I’m rather embarrassed to admit that until this album dropped through my letterbox, I’d never heard of Matt Patershuk. Hailing from rural Alberta, a somewhat fertile region for rootsy singer-songwriters, Matt delivers an impressive and very interesting album which has already brought me endless hours of listening enjoyment. Immediately approachable and inviting, Matt’s music is a delightfully deceptive expression of country, folk, blues and what we nowadays loosely refer to as Americana. His vocals drift dreamily throughout, as he masterfully blends the hard with the soft and the morose with the beautiful—a complete representation of the intricate and complex body that his sound has grown into over the past decade of making music.
He is a remarkable songsmith using wit, warmth, sensitivity, and keen perception, to paint colourful portraits of ordinary and extraordinary people. Interspersed between these songs are four instrumental pieces all variations on a single melody that in turns are spooky, moody, cinematic and lilting in a most magical way. Being steeped in traditional country music, my ears immediately pricked up for Ernest Tubb Had Fuzzy Slippers. It’s a gem of understated storytelling with echoes of ol’ Tom T at his finest. This guy knows his history of country music dropping names such as Jim Denny, Johnny Paycheck, Carrie and Jimmie Rodgers into the plot like everyone should recognise these country pioneers. Much more than a standard Nashville country shuffle and twang with sliding pedal steel, harmonica and easy-going rhythm this exposes the darker side of country where allusions to violence and alcohol are only a chorus away.
He hones in on another musical legend, this time blues great Albert King in Velvet Bulldozer, in which he spins a fictitious yarn of BB working a day job whilst waiting for his big break. When Matt growls ‘I sit back and smoke my pipe; I think of my voice on the radio and wonder, man, what would that be like?’ he could just as easily be referring to himself as the great Albert King. His passion and deep appreciation for classic country music is all there in songs like Let’s Give This Bottle A Black Eye and Bear Chase. The former is the kind of song David Allan Coe would have come up with; a barroom shuffle with straight-up advice for a post-break-up with crying steel guitar, tinkling piano and barrels of pathos. The latter sounds like a newly discovered Johnny Horton song with vintage rockabilly storytelling that rolls out like a 1958 classic. Gosh this guy was so born to this music. If you don’t believe me just take a listen to Alberta Waltz, a beautifully gentle but heartbreaking ballad … which has all the hallmarks of a country standard or the jaunty Walkin’ with more sad lyrics and barroom piano to die for.
This is a stunning record from an incredible singer-songwriter with a gift for razor-sharp lyrics and stick-in-the-psyche-jukebox melodies. Matt Patershuk is a performer with songs that won’t waste your time. The talent here burns so bright that missing it would be a shame. This whole record resonates like a book you just cannot put down.