Unqualified Offerings

I’m privileged to have my comp copy of Whisperado’s debut EP CD, Some Other Place, at hand. Whisperado features blog star Patrick Nielsen Hayden on guitar and occasional vocals, and Jon Sobel on bass and frequent vocals and David Mills on drums. Halley DeVestern, ex of Big Brother and the Holding Company, sings occasional background vocals.

The CD is really good. It’s Americana, in what I think of as a very New York way. (It’s not just Memphis where country and rock musicians get together and exchange precious cultural fluids.) The musicianship is excellent and varied and the songwriting solid. It doesn’t waste time with homage to the American roots music tradition. It just goes about adding to it. “Some Other Place” is the kind of song Greg Brown might write if he weren’t annoying as shit. “Midnight Moon” is a standout, in which the singer, to a driving beat, rejects mere magic in favor of materialism – and Divinity. “Black and Blue” is an uptempo hoot. (”My friends are so jealous when they see us walking past / cause I got me a woman who can / kick my ass.”) “Invisible Hand” is the love-child of Steve Earle and Talking Heads.

I can’t pretend to be objective about Patrick – I love and admire the man. But if I didn’t like the CD I’d give it a discrete silence on the blog, or a polite mention. Instead, I really enjoy this record. I’ve been listening to the CD in the car and singing the songs to myself when I get out of it. And it’s cheap. If you love “that crazy sound right from the USA,” drop eight bucks on it. You can hear two of the songs free – “Nashville,” which is not my favorite; and “Black and Blue,” which almost is. Go to iTunes and buy ‘em by the song. And if you’re in New York, take in a Whisperado show if you can. I did, and I liked it.