The Delta Jacks
Trouble Ahead
(Shock’n’Roll)
4/5

WE MAY may well ask what is it, in the southern Essex marshlands, that aids the continual breeding of musically assured bands with distinctive sound signatures such as Dr Feelgood, Kursaal Flyers, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Lucky Strikes and now The Delta Jacks.

Punk-based hillbilly Americana rock needn’t be an acquired taste, as the Jacks demonstrate — their in-your-face vigour, musical dexterity with instruments including banjo and harmonica and deceptively sparse if intense arrangements healthily accelerate the pulse. Take notice NHS.

They’re not averse to mixing a bit of Hank Williams, Howlin’ Wolf and Johnny Cash with Hillbilly and honky-tonk versions of The Clash and Motorhead, fuelled by a mandatory splash of whisky.

Believe in Elvis, Blackened Heart Blues or Moon and the Stars could become minor classics. Forgive the occasional stetson and absorb through your skin’s pores.

Review by Michal Boncza

Tom Russell
The Rose of Roscrae
(Frontera Records)
5/5

TOM RUSSELL, along with Dave Alvin, almost singled-handedly invented the musical genre known as Americana, that heady mixture of country and western along with the twisted nostalgia of blues, punk and jazz.

The 52 tracks he’s compiled on Rose of Roscrae explore the history of the old West and traditional cowboy and folk music, through the story of an Irish kid who travels to the US in the late 1880s to become a cowboy. This is the dark side of the American Dream, peopled by outlaws and outcasts.

The album’s a sprawling canvas drawn from legendary 20th-century underground icons living and dead, from Jimmie Dale Gilmore to Johnny Cash, Gretchen Peters to Walt Whitman, The McCrary Sisters to Lead Belly.

Traditional Irish music, contemporary rock, frontier ballads and Tex-Mex fusion are all in this unforgettable mix, which comes hugely recommended.

Review by Brian Denny

na-mara
Navajos and Pirates
(Rightback Records/Blunt Arts)
4/5

IF SHANTY storytelling is your thing, Paul McNamara and Rob Garcia are your men. The melodious intimacy of this repertoire commands attention from the first notes and words.

Navajos & Pirates were the nom-de-guerre adopted by young Germans who resisted fascism in the late 1930s and during WWII in the industrial Ruhr. Their symbol was the edel flower.

Na-mara’s moving paean honours that struggle: “The harder they pushed, the harder you fought.”

The Silver Duro similarly retells the rescue of the republican Basque children and their fate in Britain, while the Garden of England warns against modern-day slavery: “When you put a chain around another man’s neck, the other side is around yours.”

Masterly performed instrumentals, drawn from the Galician muineiras and Asturian and Breton song traditions, add further spice to what is a highly impressive collection of songs.

Review by Michal Boncza