Lately I've been admiring the Americana music making its way south from Brooklyn, but now its time to head further north to Portland Maine to find the latest non- Americans band:
North of Nashville. This duo of Jay Basiner (acoustic guitar, lead vocals, harmonica, bass drum, snare drum, tambourine) and Andrew Martelle (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, vocals) sounds straight from Texas - forget Nashville. In their self-titled debut
album, Basiner delivers twangy vocals and very realistic lyrics of lost or more forcibly rejected love. The orchestration is quite impressive coming from just two individuals and nails the genre completely - particularly Martelle's fiddle in
The Lady and The Outlaw. Love the bass drum in that song too. The fiddle continues with
Hooked On Me - a catchy and clever song. As I mentioned lost and jilted love is a theme throughout (
Eyes For Me,
One Night of Pretending,
Isabella) and as my son enters baseball season,
Remember These Days hits home. Being a Parrothead, I could also envision Buffett covering
Dreams Come True (For Awhile) - nice ending to an excellent debut effort. Now I have another reason to head to Portland, sample some
Allagash Brewing Company or
New England Distilling and listen to some good ole American roots music. Cheers.
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