Twang and heart pangs
The last time we heard from Sam Quinn, he was singing his sad, weary soul out alongside his Everybodyfields’ partner Jill Andrews. On his solo debut, the big-bearded strummer mostly sticks to what he knows: lonesome Americana tunes that pair well with a glass of scotch and a creaky porch swing, lovelorn and moaning with pedal steel, piano parlor accompaniment and warbling vocals.
The album errs on the side of monotonous, which is too bad, because Quinn shines when he boots the boy-and-his-guitar act and joins his backing band, The Japan Ten, for raw vocal harmonies, as on “Late The Other Night” and “Help Me.” Beautiful, aching moments abound on this album, especially on opener “Hello,” but the downtrodden tempos and Quinn’s dedication to sad song conventions end up weighing the album down.