Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl
"Just Like the Others" CD
727 Records
Genre: singer/songwriter, folk
pop
July 31 2008 |
The covers album has a long and storied history, and Nowhere Man
and a Whiskey Girl are the latest to throw their best effort into
the ring. In line with their bare-boned folk style, derived from just
vocals, guitar, and piano, this married duo (Amy and Derrick
Ross) cull most of their pickings from the singer/songwriter camp.
The emphasis appears to be on female songwriters, with names ranging
from the ubiquitous (Tori Amos, Joanna Newsom) to the
relatively obscure (Jolie Holland, Robin Vining). Of
course there are several exceptions - World Class Thugs,
Sleepwalker, labelmates Fatigo, and even Jimmy Eat World
all get reworked - but despite the varying source material, all of
the songs are given a similar treatment. For Ross & Ross, the
name of the game is Americana-tinged, personal folk-pop - the sort of
stuff that comes across as both mature and melodic. Amy Ross's
voice is pristine and endearing, but not without personality; it is
capable of angelic prettiness ("Fiver's Song," "Ghost of a Dog") but
also unafraid of packing some punch ("Old
Fashion Morphine," "Girls Who Wear Glasses"), or even
doing a little yodeling (Gillian Welch's
"My Morphine"). The instrumentation, with Amy on keys and Derrick on
guitar, is competent if unspectacular; it sets a constant mood
throughout the record, and its consistent simplicity leads the
listener to a fundamental realization - you may write quaint folk
ditties or blaring rock anthems, but songwriting-wise, they're all
just songs in the end.
nowhere
man and a whiskey girl's myspace
77%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 12 tracks,
43:38, distributed by
the
label,
released 2008] |