Readers, I have a confession: the person in charge of NTSIB’s ReviewShine account is me. And when I’m going through submissions I generally tend to scroll up to the top of the list, press play and then let it roll, as if it was the radio. When a songs pops up that gets my attention, then I’ll dig deeper and see if I like the whole record.
A couple of weeks ago, it was Buy a Gun or Go To Memphis by Gary Hunn and the wayward angels that made me stop and say “Who is that?” out loud to my computer:
http://youtu.be/HIM_t4H7HM4
I’m not sure if the question of “Death or Graceland?” has ever been posed in quite that way before, but in any case, I did go and listen to the rest of the record to see what other gems might be lurking. And there are several; I’m especially fond of Broken Lives are Mended Here and Breathe As You Go, but in general, if you like old-school honky tonk music with piano and pedal steel, this is a record for you.
The biggest surprises came when I went to find out where Hunn was from and what else he’d done. I had somewhat arbitrarily filed him under “Tennessee” because of both his accent, musical style, and the Graceland reference, but it turns out he’s actually from Magnetic Island, which is five miles offshore of the city of Townsville in Queensland, Australia. Furthermore, this is his first country record, though not his first musical venture; he has previously spent some time in the world of blues and garage rock.
If you like what you’ve heard so far, you can get Dust & Gin from Amazon, iTunes, or, if you prefer a hard copy, from Mr. Hunn himself. If you need additional enticement, here’s one more song for the road:
It so refreshing to hear some “real” country music. And not the pop-country they are playing across the air. Thanks for the review. I went and bought the album.