AGS CONNOLLY – HOW ABOUT NOW
2014 – Drumfire Records
I’ve had a theory for some time now, one that I’m sure many other people share. Having been a music fan for longer than I care to remember, in fact for longer than I actually can remember, I feel at least partly qualified to say that the quality and quantity of country rooted music in the UK has seen a stratospheric upsurgence in both. The www is hugely responsible for this, giving fans the chance to investigate artists who without the web would find getting their recordings out to the public immensely difficult or perhaps even impossible. Even twenty years ago none of this would have been possible meaning that some huge talents would never have seen the light of day or been restricted to just playing local pubs and clubs. Despite those improvements I am becoming more and more frequently ‘astounded’ by the quality of some of those musicians, of whom Ags Connolly is a dominant artist in an ever increasing number.
Had he been American rather than an Oxfordshire lad, he would, just on the strength of this, his first full album release (and his 2012 e.p) be a huge superstar of ‘country music,’ but one that rather than being built by the hype machine, would be there on talent. I’ve always had an aversion to the ‘hat acts’ of country music, feeling that much of it is sanitized and over produced, although it is true to say that many are hugely talented in the vocals and songwriting department. At least in my world, the British singers who for want of a better description are from the George Jones honky tonk school of country, are remarkably few but the hugely talented Ags is up there with the best America and Canada have to offer and in Britain is pretty much peerless. In many ways he brings a little modernity to the genre and whilst there may well be singers in country music that are his match, there are very few that bring the complete package of great vocals, tremendous songs and arrangements and a nice edginess that when added together give the music a strong sense of believability, without which country music is just ‘pleasant!’
He is also a talented songwriter who in many ways pulls the various strands of country music together with his classic style, and helpfully throughout this album he namechecks many of his influences. The arrangements couldn’t really be improved upon, similarly the playing, and his vocals create the atmosphere so necessary to the stories he tells. This recording is completely uncluttered by any extraneous instrumentation or over the top production techniques; just far from plain and even further from simple great country music! The band consists of Ags Connolly on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Stuart Nisbet, electric guitars, pedal steel, mandolin and backing vocals, Kev McGuire on stand up bass, Jim McDermott, drums, supplemented by Andy May on piano, Hammond organ and harmonium on How About Now, Dean Owens, backing vocals and acoustic guitar and Roddy Neilson plays fiddle on A Good Memory For Pain.
The album opener When Country Was Proud is a terrific song that is propelled by a beautifully solid bass and percussion with gorgeous steel guitar and piano on a tale perfectly summed up by it’s title and namechecking some of the greats of the edgier side as well as mainstream country. I’m Not Someone You Want To Know is driven by a lovely melodic guitar and piano and a tremendously atmospheric vocal on the slightly threatening tale of someone who is a ‘victim’ of unrequited love. The excellent I Saw James Hand is a a terrific song as well as being a fitting tribute to one of the relatively unsung greats, certainly in the U.K, and includes some great twangy electric guitar playing as well as weeping steel. Just to show it’s not all slow moodiness The Dim And Distant Past is an uptempo song that proves Ags is a master of wherever the mood takes him on this song that gets close to a ‘rockabilly’ tempo with the incessant bass and piano added to the chiming guitar on the tale of someone looking back at his youth. Final mention goes to She Doesn’t Need Anyone Anymore, a sad intense tale of a woman who is determined to be content on her own, a story given emphasis by the lovely melodic guitar, bass and percussion and a terrific electric guitar solo.
This is a tremendous album of real country music that has something for most people simply because it, in many ways, combines the best elements of mainstream country with music of the further out boundary hugging variety. Now all we need is for the manufacturers of over produced country pop to catch on. It may even cut their recording costs and appeal to more people!
http://agsconnolly.com/
I’ve had a theory for some time now, one that I’m sure many other people share. Having been a music fan for longer than I care to remember, in fact for longer than I actually can remember, I feel at least partly qualified to say that the quality and quantity of country rooted music in the UK has seen a stratospheric upsurgence in both. The www is hugely responsible for this, giving fans the chance to investigate artists who without the web would find getting their recordings out to the public immensely difficult or perhaps even impossible. Even twenty years ago none of this would have been possible meaning that some huge talents would never have seen the light of day or been restricted to just playing local pubs and clubs. Despite those improvements I am becoming more and more frequently ‘astounded’ by the quality of some of those musicians, of whom Ags Connolly is a dominant artist in an ever increasing number.
Had he been American rather than an Oxfordshire lad, he would, just on the strength of this, his first full album release (and his 2012 e.p) be a huge superstar of ‘country music,’ but one that rather than being built by the hype machine, would be there on talent. I’ve always had an aversion to the ‘hat acts’ of country music, feeling that much of it is sanitized and over produced, although it is true to say that many are hugely talented in the vocals and songwriting department. At least in my world, the British singers who for want of a better description are from the George Jones honky tonk school of country, are remarkably few but the hugely talented Ags is up there with the best America and Canada have to offer and in Britain is pretty much peerless. In many ways he brings a little modernity to the genre and whilst there may well be singers in country music that are his match, there are very few that bring the complete package of great vocals, tremendous songs and arrangements and a nice edginess that when added together give the music a strong sense of believability, without which country music is just ‘pleasant!’
He is also a talented songwriter who in many ways pulls the various strands of country music together with his classic style, and helpfully throughout this album he namechecks many of his influences. The arrangements couldn’t really be improved upon, similarly the playing, and his vocals create the atmosphere so necessary to the stories he tells. This recording is completely uncluttered by any extraneous instrumentation or over the top production techniques; just far from plain and even further from simple great country music! The band consists of Ags Connolly on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Stuart Nisbet, electric guitars, pedal steel, mandolin and backing vocals, Kev McGuire on stand up bass, Jim McDermott, drums, supplemented by Andy May on piano, Hammond organ and harmonium on How About Now, Dean Owens, backing vocals and acoustic guitar and Roddy Neilson plays fiddle on A Good Memory For Pain.
The album opener When Country Was Proud is a terrific song that is propelled by a beautifully solid bass and percussion with gorgeous steel guitar and piano on a tale perfectly summed up by it’s title and namechecking some of the greats of the edgier side as well as mainstream country. I’m Not Someone You Want To Know is driven by a lovely melodic guitar and piano and a tremendously atmospheric vocal on the slightly threatening tale of someone who is a ‘victim’ of unrequited love. The excellent I Saw James Hand is a a terrific song as well as being a fitting tribute to one of the relatively unsung greats, certainly in the U.K, and includes some great twangy electric guitar playing as well as weeping steel. Just to show it’s not all slow moodiness The Dim And Distant Past is an uptempo song that proves Ags is a master of wherever the mood takes him on this song that gets close to a ‘rockabilly’ tempo with the incessant bass and piano added to the chiming guitar on the tale of someone looking back at his youth. Final mention goes to She Doesn’t Need Anyone Anymore, a sad intense tale of a woman who is determined to be content on her own, a story given emphasis by the lovely melodic guitar, bass and percussion and a terrific electric guitar solo.
This is a tremendous album of real country music that has something for most people simply because it, in many ways, combines the best elements of mainstream country with music of the further out boundary hugging variety. Now all we need is for the manufacturers of over produced country pop to catch on. It may even cut their recording costs and appeal to more people!
http://agsconnolly.com/