I'm one of the hosts of the Salt Creek show, and was lucky enough to discover this fantastic, sumptuous album , It's clearly a real labor of love, and I can't get it out of my CD player.

Ithaca Namesake of MOR Newsreader makes nice roots rock record. Well, most British punters would make the ITN connection first, right? Add this to the moodily-lit picture of the NY TMcD on the back of the CD case, all jaw-line and in a wife-beater, and you don’t immediately get a positive vibe. So it’s a good job that the tunes are actually pretty good- as is McDonald’s useful if workman-like voice; that’s not a criticism, not is it to damn him with faint praise- on opener “Rain on the Farm”, for instance, it’s the first thing that hits you- it doesn’t go out of it’s way to be attractive and not does he drawl just because he’s making Americana-flavoured music about (in this case) the rural life. The backing is spare but expressive, and the pedal steel and backing vocals are particularly well played- just enough to add atmosphere and musical agreement as it were, and never enough to dominate or interfere with the core mood. “Dear Darlin” is equally entertaining- gently paced, fiddle and banjo waltzing around each other, McDonald coming in occasionally to sleepily (drunkenly?) wish for the return of the “Darlin” in the title; it’s slight, to say the least, but no less charming for that- here we have a demonstration of economy in writing, playing and production and the result is delightful. The record finishes in upbeat style with “No Re-entry” and whilst this is summery and sweet enough, I’m not really sure with a tune like this that McDonald is “driving straight for the ditch...” to quote Neil Young. Overall, “Porch Light” is well thought out, well played and is a pleasant companion for the 43 minutes that it occupies your attention, but it’s not essential fare nonetheless.

If Ryan Adams smoked Jeff Tweedy's brand of cigarettes, he'd sound something like Ithaca's Macdonald. On "Porch Light," his first solo release, the gravelly alt-country singer-songwriter lets a lifetime on the road and in the fields give his tunes an honest, rootsy feel that's hard to find and harder to fake.

Greater-Ithaca's veteran Sunny Weather frontman Trevor MacDonald incorporates a signature blend of roots-rock, zydeco/reggae, country and folk in his deeply-emotional 11-track solo offering. Richly produced and orchestrated, Porch Light is a poetic testament to the rural-American experience and a lamenting, lonely, pining plea to lost loves with a pedal steel/accordion/banjo/ fiddle scrub board/ accompaniment and smooth vocal harmonies. Narrative and playful one moment, hauntingly sad the next, MacDonald's work has certain Vic Chestnut-meets-Dylan-meets-Springsteen-meets-Michael Stipe quality that demands independent-film-soundtrack inclusion (Dear Darlin will one day be the theme song to a very, very sad movie: one that will make Leaving Las Vegas seem more like National Lampoons Vacation). The verse of the upbeat Take Your Places is reminiscent of Country Joe & the fish’s I Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die Rag that it seems to beg the question: are country Joe MacDonald and Trevor MacDonald possibly related? In an apparent effort to draw from the entire spectrum of musical genres and influences, Porch Light even features a Hip-Hop esque ditty entitled Seven Blind Beats; it’s the story of how G- Love got together with Cake on a Roots/folk album with intention of confusing the hell out of everybody. Porch Light is groove-intensive, Amber-Waves of Grain-level-Americana, Featuring some very talented players and top shelf production value: well-worth checking out.