THE HONEYCUTTERS - ON THE ROPES
2016 - Organic Records
This is the fourth excellent recording from the Asheville, NC, based five piece band who described their own music as 'Appalachian honky tonk.' Give a listen to this or any of its predecessors and, like me, I'm sure you will agree that is an appropriate description, although as is usual with any brief phrase it sells short a band whose sound is much more expansive than the picture conjured up by honky tonk. I reviewed their previous album 'Me Oh My' in 2015 and made it one of my favourite albums of the year and reading back through that 'rave' review most of what I said then can be applied to this new recording.
The songwriting alone, all of it from the pen of Amanda Anne Platt, stretches the scope of this recording beyond a standard honky tonk format. She is completely unafraid to tackle difficult aspects in and around love found and love lost with her incredibly descriptive writing style that opens up the emotions to the listener as if their own. Listening to the lyrics you can't help but hope most of the stories are fictitious and hopefully not from her own life, such is the depth of some of the sadness. Add the four men who help give her songs a life of their own and you have a band that are so original many now recognize their unique sound. Much of that recognition, at least in my opinion, is due to the beautifully feminine but also powerfully manipulative vocals of Amanda who seems able to handle any tempo or variety of emotions with a completely natural flair and lack of self consciousness.
The lineup has remained the same, consisting of Amanda Anne Platt on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Tal Taylor, mandolin, Matt Smith, pedal steel and resonator guitars, Rick Cooper on acoustic and electric bass and harmony vocals with Josh Milligan on drums, percussion and harmony vocals. The only real change in the lineup is that on their previous album 'Me Oh My' production credits went solely to Amanda whereas on this recording she joined forces with Tim Surrett, legendary bass player and much in demand bluegrass player who has worked with many other legends of the genre. Overall things have changed little but there is a powerful confidence and a completely natural openness to their sound, something I suspect Tim has encouraged, after all this is a band that needs no artifice thanks to their abundant talents.
Blue besides opens with a chunky percussion intro that is soon joined by melodic guitar and the plaintive steel guitar with Amanda's wistful vocal eventually accompanied by the mandolin on a gorgeous song about the various shades of love. The handbook is an up tempo country song, with percussion, bass, mandolin, tuneful guitar and Amanda's chirpy vocal that somehow often reminds me of Eilen Jewel, aided by gorgeous steel guitar and piano on a song that preaches that being a 'gentleman' is not always a woman's first choice in a man! Next there is the lovely slow melodic ballad The only eyes, with gorgeous steel guitar, piano and the usual solid percussion and bass on a song about a girl who is faltering in committing herself to a lover, having been hurt before. The steel guitar solo really enhances the dramatic impact of the song. There is a melodic guitar and steel intro on Piece of heavan that is soon joined by Amanda's gorgeous vocal on a sad reflective tale of lost love. The twangy guitar solo gives a perfect balance to a song that paints a cinematic picture to such a degree that it will be fun to see which of the Nashville 'stars' picks up on it first!
There is a beautiful steel guitar start, with percussion and bass leading Amanda's lovely evocative vocal on 500 pieces, another incredibly sad tale that has a strong sense of believability and drama that only vaguely intimates a beginning but certainly leaves the ending open on another tale of cinematic quality that can possibly be said to echo life. Finally we have a 'cover version' that includes some beautiful mandolin playing on this tremendous and epic in length reworking (8.03) of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah. There are some lovely guitar sounds driven by the metronomic bass and percussion with the excellent harmony vocals and gorgeous steel guitar supporting Amanda's beautiful lead vocals.
Whilst I said that there has been little change, that comment should not be taken as a suggestion that they are getting samey! Musicians of this calibre are always extending themselves and with a singer songwriter such as Amanda, her songs are so unlike any others because she is always looking for slightly different angles to themes that whilst old and often common are given a completely different perspective by her writing. Add those manipulative vocals to the mix and there is no chance of any two of their albums sounding the same. Long may the Honeycutters continue on their unique path, just don't tie the 'Appalachian honky tonk' label too tightly, we don't want to cut off their broad ranging stream of originality do we!
http://www.honeycutters.com/
This is the fourth excellent recording from the Asheville, NC, based five piece band who described their own music as 'Appalachian honky tonk.' Give a listen to this or any of its predecessors and, like me, I'm sure you will agree that is an appropriate description, although as is usual with any brief phrase it sells short a band whose sound is much more expansive than the picture conjured up by honky tonk. I reviewed their previous album 'Me Oh My' in 2015 and made it one of my favourite albums of the year and reading back through that 'rave' review most of what I said then can be applied to this new recording.
The songwriting alone, all of it from the pen of Amanda Anne Platt, stretches the scope of this recording beyond a standard honky tonk format. She is completely unafraid to tackle difficult aspects in and around love found and love lost with her incredibly descriptive writing style that opens up the emotions to the listener as if their own. Listening to the lyrics you can't help but hope most of the stories are fictitious and hopefully not from her own life, such is the depth of some of the sadness. Add the four men who help give her songs a life of their own and you have a band that are so original many now recognize their unique sound. Much of that recognition, at least in my opinion, is due to the beautifully feminine but also powerfully manipulative vocals of Amanda who seems able to handle any tempo or variety of emotions with a completely natural flair and lack of self consciousness.
The lineup has remained the same, consisting of Amanda Anne Platt on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Tal Taylor, mandolin, Matt Smith, pedal steel and resonator guitars, Rick Cooper on acoustic and electric bass and harmony vocals with Josh Milligan on drums, percussion and harmony vocals. The only real change in the lineup is that on their previous album 'Me Oh My' production credits went solely to Amanda whereas on this recording she joined forces with Tim Surrett, legendary bass player and much in demand bluegrass player who has worked with many other legends of the genre. Overall things have changed little but there is a powerful confidence and a completely natural openness to their sound, something I suspect Tim has encouraged, after all this is a band that needs no artifice thanks to their abundant talents.
Blue besides opens with a chunky percussion intro that is soon joined by melodic guitar and the plaintive steel guitar with Amanda's wistful vocal eventually accompanied by the mandolin on a gorgeous song about the various shades of love. The handbook is an up tempo country song, with percussion, bass, mandolin, tuneful guitar and Amanda's chirpy vocal that somehow often reminds me of Eilen Jewel, aided by gorgeous steel guitar and piano on a song that preaches that being a 'gentleman' is not always a woman's first choice in a man! Next there is the lovely slow melodic ballad The only eyes, with gorgeous steel guitar, piano and the usual solid percussion and bass on a song about a girl who is faltering in committing herself to a lover, having been hurt before. The steel guitar solo really enhances the dramatic impact of the song. There is a melodic guitar and steel intro on Piece of heavan that is soon joined by Amanda's gorgeous vocal on a sad reflective tale of lost love. The twangy guitar solo gives a perfect balance to a song that paints a cinematic picture to such a degree that it will be fun to see which of the Nashville 'stars' picks up on it first!
There is a beautiful steel guitar start, with percussion and bass leading Amanda's lovely evocative vocal on 500 pieces, another incredibly sad tale that has a strong sense of believability and drama that only vaguely intimates a beginning but certainly leaves the ending open on another tale of cinematic quality that can possibly be said to echo life. Finally we have a 'cover version' that includes some beautiful mandolin playing on this tremendous and epic in length reworking (8.03) of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah. There are some lovely guitar sounds driven by the metronomic bass and percussion with the excellent harmony vocals and gorgeous steel guitar supporting Amanda's beautiful lead vocals.
Whilst I said that there has been little change, that comment should not be taken as a suggestion that they are getting samey! Musicians of this calibre are always extending themselves and with a singer songwriter such as Amanda, her songs are so unlike any others because she is always looking for slightly different angles to themes that whilst old and often common are given a completely different perspective by her writing. Add those manipulative vocals to the mix and there is no chance of any two of their albums sounding the same. Long may the Honeycutters continue on their unique path, just don't tie the 'Appalachian honky tonk' label too tightly, we don't want to cut off their broad ranging stream of originality do we!
http://www.honeycutters.com/