What does the name Lonesome Shack sound like to you?
To me, it conjures up images of a rickety old place that stands on the prairie and always will, battered, bruised, but always unbowed.
And listening to “Lascaux”, the opening song on “Year Of The Horse” hearing that banjo waft in from parts unknown seems to fit it perfectly.
Its opening line too, “20,000 years ago, they came to Lascaux, since then, you know we’ve been on a downhill”, seems to indicate the stoicism that is contained in these songs.
The songs here sound so alive, perhaps because they were recorded in three days in Tuscon, and if the Arizona city is the staple of loads of country songs, then here, there’s a raw – almost primal need for funky blues.
The bass here on the title cut, the vocal delivery, almost says “Yeah if the revolution will be televised then its right here” and the gentle “Chapparal” has a lovely, wistful quality, and that’s perhaps the best way to explain this, it sounds wistful, and as if it is searching for something that’s forever out of reach, as it does on “Moonstrike Lightning” – that’s one of a few to use the renowned harmonica player Tom Walbank and he sounds phenomenal.
As the members of the band are scattered to the winds all over the US, Lonesome Shack are hard to pin down, that said you’d say the strum of “Only Human” is broadly their hinterland, but they like the odd foray into other places, such as the groove on “Toyon” which has a jazz tinge or two.
There’s a classic feel to this. Like, ok it’s come out in 2024, but it doesn’t sound like it much. “Back To The Light” finds a bit of comfort, but “Unforgettable II” seems to have the weight of the world on its shoulders.
The English-born Walbank is back on the last one. The longest cut here “The Howl” and if you couldn’t accurately describe anything here as a “hoot”, it’s never supposed to be.
The blues isn’t meant to be happy, even easy. And it is interesting that a record that took three days to make, could well take a lot longer than that to digest as it reveals its cleverness in the dark recesses of its soul.
Saddle up. “Song Of The Horse” is a frequently unsettling ride through the gathering darkness.
Rating 8/10
