He doesn't hark from Nashville nor Nebraska, or New Jersey for that matter. TOM McRAE is not yet another talented thread plucked from the rich fabric of American singer-songwriters we've been blessed with for the best part of a century. He is in fact from Essex. Essex in the UK.
Listening to the single, one is drawn immediately into a world or rather a town of broken down Oldsmobiles, hard drinking blue-collar men, and hopelessness. Its hard to see beyond an image of breadline Americana and due to McRae's origins it all seems rather disingenuous.
Ryan Adams does this sort of thing to much the same effect. The difference being that Adams is actually American. Imitation is, apparently, the sincerest form of flattery, but one can't help feeling that McRae needs to find his own voice - not least find a viable substitute for the effected American warble.
As a tune its an uplifting little number that despite the lyrical content - the protagonist is "tired of this dark place where hope dies and hope fades" - resolves to "leave these shadows behind." Its a solidly played and reasonably catchy which will no doubt move all those still infatuated with the New Acoustic Movement of a couple of years ago.
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However, it lacks the originality to rise above the hundreds of singer-songwriter ditties currently saturating the airwaves worldwide. McRae clearly has aspirations to follow the great songwriters which, perhaps, is where the yearning to cover ground already trampled to death by the likes of Springsteen emanates from. But, without meaning to appear cynical, the American marketplace is so vast it seems the bright lights of Colchester simply won't do.
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