Album Notes

The songs of Richard Stooksbury are not easily forgotten. They campout and wait in your subconscious, biding their time. Stooksbury has delivered probably one of the finest debut albums in recent memory. He sings of times past and those yet to come. He sings about the simplest pleasures and the most complicated emotions. His music is a product of his East Tennessee upbringing as well as his travels across our great nation. His wanderlust shows throughout and we can only feel grateful that he has allowed us to accompany him. His heroes read like a who's who in American song: Townes Van Zandt, Bill Monroe, Bob Dylan, and Greg Brown. Fortunately, Stooksbury manages to chart his own path and does so with such ability that it is sometimes difficult to imagine that this is his first recording. Recorded (mostly) live in the studio with a veritable cast of Nashville All-Stars he emerged from the sessions with a disc's worth of classics. The sound has its roots in country, bluegrass, rock n roll, folk, with a little bit of D.I.Y. attitude thrown in for good measure. I suppose you could label it "Americana" but that seems a little safe. This is basically a country record made the way country records should be made. Great songs written by the guy singing them, great musicians that are actually vested in the songs they are playing and an artist with a vision of his craft not a calculated marketing plan wearing a Stetson and too tight jeans. Stooksbury has announced his coming with a bold piece of work and it shouldn't be too long before people start sitting up and taking notice.


G. Jason Davidson