Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By String Bone, Space Cowboy Records, 2021.
String Bone (Barry James Payne) is a Canadian singer/songwriter and Love & Highways is a folk/roots/blues inspired album with a feel that reminded me of Russell Morris’ recent albums.
It’s a style that I find particularly enjoyable, it’s sparse, thoughtful, and intelligent.
String Bone is not exploring a historical theme as Morris has been doing on albums like Sharkmouth, but the albums share many similarities.
While the musical palate is similar, acoustic guitars, drums, bass and tasteful electric lead guitar with the occasional additional instrument limited to snatches here and there, there are differences in the basic underpinnings of the songs.
Where Russell Morris leans solidly towards the blues, String Bone tends to lean toward folk but it is folk which is often tinged with country/blues motifs.
String Bone utilises backing singers which is a point of difference between what he is doing and Russell’s work.
The emphasis in String Bone’s work is squarely upon the songs and their stories and he has a good voice to convey them.
The songs on Love & Highways range from the roots/blues opening track Feel The Power Of Your Love to the soft folk ballad of Sombre Eyes to country ballad in Where Do You Go and a great atmospheric track I’m Riding Again.
There’s a country rock track in Black Star but thankfully String Bone avoids falling into any Nashville cliché.
In all cases the songs are delivered in an entirely approachable way.
The backing instrumentation never overpowers the vocal content, so you can concentrate on what is being said.
The production qualities are excellent.
Apparently, String Bone has been releasing music for more than 10 years but this album is the first that I’ve heard, and I like what I’m hearing.
The covid lockdown seems to have engendered a spark of creative endeavour in String Bone for he has released three albums in the last two years.
