As a lover of folk music in general, I guess I should be
\necstatic about the recent trend that sees country music merging
\nwith folk more and more. This is, by no means, a new concept; the
\nlate Townes Van Zandt and Billy Joe Shaver have all mastered this
\nsongwriting technique.<\/p>\n
But when the end result is performed in a melancholy way, the
\noverall result is less than positive. This is the case with
\nNothing But The Truth<\/i>, the latest disc from Stephen Bruton.
\nI’m sure this could have been a killer disc, if Bruton didn’t sing
\nand perform as if he was singing from a hammock, sipping a
\nlemonade.<\/p>\n
There are times that Bruton reminds me of Bruce Springsteen,
\nkicking back on his guitar and spinning a tale that needs to be
\ntold, such as on “When Love Finds You,” or allowing just the beauty
\nof his music to take hold of your soul, as on the album closer
\n“Spirit Lake”. Times like these are special, and Bruton knows how
\nto keep you interested until the last note has faded out.<\/p>\n
But there are other times where such a laid-back approach just
\ndoesn’t work as well. “Everything Happens For A Reason”, all six
\nminutes’ worth, is a song that could have been told in half the
\ntime with double the guitar work. This particular track seems to be
\nlocked in to one guitar riff, and it’s a boring one at that.<\/p>\n
And while the more gentle, laid-back approach occasionally
\nworks, in the end,
\nNothing But The Truth<\/i> could have used a little excitement
\ninjected into its music. Tracks like “Against My Will,” “She’s The
\nReason” and “Nobody Gets Hurt” all tend to mush together in a
\nbroken-heart jumble of notes and long, drawn-out vocals. One word
\nfor the next album: variety.<\/p>\n
And it’s not that Bruton isn’t trying; it’s just that in the
\nhaze of melancholia, I’m certain some wonderful stories are being
\nlost in the translation. I don’t think that was Bruton’s intention;
\nmaybe it’s that this is a disc that requires not only several
\nlistens, but also some serious thought.<\/p>\n
\nNothing But The Truth<\/i> is a disc that has its moments, but if
\nthe truth be told, it could have been a little more exciting and
\ndynamic, musically speaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7564],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39366","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stephen-bruton","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39366","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=39366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39366"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}