2007-10-12
Pat Conte’s bluegrassy Gravest Hits, his first release since 1984, is an obscure collection of lo-fi and home recordings hailing from 1981 through 2005. His guitar and instrumentation skills are higher than his lazy blurry-at-times singing, which does not subtract in anyway from the feel of this record. A fret buzz here and there along with the somewhat comical sudden ending of songs adds to the laid back, sitting around the fire with a guitar, feel. You get the sense Pat plays the songs until he feels it’s done, whether or not the listener agrees. Mr. Conte has a love for all things old and folksy, cemented further when he describes the only new guitar he bought for the record, “I want to jump up & down on it now but sometimes it behaves when I threaten it with heavy shoes on.”--Tim WarrenRICHARD SCHINDELL
SOUTH OF DELIA
Justin Townes Earle
Midnight at the Movies
LOUISA BRANSCOMB
I'll Take Love from the pen of Louisa Branscomb
Eleni Mandell
Miracle of Five
ANDREW ANDERSON
As Long As This Thing's Flyin'
JOY KILLS SORROW
Darkness Sure Becomes This City
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