Phil Hooley’s third solo album, like his other two, is produced by Justin Johnson in Nashville. Hooley is from Scarborough so this recording location helps give his tunes the required country and western lilt.
This doesn’t prevent them from largely being songs for wannabe buckaroos. This is evidenced by the opening track - Cowboy Dreaming - about a city gent learning how to spit and brawl to blend in with the other ranch hands. However, by the time we reach the final novelty song, Sticky Toffee Pudding the mask has slipped to expose Hooley’s North Yorkshire roots.
The ten songs have the laid-back feel of an artist resigned to never being the next big thing. The relaxed mood is epitomised by Time On My Hands where he sings “I’m in no hurry, no place to be”.
The question “How about a little honky tonk?” is posed in the barroom piano ballad One More For The Road but there doesn’t seem to be any real expectation that the reply will be in the affirmative.
Though mostly inspired by old-time Americana, the bluesy Hope Street is a song about how the tik-tok generation are creating a false reality on social media.
In his dreams Hooley would be riding the western plains far from any internet connection where country twang and gentle folk songs offer a soothing alternative to the brashness of the modern world.
