Artist(s): Duncan Walters
Album: Northern Rain
Label: Self Released
Available: Available Now
Rating: 5 STARS
Review by: Doug Floyd
I like to listen to country music. I like it because out of all the forms of music there is always something [+]Artist(s): Duncan Walters
Album: Northern Rain
Label: Self Released
Available: Available Now
Rating: 5 STARS
Review by: Doug Floyd
I like to listen to country music. I like it because out of all the forms of music there is always something essentially honest, good and sincerely pertaining to the human situation to be found within the idiom. It has history, it has a family tree that can be traced way back into the centuries through the meandering well travelled paths that brought it home to where it is today. Some country music has been swallowed by the big corporations and the publicity and media machinations have wound their wheels and spat out something that is unrecognisable from what it was when the great Hank Williams walked the earth. Just occasionally however, there is an album and an artist who re-establishes and re-enacts that innocence, integrity, and simple joy that sometimes seems so lost. Duncan Walters is one of those artists.
The twelve tracks that form this notable debut include the four songs that were included on the demo that Walters distributed previously. That initial foray was an impressive start and the full length debut carries on in that style wholeheartedly. There is plenty of variety up for grabs here, from lounge jazz inflected country to full tilt bluegrass hoe-downs and every stop along the way. In each song Walters and his fine band of players rip it up or cut it lean bowing only to the demands of the song, each note placed perfectly and nothing wasted.
The title track opens the album with a flourish of fiddle and dobro, setting out the stall for a genuine roller coaster honky tonk ride. Walters' baritone vocals exude warmth and confidence, smooth as molasses and as welcoming as sunshine after a rain storm. "Dancers on the Heart" features some impressive slide guitar courtesy of Jack Pearson and Randy Kohrs' stylish Dobro adds to the true country feel of this brooding, moody shuffle. Here Walters' incredibly poetic lyrical finesse is exemplified with some stunning writing:
"Just sand, heat and desert sun
Surround a woman whose heart was one
To the man that held her waist deep in the waves
As rare as water on the cactus flowers
Her lips would soothe his mind for hours"
A melancholy "Come Back Baby" foll
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