“Before we get into the insightful, crafty, deeply lived splendors of his spirited, all at once gloomy and depressing and joyfully exhilarating, hard-hitting seventh album Western Soul, let’s just say it plainly: veteran Americana treasure and storyteller nonpareil Todd Adelman is the best thing to happen to Woodstock since…well, Woodstock.” – The JW Vibe
“A confident album with moments of immense wisdom, reflection and observation. For an hour, it’s inevitable that you’ll be swept up and lost in Adelman’s Western world.” – Americana UK
“It’s the slower, emotionally stripped out tracks, such as the hobo narrative ‘Vagabond Shoes’, the Guy Clark-like ‘Can’t Sing The Blues No More’ and the strummed ‘One Of A Kind’ tribute to John Prine that elevate this to the albums of the year list.” – Fatea Magazine
“It’s not just Todd Adelman’s country singing that might make you a believer. ‘Another Bloody Mary Morning’ is a tale as old as time. It’s a retelling of a night spent escaping reality and a morning spent regretting those actions. This isn’t a country-rock song praising the bottle, but one that dares to ask what’s hiding behind it. Adelman’s have a real poignancy to them and will resonate, especially with people putting off making those difficult decisions.” – Alt77
“Chock-full of soul and spirit, Western Soul is unpretentious and a bit raw — two qualities that combine to make it an excellent album.” – Ink 19
An Intro To Western Soul
If the Flying Burrito Brothers were all grown up, fronted by Guy Clark, and produced by Levon Helm, you’d almost have something like Todd Adelman’s new record, “Western Soul.” I’ve known Todd for almost 25 years, and I’ve heard just about everything he’s written over that time. Ernest Hemingway said that he “writes one page of masterpiece to 91 pages of shit.” I’ve watched Todd fill up more than a few wastebaskets. A bunch of the stuff that didn’t end up there found its way on to this album.
“Western Soul” puts the out-west sunset in the rearview mirror and sees it from a back-east perspective. Distance punctuates proximity. Youth yields to age. Substance overcomes flash. Subjects, like objects in the mirror, are closer than they appear. Todd tackles everything from the nuances of love to the craters created by death; from the everyday plight to get through the day, to the sad final flight of one-of-a kind; from friends (current, past, factual, and fictional) to the complexity and promise of family – songs written about them, for them and with them. Like good whiskey in an old barrel, Todd aged right before my ears. I guess I never noticed how seriously he was pondering the question he asks: “why are old guitars so proud of their age.”
Great records get better with time. I put this one in the CD player ten days ago and it’s still in there. Without really “listening”, I’ve noticed that a different song grabs my attention each time through. Whether it’s a lick, a lyric, a chord change or a rhythmic shift, something pulls you in. The musicianship is top shelf. The production is so simple that it’s nearly invisible. As I sat with a glass of aged whiskey, and a fresh copy of “Western Soul” – sure, I’d heard it all before – it was like meeting an old friend for the first time. When good gets better, it demands our attention. This record is a shining example of what happens when good enough is never good enough, when soul is never satisfied, and when commitment pays hard-earned dividends.
– Kevin DeForrest
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Session Photos from The Woods Studio
