Review: Josh Gray – Walk Alone
Josh Gray – Walk Alone
Format: CD – Digital / Label: Independent – Continental Record Services
Release: 2023
Tekst: Bert van Kessel
https://continentalrecordservices.bandcamp.com/album/walk-alone
Josh Gray is considered one of the best contemporary folk singers in Nashville nowadays. After his eponymous debut EP he made a huge impact in 2019 with his first full-length album ‘Songs Of The Highway,’ and this is a worthy successor. His thoughtful and often poetic lyrics stick with you long after the songs end. He is a fine singer and superb storyteller; listeners will be able to identify with his personal lyrics as in the title track in which he confidently describes his quest for autonomy : “ “I know who the hell I am / and where I’m bound to be / gonna lose all your money / if you’re bettin’ against me,”
He is backed by a very tight unit, his long-time bandmates The Dark Features, and he has called in support from Nashville’s finest. A special word of praise must go out to pedal steel player Brett Resnick who shines throughout the album, restrained when necessary and exuberant when possible.
Josh’s vocals are convincingly pervasive and are occasionally reminiscent of Chris Stapleton. The ghost of Townes Van Zandt is never far away, most notably so in the gripping Cheyenne; he shares with Townes the gift of painting a thrilling tableau with just a few strokes. He is definitely also a protest singer. In the prize number Money Or Blood he takes sides with Oliver Anthony in an attack on the bourgeois elite suppressing the working man.
It is definitely a pleasure to be able to not walk alone, but alongside this hugely talented singer/songwriter.
Tracks:
01. Radio Stations
02. Walk Alone
03. Tiny Wooden Crosses
04. Travelin’ in My Mind
05. Cheyenne
06. Money or Blood
07. She Thinks the World of Me
08. Back East
09. Mystic Queen
10. Building Paradise (feat. Morgan Conners)
Website: https://www.joshgraymusic.com/