Some days as a busy music blogger you’re sifting through submissions, promo CDs caught up with accompanying press releases on your desk and digital streams and downloads filling up your inbox faster than you can listen to them, and it can become a chore. While there is a lot of amazing music you get to hear, there’s also a lot of not-so-great stuff, and plenty that sounds the same as the next. It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise, therefore, when I pressed play on ‘The Flower of Muscle Shoals’. I knew little about Cahalen Morrison & Country Hammer, in fact I hadn’t even really read the press release, and my expectations were sitting somewhere in the middle of the road with a collection that wasn’t inherently bad, just didn’t excite me. So as ‘Nighttime Is Here On The Valley’ kicked into gear, and I was greeted with a gentle, very traditional country ballad (both musically and lyrically) crooned by the light, airy but subtly powerful vocals of Cahalen Morrison, I stopped to take note.
The New Mexico-born artist is as buried deep in the roots of the genre as any; despite having experimented with rock music and more as a young man, he grew up on real country, acoustic and Americana that transfers itself effortlessly into what he creates. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a comparatively young artist write and record such a traditional-sounding album, and the western swing of the title track perfectly complements the wail of the pedal steel and aching harmonies on ‘Sorrow Lines The Highway of Regret’. This is a record that aligns itself so much with the classic artists that Cahalen could well be one of them, without drifting into imitation territory. Full of honky-tonk two-steppers, bluegrass pickers and more, sitting comfortably in the balance between up-tempo numbers and beautiful ballads, Calahen’s vocals are deliciously twangy in the most natural and authentic of ways. ‘I’ve Won Every Battle, But I’ve Lost Every War’ is one such example of a track where he truly excels. Set just to a nonchalant acoustic guitar he leads, only backed up by his band on perfect harmonies here and there.
Surprisingly enough, however, as deep as Cahalen sits in the dusty roots of New Mexico, this album was recorded in Seattle, and his lyrics are inspired by those as diverse as literary legend Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Swedish naturalist poet Tomas Transtromer, cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell and the author Cormac McCarthy. One can hear the sparse, classic but intellectual approach to lyricism on this record, and it seems grossly unfair that such a gem can be so undiscovered by many. How can one resist the classic melody of ‘A Daisy In Tennessee’ or the smooth way it flows through the speakers? Or the way an Irish-sounding fiddle sits on top of an irresistibly bluesy electric guitar in the intro to ‘Hobbled And Grazing’? Or even the stripped-back take on bluegrass we hear on the primarily acoustic and incredibly percussive ‘The Delta Divine’? Each track stands out in its own and draws from different but related influences, juxtaposed against rich storytelling and perfectly delivered phrases, creating a record of a dozen tracks where none could be missed out without good reason.
‘The Flower of Muscle Shoals’ is a fabulous interpretation of a classic sound, polished off with Cahalen’s own quirks, diversity and twists. And it reminds us of just where we came from as much as it reminds him of New Mexico.
