Terry Allen: Salivation (Sugar Hill)
Terry Allen is a grizzled wizard from Lubbock, Texas, who in his 56 years has struck out successfully at more than one sacred cow. This new album is a mixture that ranges from deliciously subversive, almost blasphemous comment (hence the title) to wonderfully realised word pictures and elaborate song cycles. The glue that holds the whole thing together is his lived-in laid-back drawl of a voice and his ability to write fine songs and nestle them in warm inviting arrangements full of dobros, accordions and tasty acoustic guitar picking. It's Americana country-folk with a twist and they don't come more twisted than this Kansas-born singer/songwriter, painter and writer. Thoughtful, imaginative, intricate, acerbic, inventive, cynical and tuneful are just some of the adjectives that apply to this clearly millennium-inspired collection.
By Joe Breen
Neal Casal: Basement Dreams (Round Tower)
This man's first album turned a few heads a year or so ago, but this massive lo-fi outing (21 tracks excluding his dad's intro/exit confections) surpasses it with its breadth of influences and strength of purpose. There are songs about suicide and almost anything else you care to mention. And if his themes spread far and wide, then so do his influences; though his staple style is country folk, he is also pretty nifty when it comes to the blues and other forms of Americana. His intimate style of whispered vocals adds mood and atmosphere without ever sounding threatening or overbearing. The music is essentially driven by his acoustic guitar, but it is coloured cleverly by astute use of other sounds including organ, electric guitar and particularly inviting harmonies.
By Joe Breen
