Colter Wall - Western Swing & Waltzes And Other Punchy Songs LP

COLTER WALL ( Saskatchewan, Canada) - Western Swing & Waltzes And Other Punchy Songs (2020) (sealed LP copy) Black vinyl.  The Canadian country singer trades his solitary fare for a new set of stories, and a backing band that cuts in and out like a dance partner.  Colter Wall hasn’t needed much more than his singular voice—a charred, whiskey-soaked baritone that belies his years—to tell colourful tales of the western frontier and the folk heroes who populate it.

Western Swing & Waltzes (his 3rd full-length effort) includes a handful of original songs written by Wall.  He also covers Marty Robbins’s “Big Iron,” Stan Jones’s “Cowpoke,” and Lewis Martin Pederson’s “High & Mighty,” as well as two traditional songs, “I Ride an Old Paint” and “Diamond Joe.”

Wall keeps the locomotive pace of “Big Iron,” but eschews the original’s polish and backing harmonies, giving his voice new land to roam. Under his thumb, Jones’s “Cowpoke” sheds its upbeat tempo and technicolor flare. Wall’s voice works in tandem with the song’s harmonica and pedal steel to elevate the high lonesome yodel of the original into something scorched and reverent. Having showcased his distinctive voice in ways sparse and spare, he now fills out the room.  **originally published on pitchfork.com by by Amanda Wicks**  Thirty Tigers ‎– LHR002-1, La Honda Records ‎– LHR002-1