Before receiving a copy of
\nRoad<\/i> to review in the mail, I had never heard of James
\nKeelaghan. After listening to the Canadian folk singer’s latest
\nalbum, I wondered why I had never heard of him before.<\/p>\n
Keelaghan reminds me a lot of John Denver and Jim Croce in many
\nways: he’s a guitarist who uses his songs to tell stories that make
\nus think. Like his contemporary Gordon Lightfoot, Keelaghan has a
\nnatural style to his songwriting and playing. But unlike the
\npreviously named artists, Keelaghan has, for the most part, worked
\nin relative obscurity. If there’s any justice in this world,
\nRoad<\/i> will change that forever.<\/p>\n
Right from the opening track “Love What A Road,” Keelaghan sets
\nhimself apart as an artist worth paying close attention to. The
\nlayering of the vocal tracks helps to seal the emotional pull of
\nthe track, as does Keelaghan’s gentle touch on the six-string.<\/p>\n
The power of Keelaghan’s storytelling gift quickly becomes
\napparent. If you only glanced at the lyric sheet, “Number 37” might
\nseem to be a story of unrequited love as seen from afar. Instead,
\nit’s a surprisingly powerful tale of watching someone achieve their
\ngoals with kindness rather than harsh words and deeds. Likewise,
\n“Captain Torres” – geez, if this song doesn’t put a tear in your
\neye, you’re heartless or dead. Based on true events, you almost
\nfeel like you’re in the radio room as the crewmen make their calls
\nhome before going down with the ship – and you feel like you’re one
\nof the loved ones who come home to the “red lights blinking”,
\nhaving missed that chance to say goodbye. Ka-pow.<\/p>\n
Even on the tracks that he did not write, Keelaghan has a way of
\nmaking the tales his own. Whether it’s Sam Larkin’s wonderful
\n“Mirabeau Bridge” or Ewan MacColl’s moving “My Old Man,” Keelaghan
\nattacks these songs in his own style, almost to the point where
\nyou’d swear he wrote them.<\/p>\n
Even the weakest link in the chain has a message worth learning
\nand repeating. “Who Dies?” is a song that I thought could have used
\na little more development, but Keelaghan still is able to make his
\npoint get across to the listener: enjoy every minute you have,
\n’cause you never know which one is your last.<\/p>\n
If you’ve ever fallen in love with the works of Croce, Denver or
\nLightfoot, then
\nRoad<\/i> is a disc you’ll want to add to your collection. Even
\nif you’ve never really cared for folk music, Keelaghan has a way
\nabout him that will not only make you love this disc, but will make
\nyou want to further discover the genre. Easily, this is one of the
\nbest discs I’ve heard all year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7372],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38925","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-james-keelaghan","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38925"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}