Small Town Heroes

Folk album with a range of more country-sounding tracks (#1) to more modern folksy music (#5) from a New Orleans-based group. All of the songs are sad, but they are a good kind of sad. Female lead vocals backed up by a mix of banjo and fiddle. It sounds a bit like ‘Iron and Wine’ to me.

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1. (2:33) * Ramblin’ (in a nice way). Plucked banjo behind sweet female vocals.
2. (2:45) Slow harmonized vocals. The sort of forlorn track you might hear on the jukebox if you walked into a dusty saloon next to a two-lane road.
3. (5:17) Really slow sad track with slide guitar in the background. Imagine tumbleweeds rolling by, a rusted out pickup truck, and an empty bottle of rye whiskey.
4. (3:38) * Dylan-style harmonica leads in to mid-tempo ramble
5. (4:01) * Slow whispery remake of the Jesse Fuller tune “SF Bay Blues” (“Walkin’ with my baby down by the San Francisco Bay…”)
6. (2:50) Surprisingly matter-of-fact song about murder (“Said you’re gonna shoot me down, put my body in the river while the whole world sings”)
7. (3:17) Less successful, upbeat track
8. (5:09) Repetitive too-long mid-tempo
9. (3:50) Super-slow quiet track
10. (2:58) Upbeat
11. (4:28) Title track. Slow and sad.
12. (3:18) Slow, mournful with sad fiddles. Sounds like they’re playing in an empty church.

Review by Henry C-G