By DJ Monk
Following a year of almost incessant gigging in support of his 2018 album ‘Breaks It Down’, Shawn Amos – who, like all good bluesmen adopted an epithet, in this case “The Reverend” – and his band, who include Dave Matthews/Indigo Girls drummer Brady Blade and sometime Norah Jones/Carly Simon bassist Christopher Thomas in their ranks, relocated from the City of Angels to the Lone Star state to record this follow-up. It was a migration which opened up a whole new vista, as the album title suggests…
In many ways, the release of ‘Blue Sky’ is extremely timely, as not only is it, by and large, a bright and breezy soundtrack for the current summer-like weather conditions, but it is also an uplifting and enervating antidote to the lockdown which simultaneously prevents us from enjoying these same conditions to their fullest extent. Opener ‘Stranger Than Today’ sets the tone with its Dylan-esque clarity and drawling vocal, before ‘Troubled Man’ takes us down the more gospel route one might expect from the project’s name, this quality accentuated by a powerful co-vocal from Texas blues songstress Ruthie Foster.
Amos has an undeniable musical pedigree, having worked as a producer and collaborator with the likes of Matthew Sweet and Solomon Burke and establishing a solo reputation in the Americana singer-songwriter mien before changing tack and exploring his love of the blues back in 2013. His experience, and his background, shines through in each of the ten songs presented here – and you get the feeling that Amos maybe has a lot more tunes he could have presented to us, but whittled it down to a more commercially-viable, single album’s worth of selections. His Americana roots shine through on the mournful ‘Her Letter’, while the Texas blues influence comes to the fore on the links of the mudhole-stomping ‘Counting Down The Days’.
Ironically, this, his fourth album under the moniker of “The Rev”, this is the first album to feature 100 per cent Amos penned-songs, showing that his exploration of the blues has given him the confidence to tackle the genre head on and stamp his own distinctive mark on it. With the massive Hammond swells and gospel-style choruses of the likes of ‘Hold Back’ (which clocks in at a beautifully precise one minute and 38 seconds) and ‘The Job Is Never Done’ juxtaposing eloquently with porch-side reminiscences like ‘The Pity And The Pain’, the late night barroom sway of ‘Albion Blues’ and the rambunctious old school rock ‘n’ brawl of ’27 Dollars’, ‘Blue Sky’ is an eclectic album, but one which needs to be so in order to showcase the breadth of its creators’ talent and musical knowledge.
As I said above, ‘Blue Sky’ is an album which fits eloquently into the framework of the unusual times in which we find ourselves, and gives us an opportunity to reflect on where we have come from, where we find ourselves now and to look forward to potentially brighter times ahead. Or, if you prefer, it provides you with the perfect excuse to crack open another bottle of mail ordered beer and enjoy a few well-earned rays in the privacy of your back garden.
- ‘Blue Sky’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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