Todd Adelman
Highways and Lowways
Porch Lantern Music
4 out of 5 stars
Nederland’s Todd Adelman has some serious connections. On his new LP Highways and Lowways the singer/songwriter, guitarist, pianist and harmonica player has a list of musicians that is truly staggering.
Excuse us while we drop some names.
Bass player Andy Hess from Gov’t Mule and the Black Crowes, Marshall Crenshaw’s drummer Diego Voglino, Lucinda Williams’ guitarist Doug Pettibone, Little Richard’s guitarist Kevin Holly, along with pianist/organist Pete Rubens from The Old Nationals, form the band with Adelman. But the album also features 12 guest musicians, and on top of that the entire project was engineered and mixed by Chad Hailey who has worked with JJ Cale and Neil Young, among others, and Brandon Bell who has engineered for Alison Krauss, Darrel Scott and Jerry Douglas.
It’s no surprise then, that the album recorded at The Mountain House, Adelman’s studio in Nederland, is rich, deep and polished. From the wailing guitar and country beat of the opener “Cold Mississippi Blues,” which sounds like a lost Robert Earle Keen track, to the subdued ballad of “Ghost Train” to the thick, funky, baritone saxophone on “Oh Marie,” and gorgeous story of “Wabash Avenue,” Highways and Lowways winds like a country road through fields of Americana, pastures of roots rock and hillsides of outlaw country.
Not a note is out of place, or overdone. In severl spots the musical prowess overtakes Adelman’s writing, which was more front-and-center on his previous releases, but having music of this caliber in the forefront isn’t a bad thing.
|eTown Hall| November 20|
Todd Adelman 'Highways and Lowways'
It’s no surprise then, that the album recorded at The Mountain House, Adelman’s studio in Nederland, is rich, deep and polished. From the wailing guitar and country beat of the opener “Cold Mississippi Blues,” which sounds like a lost Robert Earle Keen track, to the subdued ballad of “Ghost Train” to the thick, funky, baritone saxophone on “Oh Marie,” and gorgeous story of “Wabash Avenue,” Highways and Lowways winds like a country road through fields of Americana, pastures of roots rock and hillsides of outlaw country.
