Canadian singer songwriter Matt Patershuk is a country boy through and through.
He is based in rural northern Alberta and this is his fourth collaboration with string player and producer, Steve Dawson. The album was recorded in Vancouver’s Warehouse Studios and benefits from some tight backing from Chris Gestrin (piano and organ), Jeremy Holmes (bass) and Gary Craig (drums).
There is an easy-going blend of styles enabling a novelty tune (Ernest Tubb Had Fuzzy Slippers) to rub shoulders with the elegant wistfulness of Alberta Waltz.
The songs are his own although he includes a cover of Jerry Garcia's Sugaree. The album title is a lyric from the bluesy Velvet Bulldozer which precedes the boozy lament of Let's Give This Bottle a Black Eye.
The suggestion of a broader cowboy-themed concept is flagged by the inclusion of four short equine-titled instrumentals: Horse 1 (For Bravery & Good Fortune); Horse 2 (For Lighter Loads); Horse 3 (To Know the Future) and Horse 4 (For Fond Remembrances).
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One of the most ambitious songs is Circus, a love story song set in Paris at the turn of the century and written form the perspective of a 17 year-old woman.
The songs have more of a delicate charm than a rough swagger. If Patershuk starred in a Hollywood Western he'd be a sensitive James Stewart-type figure rather than a macho John Wayne character.
His chivalrous manner means that the raunchy and raspy closing track, Red Hot Poker, is less convincing. He is no tough guy so his appeal lies in conceding his vulnerabilities .
Matt Patershuk's website
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