Matt Patershuk strikes me as a real frontiersman. He lives up in Alberta, Canada with his wife, two daughters, dogs, cats, horses, and his sheep. He’s also a damn fine songwriter and a crystal-clear vocalist, and the 11 songs here are all his original compositions. The instrumental backing is never intrusive, with a strong traditional down-home country flavour with mandolins, guitars, gentle piano and even a glockenspiel. The songs are sincere, truthful and poetic. I especially liked the six enjoyable minutes spent with the story of Jupiter the Flying Horse, which had echoes of Mr. Bojangles. Turn the Radio Up is a beautiful composition, and Patershuk has an edge of world-weary humour with the unexpected title The 2nd Law o Thermodynamics, which affirms that ‘objects in the universe tend towards disorder’. Einstein would certainly have sung along to this wry observation. The more you listen to this CD the more you realize that Matt Patershuk ought to be on the worldwide radar. The songs put me in mind of many great artists such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and even at times George Jones. His name drops in naturally alongside those of John Prine, Tom Russell or a host of Nashville songsmiths. One song justifies all the praise for this nam’s lyricism, track eleven, a beautiful slow dedication to a downtrodden woman, Upright with its fine harmonies from Keri Latimer. Matt Patershuk is a solid, mature and erudite performer who deserves to be widely known. If I was in Alberta, I’d be looking for his gigs whenever possible.
Black Hen Music
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