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Smart-ass alt. country songwriter with a bluegrass bent.
Genre:
Country: Alt-Country
Release Date:
2000
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...like An Atheist In Nashville
© Copyright-Ethic Recordings
(807135253529)
Record Label: Ethic Recordings
SPECIAL: 20% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
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It takes a brave and skillful songwriter to attempt a tune about a one-legged alcoholic clown turned priest. Bay Area singer/songwriter Steve Owen pulls it off, complete with surprise ending, on “the Ballad of Wendell T. Phillips,” one of the standouts on his third release of country/folk/rock vignettes and road tales.
The way Owen tells a story puts him in the Tom T. Hall territory ("Gravedigger" is particularly lean and stunning), while his ability to set a scene recalls Bill Morrissey. With the words center stage, the backing music is somewhat secondary but never second-rate, often low key but never low-maintenance, as banjo, B-3 organ, mandolin, melodica, accordion, and tuba all make at least one appearance. And when things do get comparitavely raucous, such as on the country-shuffling "Comfort" and the catchy chorus of "Sing Me No Love Songs,"
you may find your ass kicked halfway across the room- in a good way.
- Rick Cornell, the Spectator
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