Seven Curses

Looking earlier at the US Amazon site it appears that in the States you can only get this album on import from Europe. What an irony for what we have here is a classic slice of Americana, a perfect mix of country blues, country, and folk music which you would have thought our Atlantic cousins would have devoured. It truly is a case of sending the proverbial coals to Newcastle. Jeffrey Foucault and Mark Erreli are two stalwarts of American music scene. Foucault in particular has a voice as "lived in" as you will hear from any Nashville outlaws and can sometimes sound like the great John Fogerty (his cover of "Lodi" is well worth checking out). He is becoming the covers king and his previous album was made up of songs by the great John Prine "Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes" which deserved wider recognition, much like John Prine himself. Yet Foucault is a relative if prolific newcomer and with Erelli they specialise in songs that concentrate on "gunslingers, cheaters, drunks and other ne'er do-wells, characters that inhabit a world where everything hinges on a single irretrievable act, and a reckoning looms".

The story of "Seven curses" takes this further into the territory of murder ballads. The underpinning philosophy behind the recording was simple with both musicians sitting down to record a collection of songs "from the dark side" over a intense two night period with a handful of old guitars and a complimentary approach which as Erelli states "matched an elemental approach to the elemental subjects, love and death". The theme of murder ballads runs through "Seven curses" but it does not make for depressing record. Indeed the cover of Bill Anderson's "First Mrs Jones" is a lovely old country ballad delivered with wicked humour when we discover that our heroine is actually pushing up the daisies as a result of some despicable act with "flowers planted on top of the First Mrs Jones". Neil Young's "Powderfinger" is beautifully sung in a raw acoustic fashion and is nearly as good as the brilliant whispery cover by the Cowboy Junkies. The traditional "Pretty Polly" is brilliantly done with a Dylan like feel, and the cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Johnny 99" nearly as good as the Boss's version. Steve Earle's ode and denouement of events leading to the death penalty is captured on "Ellis Unit 1" and you can hear the languish and regret in the great vocals from both singers. Finally the price of admission is fully justified by the inclusion of "Tom Merritt" a cover of one of Texas Troubadour, Richard Buckner's songs based on the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology". Frankly I've never heard of either Buckner or Masters it but once you hear "Tom Merritt" you will come back for more, since it is a stunning highlight as is the banjo driven "Billy Gray" written by Tennessee bluegrass specialist Norman Blake. Throughout the choice of songs is pin perfect and the bold spirit which inhabits this album would have been warmly welcomed by one of its deceased contributors Woody Guthrie whose "Philadelphia Lawyer" is given new sparkle. It is an album that realistically few people will buy, but for those who do you will never regret it.

If you like good songs well played, well sung and recorded with enough space to drive a stagecoach right through the middle, this baby's for you. Crisply produced and executed with joyous panache, this is as classy as two voices, two guitars and a bunch of well written ballads can git. Yep, I said git. Highly recommended. Hot dang. Git it yerself.

Both Erelli and Foucault are singer-songwriter/troubadours in the full sense of the word - these two would feel just as comfortable in a whiskey soaked stage at midnight just as easily in the back woods of Colorado when singing to whomever is around. The covers range from the full on country version of Woody Guthrie (Philadelphia Lawyer) to the honky tonk version of Bruce Springsteen (Johnny 99) to a mellowed out Steve Earle (Ellis Unit 1) and a version of Richard Buckner's version of a Edgar Lee Masters Poem called Tom Merritt. Essentially, this is a great country cover album that possibly gets a bit too country for me at times, but it always pulls itself back with a stunning track that keeps me listening.