JOHNSON & FINNEMORE marks the debut duo teaming of Birmingham pedal steel guitar legend Stewart Johnson and Swampmeat Family Band frontman Dan Finnemore for Find A Love That Brings You Home (Gulf Coast) featuring, among others, contributions from Buzzby Bywater on bass, pianist Liam Grundy, fiddler Howard Gregory, and Stewart’s daughter Hannah, Julian Littman and Charlie Dore on vocals Johnson providing dobro and guitar alongside pedal steel, it’s steeped in country but also embraces the blues and touches of 70s Laurel Canyon, opening proceedings with the Hawaiian colours of the fiddle and mandolin arrangement crooned country waltzer Babybird. The equally country How Many Summers? takes a chugging rhythm as Finnemore sings about shining on everyone and giving your love away until it’s gone, followed by the more desert country soul paranoia and anxiety of Beady Eye. A compact 100 seconds, again with Hawaiian steel colours, the easy swaying How’s The World Treating You is the sole instrumental, staying in a laid-back JJ Cale groove with Ride High where Neil Young echoes seep into the slow shuffle.
A love song, piano tinkling away, Ear To The Ground is another swayalong, the tone changing with the Johnny Cash cowboy chug of The Gun, a love song too but of a much darker hue, Stewart’s solo plucking out notes like silver bullets while Hannah duel vocals with Dan. It ends with the title track, a two stepping honky tonker with Mariachi brass flavours and percussive clicking.
Doing the rounds is also the documentary, The Many Lives Of Stewart Johnson tracing the man’s illustrious career that, a former army brat, has seen him play all over the world and in styles ranging from rock n roll and blues to bluegrass and country, even playing in stage productions of Great Balls Of Fire and Jailhouse Rock as well with daughters Hannah and Sophie in The Toy Hearts and the Hannah in The Broken Hearts.
A taster for his next album which charts his experience travelling in Nepal, GEORGE BOOMSMA channels the choppy percussive handclappy style of Stealer’s Wheel for the ‘Pokhara Line’ which, set during a bus journey from Pokhara to Kathmandu, picks up the story midway from when his travelling companions left and he continued the journey solo, the song capturing both the excitement of what lies ahead and the underlying uncertainty faced by a now lone traveller. The title refers to one of the world's steepest Zipline which, in Pokhara and over a mile long can reach speeds up 62 miles per hour.(www.georgeboomsma.com)
Basking in the glow of great reviews for his 2018 debut album Santiago, AMIT DATTANI was brought crashing down to earth when he was diagnosed with a degenerative nerve condition and told that, within two years, he would no longer be able to play. Refusing to accept such a fate, he learnt an entirely new way of playing and now, seven years on armed with a custom-built guitar, he defiantly returns with The Wrong Kind Of One which, recorded live with Steph Sanders on drums, again showcases his folk-blues fingerpicking style, mixing songs and instrumentals, it embraces self-penned numbers and traditionals alike.
It opens with the title track’s skittering notes, scampering drums, and extended picked play out which, reminiscent of Will The Circle Be Unbroken, addresses refugees and the journeys they’ve made to escape violence, hardship, war and destruction only to find themselves dehumanised and mistreated in the lands where they sought refuge.
That’s followed by his take on Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor, a traditional blues about homelessness that continues to have resonance in today’s social climate, returning to a theme of resilience and paying attention to your mental health in times of dark days and anxiety with the slow sway of Steady the Boat. The first of three instrumentals, the melodically circling Gathering Acorns was written during covid after watching his young son picking up acorns in the local park, the childhood theme continuing with the ragtime touches of Golden Days, inspired by their walks to school, singing songs together.
As you might surmise, turning to electric guitar, the steady marching beat Now I Can Play On with its hints of Richard Thompson is about his new guitar and being able to continue making music, it getting a second nod in the brief instrumental Tony, referring to both its name and his father’s nickname. The last of the vocal tracks is his slower tempo cover of his favourite Dylan song, One Too Many Mornings, , ending with the third instrumental, bringing blues colours to the traditional gospel hymn Just A Closer Walk With Thee, a thank you to whatever divine power brought about his prognosis defying living musical resurrection.
The second taster of the upcoming Live Freaky! Die Freaky!” psych-rockers SOLAR EYES release Time Waits For No One (Fierce Panda), a churning, heavy drumming groove monster that, opening with a sample of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear And Loathing in Los Angeles, is about being stuck in a rot and desperate to get out and live life in the best way possible, Glenn Smyth spitting out “no, no, no, no”.
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