RICHARD STOOKSBURY: South

Richard Stooksbury

South

© 2007 Richard Stooksbury/Hylotone Music (ASCAP) (837101411844)

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Nashville, TN based Americana/Folk singer songwriter.

notes

NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON...
Richard Stooksbury's sophomore release, South, picks up where he left off on his self-titled debut. His songs inhabit certain corners of the human experience - loss, regret, and the often unexpected journey to redemption - with an ever more incisive focus. Richard's compelling arrangements and the warm, organic feel of South allow his lyrics to shine through.
After taking some time to chase his muse and write these new songs, Richard opted to take the reins of his next production. He built his own studio, assembled his usual crack line-up of players, and crafted an amazingly polished and professional record.

reviews

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  • Southern Mood with
    author: Rein van den Berg

    Een van de verrassingen van jaar 2005 was het debuut van Richard Stooksbury. Deze CD werd bol getrokken door aangenaam vertolkte miniatuurtjes. Muziek die volkomen geënt is op het singer-songwriters, country en folk gebeuren, met daarbij een gezonde knipoog naar het beste wat de Texaanse bodem biedt. Dit laatste werkje van Stooksbury doet allerminst onder voor de man zijn eersteling, en valt wellicht zelfs te classificeren als beter. Alle ingrediënten die deze man onderscheiden van andere, maar meer oppervlakkige genregenoten zijn weer ruimschoots aanwezig. De uitvoeringen van de 12 eigen songs zijn spaarzaam, maar subtiel en tot in de puntjes verzorgt. Veel snaren (bas, mandoline, gitaar), een vet droog stemgeluid, en alles wat (enigszins ritmisch is en) voorhanden ligt wordt toegevoegd ten dienst van de songs. Stooksbury’s muziek is redelijk uniek te noemen, en zij schaart zich moeiteloos tot zij die het genre naar een volgende level trekken. Denk hierbij aan vergelijkbare mensen als Eric Taylor, Sam Baker, Nels Andrews, en de wat onbekendere maar aanstormende nieuwkomers als Andrew Walker & Cris Talley. Er wordt veel muziek aangeboden, maar zelden van deze schoonheid.

  • Even better...
    author: R Leverink

    Richard Stooksbury’s second album South is even better than his selftitled debut from 2005. Tired of the slothful progress in dealing with regular record companies, Stooksbury decided to seize power and built a fully equipped recording studio in de basement of his house in Nashville. That did cost an arm and a leg, but it gave him the time and artistic freedom te make the record he wanted to make. Like his first cd, South excels in plainness and simplicity. Stooksbury’s vocals are warm and lithe. The accompaniment is modest and restrained, but never frugal. A leading part has been reserved for Al Goll’s dobro, which in a subtle way provides an attractive coherence between the songs. South has been released half october, and a better timing is hardly possible, because it is a fall album par excellence. With songs about the past (‘On Saturdays out by Doug Weaver’s we’d play football in the field’), about the wind, blowing over the mountains (‘... carrying me home to you’), about the far-away, rough Boone County, which you never would want to leave (‘This is where you’ll bury me/lay me in a pine box in a shallow grave/here in Boone County’), about impossible loves (‘It’s a love I never will know/Babe, I know that/And there’s nothing here that’s gonna kill my pain’), about loves that are over and done (‘And we don’t see each other/We don’t talk much anymore/I’m in Knoxville with the blues at my door’) and about lost friends (‘It was a cold day in November/And we stopped as they laid him down’). South is also some kind of a mirroring tribute to Stooksbury great example Bill Morrissey, who once made an album entitled North. One of the finest songs on South (23rd Street) is - not by coincidence - written by Morrissey. Stooksbury: “Why is Bill a hero? Because he writes with great efficiency and economy. He writes a novel within a 4 minute song and I try to do the same. When I start a song, I will ask myself... how can I tell this story without spelling it out for the reader or listener. I learned this from Bill Morrissey's work. I still consider him as one of the best at what it is we are trying to do.” With South, Richard Stooksbury is getting very near to this. (C)www.altcountry.nl

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