Nashville-based honky-tonk singer/songwriter JP Harris follows-up 2018’s excellent Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing with Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man – an album that is less honky-tonk and more spare with a somber, traditional sound. To quote Harris about the album, “For many years prior to my country career, I built and played fretless old-time banjos, finding community in the somewhat-forgotten world of Appalachian string band music. One of the enduring friendships from those days is with my dear friend Chance McCoy, who engineered, produced, and fiddled on this album, at his homestead in the remote mountains of southeastern West Virginia in the summer of 2020.” “This is old-time music,” J.P. continues to say. “It’s not polished or pitch-perfect, it’s not tailored for radio airplay…this is me at my truest and rawest, singing songs of death, deceit, and the devil from the 18th and 19th centuries, playing an archaic and outdated style of banjo. Some of y’all may like it and some of y’all won’t, but it’s honest.” The standout tracks include: the sparse and eerie opening track “House Carpenter”; the upbeat number “Closer to the Mill (Going to California)”; the bandit ballad “Otto Wood”; the instrumental “Last Chance”; Q conspiracy mocking single “Take Off Your Tinfoil Hat”; the somber cover of British Isles classic folk tune “Barbary Ellen”; the cover of Dock Boggs and Doc Watson’s “Country Blues”; and the harrowing lament “The Little Carpenter.” Harris and McCoy have delivered an excellent update on the traditional music sound with Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man. – Written by JFelton
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