Yesterday Nathan Blake Lynn stopped by the studio with Clayton Campbell (fiddler for The Gibson Brothers) to promote his new album 2 Catfish and a Bluegill. What was planned to be a few songs turned into an hour and a half of a great Saturday morning on the Front Porch.
Lynn's new album comes chock full of 18 tracks (17 originals) that span from straight-up storytelling folk music to more bluegrass flavored hopping stompers.
As always with Lynn come the historically spun ballads such as "Alben William Barkley" that tells the political life story of the 35th vice-president of the United States who just so happened to have been born in Graves County, KY before spending much of his life in Paducah, KY which is a region that Lynn knows well. Lynn's guitar lays the steady rhythm for a fiddle melody that supports Lynn's appealing-yet-loose vocals that are rock solid throughout the album. Vocals that fit on every song yet still have enough ragged edges to lend flavor and add interest to already engaging lyrics.
Lynn weaves humor into the lyrics of his music that compliment jumpy melodies as evident in "Dancin' Across Your TV Screen" which gets stripped down to just Lynn and his 6-string. There's something about a song that refers to watching Larry King on the tube while sitting on the "john". Humor and irony spill together at times as Lynn sings about how our country shipped TV's to countries short on food... "Old Uncle Sam, he shipped them on down south, talked about people who ain't got food in their mouths... I guess that's a way to provide relief, they ain't got clean water but they got Opera Winfrey at 3."
"Heading Up 26" brings in Tyler Grant's steady banjo work to provide flavor to one of my favorite tracks on the album. The ballad speaks Johnny Cash to me but definitely sows its own seeds. The storyline emanates through the eyes of a weary traveller both longing and admiring a love from afar. A steady melody gives way to a swaying chorus that brings both your tapping feet and swaying head together before rolling you back to the rhythmic 1 and a 2 bounce of the verse.
This album is crammed full of great stories paired to incredible melodies like a full bodied glass of Merlot to a tender filet mignon. You'll find plenty of variety to keep your interest peaked and incredible musicianship to wow you.
Explore and find more at http://nathanblakelynn.com where you can also pick up the album.
Nathan Blake Lynn on Myspace.
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