Austin, Texas-based singer/songwriter James Hyland (co-founder and frontman of South Austin Jug Band) follows-up his solo 2010 debut Celestial Navigation with Western. On Western, Hyland follows in the tradition of Texan legends like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clarke by retelling old stories for a new generation. The 20-track old west collection of songs includes themes like: the gold rush, gunfights, rangers, civil war, freight trains, girls, horses, stars, and guitars. Standout tracks include: an off-kilter ode to the Music City on “Nashville Song”; a story about the resistance of indigenous peoples on “The Edge of Comancheria”; a tale about a man and a badge on “Texas Ranger”; a travel song about calling into a radio station while on the road “Dark and Weary World”; the breezy rambling track “The Ballad of Eddie Mullet”; a suffragette movement song “Swing It Your Way”; the gently swaying track “Full Moon”; and an ode to the guitar with “Weather on the Wood.” James Hyland’s Western is a polished set of songs that serves as a dusty rambling ode to the history of the wild west! – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Caleb Caudle, Jason Eady, Ted Russell Kamp, South Austin Jug Band, The Tender Things