In December, we decamped to our favourite live music venue, The Acapela near Cardiff to watch Merry Hell. A bonus for us, as I set out in my review of the evening, was the presence of their support band, Tom Crow & The Ghostriders, who played an extremely enjoyable wee set.
Shortly afterwards, I was approached by the main man himself with a copy of Redlines, an EP of four original tracks, plus a further four live bonus tracks recorded at Rhymney Folk Club, Cardiff.
The band are Tom Crow on guitar & vocals, Rowan Fontaine Kodratoff on fiddle, and Marc Smith on the upright bass.
So, before we discuss this fine album, let me play you an audio of the first live track, Let the Stars Fall, nearly seven minutes of quality music which I think the prog rock fans reading this review (who are, after all, my staple readership) will recognise many of the qualities they love.
Intelligence, superb musicianship, which is complex and, yes, that extended opening passage is gorgeously “progressive”. Let’s cast labels aside, and simply listen in wonder to a stunning piece of music, the fiddle crying against the backdrop of the acoustic guitar and the upright bass underpinning it all. When the vocals come in, you will hear the first of many times where a deep sense of Americana permeates this band’s output, perhaps a surprise for a band hailing from the South Wales Valleys. The last minute is just about as playful a piece of music as you are likely to hear, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
So, the first of the new tracks is Old Man Trouble, with a throbbing rhythm telling the story of the eponymous chap always following the poor soul in question, the devil himself tempting an otherwise decent bloke. Incidentally, all tracks on this are original, written by Tom Crow. Yes, they are influenced by the greats, but they are standalone. This track has blues at the heart of every note. It all sounds extremely clear, with the recording and mixing undertaken by Mike Hopkins at Towpath Studio (his Bandcamp page is worth a visit at https://towpath.bandcamp.com/ ). This track is a rip-roaring beginning to proceedings.
Long Shadow follows. The fiddle is mournful in a passage dripping with Romany sensibilities, before unexpectedly, the track quickly morphs into a toe tapping, bright piece of music belying the subject matter. There are some nice voices accompanying the main vocal talking about the need to live in the now where the ghosts of old wrongs will not follow, this primarily owing to the real backstory to this track, the dust in the lungs, and here we have roots folk music at its best. There is a lot of romanticism these days about the mining and other heavy industry in this part of the world, and, indeed, it forged the geography and the people, but life was incredibly hard, and most eyewitness accounts you listen to, see, or read tell a story of how the workers themselves wished anything but a life underground on their offspring. It was the way that Thatcher and her party brought this about, without any realistic opportunities for quality work in place of the pit which still, rightly, brings opprobrium in South Wales to her and them. This is an exceptional piece of music with three very talented musicians creating a picture of life, and it is embedded below.
Devils Card is the longest of the studio tracks at 5:10. Ah, temptation, the stuff with which we can abuse ourselves, the choices we make, making life easy or hard, and be careful what you wish for. This track again features some very good vocal harmonies, and the fiddle is at the heart of a track dripping with the spirit of the southern United States, with a bass which throbs along beside some nice percussive sounds.
The final studio track is Hettie & Jimi, a travelogue detailing a road trip across the historic SW Valleys.
We have already heard the first of the live tracks. The second is Fourteen Locks, a piece again rooted in Welsh history, the subject being the Cefn Flight of Locks rising 160 feet in a matter of half a mile on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. The music takes you on this journey wonderfully, where the mountains rise, the sunset falls, and the motorway calls, with the heart of the song in fact a romantic liaison, the lady in question as much the essence of beauty as the sight of the locks. I think this is a wonderful song, full of yearning and memory, desperately intense in parts as well, especially the final minute with the taste of the lips embellished upon us.
Jericho has an official YouTube audio video, and it is embedded below for you. It refers to the subject crying that he might have to bring down the Walls of Jericho simply to say hello to the object of his passion in an overtly Americana piece of music which is catchy.
We close with Five Pieces, and we have an audio video for this as well. This is another very bright piece of music, with the woman giving her whole heart back to him after receiving the fifth piece of his. A clap along song which, as I indicated in my Merry Hell review, found us thoroughly enjoying this band’s ability to bring us into a special place for a special night.
You can find out more about this band at their FB page https://www.facebook.com/Tomcrowmusic/ There is a Bandcamp page at https://tomcrow1.bandcamp.com/ but do please contact the band for a copy of this EP, which is highly recommended. For those of you living in the South Wales area, keep an eye out for them playing near you.