Home
ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM NEWS AND GIGS
LOCAL
USEFUL
The Mike Wilson Review Page
Spot Light on John McCullagh
ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM 6

SEARCH THE SITE

Acoustic Rotherham Hiring Fair 7
Make Your Musical Foot Print
THE DRIVING SCHOOL
SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend
Acoustic Rotherham 8

HOPE not hate

 

FIND OUT MORE

CLICK HERE

Acoustic Rotherham 10
The South Yorkshire Folk Page
Artist Advice for Hiring Fairs
RESOURCE DOWLOADS
The Acoustic Rotherham FREE Demo Page
Jack%27s%20RakeQuantcast
Rawmarsh%20MashersQuantcast
Monte%20Carlo%20Safe%20CrackersQuantcast
Heather%20WoodheadQuantcast
Charlie%20BarkerQuantcast
ACOUSTIC%20ROTHERHAMQuantcast
Phillip%20HartleyQuantcast
Rebekah%20FindlayQuantcast
SONG%20WRITERQuantcast
Paul%20NewmanQuantcast
Lorelei%20LoveridgeQuantcast
Artistic%20Freedom%20CollectiveQuantcast
Edward%20MikalskiQuantcast

 

toolbar powered by Conduit

A DAVID KIDMAN REVIEW FOR ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM

BACK TO THE REVIEWS

GO TO THE REVIEWS

CONTACT DAVID

TEL:  01943- 609154

EMAIL: david.kidman@btinternet.com

 

FOR NEW REVIEWS
 GO HERE
REVIEWS
NEW

THE TROUBADORS

STOLEN TIME

The Troubadors – STOLEN TIME (Own Label)

 

These Troubadors are a Wakefield (West Yorks)-based four-piece outfit purveying a refreshingly forward-driving yet also intelligently balanced brand of alt-country/Americana that at several points betrays that Steve Earle is their clearest role-model – although they also list among their inspirations Jackie Leven, Edwina Hayes, Gt Turbo, Lucinda Williams and The Good Intentions alongside the perhaps more expected names of Neil Young, Tom Petty and Chuck Prophet.

 

Their repertoire is based around the songs and voice of mainman and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Steve Chapman Smith (who apparently used to be in Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Ghostdance and Fiat Lux – well fancy that!): the band’s debut full-lengther gives us eleven of these originals plus a cheeky hidden bonus track (which I’ll come to later).

 

Steve’s lyrics are gritty and laced with insight, his delivery gutsy and authentic as they come – and yet his songs can also be surprisingly mellow too.

 

Opening cut Sometimes is one of those brilliant feel-you’ve-known-it-for-ages hook-laden instant-replay-demanding ditties with more than a touch of radio-play-friendliness about its contours; this is complemented by the classic Brit-pop vibe of Lost Faith, while How About That sees Steve moving into the realm of protest (the Iraq war) while maintaining his Americana-cred: quite an achievement!

 

Elsewhere too, Steve manages to remain upbeat while reflecting – albeit often with abundant melancholy – on matters of life, love and loss. But in spite of the strong nature of virtually all of the individual songs, the curious thing is that the album’s overall impact seems less cumulative and the dominant desire when you’ve reached the end is to go right back and hear the first three tracks over again. And I can’t fathom the rationale for leaving a good five minutes’ gap between Steve’s anguished, if resigned final song White Dress and the aforementioned bonus track (a goodtime footstompin’ backwoods-banjo rendition of Oh Susanna, which, though perfectly competent, doesn’t really belong here).

 

But these Troubadors, with their excellent instrumental work and keen feel for contemporary and classic Americana, can come steal my time any time!

 

www.myspace.com/thetroubadors.co.uk or www.thetroubadors.co.uk

 

BUY THE CD HERE

CONTACT         JMUCREATE PRIVACY POLICY         JMUCREATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS       JMUCREATE DISCLAIMERS

JOIN US AT ALL THE FOLLOWING LINKS TO GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM

THE MASHERS / ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM / THE MYKE BARRITT MUSIC TRUST

MYSPACE       FACEBOOK       REVERBNATION     BLOGSPOT   FOLK ALLEY   TWITTER

THE ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM ZONE