Album Notes

In music, evolution is inevitable. Every artist, band, or group’s sound will go through growth and changes as they progress on their musical journey. The trick with evolving is to not lose balance along the way, maintain your core musical strengths, and never alienate the elements that brought you to where you are. For the Nashville based Singer/Songwriter, Freddy Mullins, his musical evolution has been both pronounced and well received with each new album he releases. His new album, The Walkaway, was scheduled for release under a different name almost a half year ago but was scratched as Mullins felt like he had lost his sound in the pursuit of growth. The question is did he make the right choice?

The album opens with the remake of a previously released song, “Colors”. The original version appeared on Broken White Lines and featured thick, warm, electric guitar tones that sounded right out of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse. Yet, on this new version Mullins completely changes the atmosphere of the song into a melodic masterpiece that floats weightlessly through your mind and shines with Mullins’ distinct sound. As the album progresses, its clear that Mullins wanted to balance the progression of his sound (Colors, Can’t See Through Me, Those Days) while staying grounded on the elements of his music that have established him as one of the most promising young Singer/Songwriters today (Bring Me Blue, You Do Wrong, What Do I Do). “The Walkaway” follows as the fourth song on the album and is Mullins’ most powerful song since “Thin Ice Ground”. It features a soulful, simple sound that builds slowly behind the piano until the chorus kicks in with its lyrical realization of a relationship ending wrapped in a blanket of warm strings, drums, and bass.

All in all, the album contains the sound elements we have come to expect from Mullins: Progressive Alt-folk (Colors), Folk-Soul (You Do Wrong, Bring Me Blue), and Piano driven songs (The Walkaway, Those Days) – so don’t be expecting any big surprises from Mullins here. However, what makes this album his best to date and a step forward for him in his musical evolution is that with this album he has solidified a sound as his. Specifically, heart felt lyrics sung soulfully weaving into melodies that sound like magic. In the previous three albums, you could hear him searching and having hit and miss results with experimenting with his sound. Yet, on The Walkaway, Mullins’ has locked onto his unique sound and that gives this album a confidence not seen before in Mullins’ work. One thing is for sure with The Walkaway -- you will not walk away disappointed.

CD Baby Release 10/09