Never heard of him before, but man, Carl-Eric Tangen of 58 North/Homespun PR sure can write a press release. It's one of music writing's dirty little secrets that many critics mine onesheets for all they're worth, rewriting them in, of course, their own inimitable styles, but I have to admit that it's all I can do to keep from cribbing from Tangen's little masterpiece. Of course, it helps that he has a really, really good project to promote. Though Canadian, living in La Glace, Alberta (pop 181 in 2011), Patershuk recorded his second album at fellow Canadian Steve Dawson's Henhouse Studio in Nashville with Dawson, who also produced 'Outside The Lights of Town' (2013), playing electric & acoutstic guitars, Weissenborn, baritone guitar and pedal steel, backed by prominent Nashville musos Fats Kaplin on fiddle, mandolin, tenor banjo, button accordion and electric guitar, Mike Bubb on bass and Gary Craig on drums/percusussion, though he does have another fellow Canadian, Ana Egge, from Estevan Saskatchewan on gorgeous backing vocals, plus acoustic rhythm guitar. I was going to say that Canadian country music has a pretty mixed track record (thanks to Ian Tyson and K.D. Lang, not so much for Anne Murray and Shania Twain) but hell, American country music is nothing to brag about by and large, so, as I've said about groups like The Starline Rhythm Boys of Vermont, these days one takes the good stuff wherever one can find it, and if that means The Great White North, I'm good with that. Patershuk comes out of the gate with a big, bad ass baritone, and what country music lover, at least the 3M version, doesn't love a great barritone? Patershuk's combining rockrib confidence and honeyed grit, is a truly compelling voice. On top of that, the man can write outstanding songs, though, sadly, a primary source of his inspiration on the amazing title track and Harviestown, is the loss of his sister to a drunk driver. Listening to the eleven origininals, produced almost entirely on the spot, only Egge being overdubbed, with no isolation. "We just sat in a room and played and hit record," I can't help feeling that this album must have been a gift from the gods for Canadian DJs, who are required to play a certain percentage of locally produced music, but equally it's a gift for any DJ, any music writer and any lover of "weather-worn country originals," as Tagen aptly dubs them, anywhere.