Chuck Melchin is the former songwriter and front person for the now defunct band The Bean Pickers Union from Massachusetts.
After the eponymous debut as The Bluest Sky in 2023 comes his ‘difficult’ second album.
He assembled a group musician friends to make this more of a collaborative work than a solo project.
Following the Covid trend of remote recording, six of the ten tracks were recorded in the home studios of each musician. The remaining four songs were recorded live in Nashville.
The upbeat and electric sound is deeply indebted to Americana bands past and present.
Only two tracks are not love songs. Queen of the Sick Burn is about being cruel to people online while the twangy Smuggling is a fictional story of outlaw antics.
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Other tunes are about breakups (Battlefield/The Weight of Being), reconnecting (6280 feet) or just plain lusting (Girl From My Building/ Skinny Lady).
The riffs and refrains are either timeless or outmoded depending on your point of view.
Personally, I subscribe to the latter.
Listen at Bandcamp
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