Husband and wife duo Adam and Shannon Wright received their main break in the music business when they asked Adam’s uncle (Grammy award winning country star Alan Jackson) to put them in touch with the right people. However following the initial help they’ve more than paid their dues.
After releasing their debut album, The Wrights found themselves being compromised and influenced by a major label who wouldn’t even grant their second record a proper release. Convinced to return to their initial artistic impulses, in 2007 they released In The Summertime on their own label. It was recorded completely live with equipment borrowed from their friends.
Following the recapturing of their creative muse comes the release of Red and Yellow, Blue and Green, an album absolutely bursting with confidence. While its predecessor was intentionally raw in the attempt to rekindle their passion for music, here The Wrights have taken a precise and bold approach.
The belief they undoubtedly have in their accessible, almost blue-grass country songs has bled through into their production and arrangements. While many would jump to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s Raising Sand album as the easiest reference point, the rough edges scattered over that album are few and far between here. Instead, on the whole, the record sounds eerily similar to a Jeff Lynne production.
Everything is perfectly recorded and layered to get maximum mileage from the songs. While this shows the couple’s new found faith in what they’re doing, occasionally it stops the songs flying. Opener Since You Left Me gets swallowed up amongst tremolo guitar and multi-tracked Everly Brothers style harmonies. Similarly The Way I’m Living is slightly too predictable and its general glossiness means the song passes you by. However there are moments when it all comes together. The slide guitar entry which brings Could You Ever Imagine to life and the layers of chiming guitars that carry it along to its finish could be classic Full Moon Fever era Tom Petty.
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There are also some choice moments when the songs are given a little room. Miles For You contains a beautifully restrained vocal performance from Shannon Wright and a dusty sounding delayed guitar that cuts through the Dear Prudence style finger picking. It’s one of the few instances on the record where the harmony vocals are allowed to appear slightly fragile and it’s all the more moving for it.
Still, despite the notable class of their Nashville schooled songwriting, the shininess of the album means that it’s more likely to wash over you than grab hold of your heart. You get swept up in the general sound instead of focusing on the true moments of tenderness available under the instrumentation. When their voices combine so beautifully it’s frustrating that for the main, all the personality is sucked out of their performances by extensive layering. There’s plenty to appreciate on this new offering but perhaps not enough to truly love.
The Wrights online
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