Monday, December 12, 2016

Mikey Classic And His Lonesome Spur "Mikey Classic And His Lonesome Spur"

(Broken Neck Records 2016)

Feed The Fire
Climbing Up The Walls
Bow Down To No Man
ShameShameShame
Wicked Day
No More Games
Sun & Moon
The Oil Field's Burning
Heaven
Pass Me The Bottle
Y'All Motherfuckers Need Jesus
The End Of My Rope

As solo albums go this really is "solo" along the same lines as one-man band exponents like Bloodshot Bill and Hasil Adkins. Now reissued on heavy weight vinyl by Broken Neck Records, the album originally saw the light of day back in 2014 on Farmaggedon Records. Mikey Classic is a well known and highly respected artist across all facets of the sub-cultural music scene. Taking time out from his front-man duties with The Goddamn Gallows, Mikey sings and plays his heart out while exploring the more rootsy, stripped down elements of what can broadly be described as Americana. Featuring Mikey on vocals, guitar, banjo and kick-drum, it just goes to show what a talented artisan of all-things musically pure and raw he is. There's no over-production or polish to this album. It's heartfelt, honest music which ranges from folk to delta blues to bluegrass to Southern rock. For all the maniacal playing and singing, the lyrics show Mikey is a deep thinker and modern-day poet for the ordinary working class man (or woman...I'm not sexist...sexy yes, not sexist). There's a nice balance between the songs with loads of anger and those slower ditties with loads of raw emotion. What I really like about Mikey Classic's vocals are his tendency to go into a falsetto yodel every now and again and there's plenty of that to be heard here. This is the kind of record that makes me want to go for a few pints with Mikey and have a ballad session ensue where by the end of the night, after having a right knees-up we're all crying in to our Guinness. The album is available on limited green, limited red and good auld black vinyl for us colour blind gobshites.

The O'Prez


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