urban Americana sound tells tales from all sorts of contemporary viewpoints. The ballad “Bank Lights” explores emotional and physical pain, while the guitar rocker “Whatever You Wanna Do” talks about the joy of love. A mini-Americana masterpiece.
Chuck Prophet
“Night Surfer”
Chuck Prophet is still the coolest alt-Americana artist out there. His latest release, “Night Surfer,” is the follow-up to 2012’s “Temple Beautiful,” which paid homage to his beloved San Francisco. Mr. Prophet positioned the songs on this album as a positive look at how he imagines the City by the Bay will fare during the next few decades. From the first notes of the lead track “Countrified Inner City Technological Man,” you know that he is definitely in the glass-half-full camp.
Yet Mr. Prophet doesn’t wear out hard-charging rock’s welcome or submerge his listeners in sugar-water platitudes. He scales the sound back to a near-acoustic ballad on “Guilty as a Saint,” where the “altar boy who lost his wings” ruminates on life and falling short of expectations. It’s a lovely song, but for me, Mr. Prophet is at his best when he turns his amps up to 11 (Spinal Tap, anyone?) and gets his honky-tonk sound going on tunes such as “Felony Glamour.” Chuck Prophet’s music is, once again, magic.
Jesse Macht
“Suitcase Heart”
It would be easy to lump Jesse Macht into the John Mayer crowd, but that would be a mistake. Mr. Macht’s music leans more toward emo pop than Mr. Mayer’s blues-infused acoustics. The reason some critics compare him to Mr. Mayer is that both seem on soul-searching quests as they explore life’s twists, turns through their music. The introspective style suits Mr. Macht’s smoothly expressive vocals that extend toward the higher range. They’re especially effective on tracks such as “Broken Faith,” which explores love gone wrong.
That’s not to say that Mr. Macht has a limited range that’s locked into one sound. This album shows he’s comfortable moving among emo, jazz-inspired blues (“Bound to Be Exposed”) and pure country rock a la John Mellencamp. The album’s nine songs are highly listenable, without a clunker among them. The best songs on this album — recorded at Zach Brown’s Southern Ground Studios and Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana — are the raw, acoustic tunes, including “It’s Me Tonight,” “There’s Always Two,” and the title track. Expect the buzz to build around this new artist.
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