Shaun Belcher: Trailerstar Records

My new band Dark Star Horses play support to Pink Moon at The Maze, Nottingham on Sunday February 5th.....The Byrds meets David Lynch...

Echoes..echoes..names...places....water....and is that JTE waving or drowning on the cover...or is it cast members of Oh Brother Where Art Thou.....no not this time...remember this is the Harlem river not the Mississippi...but it sounds so southern ..





Although JTE is having his tussles and tribulations he ain't waiting in that water to be saved..or is he. Back story is pure..nobody could have better antecedents to join the Texas Songwriter aristocracy but until now I been unsure. Sure have been some gems in previous two albums ..but overall can he climb on Bob Dylan's coffee table?...well ....



Yes indeed now he can...and how.



First track convinces..convinces in a Bob Dylan/Buddy Miller way. His is modern timeless music. exquisitely produced and just full of more than reverb. This actually summons ghosts and it has that 'rightous' feel that Levon Helm talked about. More warmth and valve smokiness than mercury wildness but hell this only his third record. Working for the MTA and Wanderin slide effortlessly back to Greenwich Village circa 1963 and who says if he was playing next to Zimmerman which one would get that Columbia deal..yes its that good.



This kind of record is all about myth. It has its craft and its precision and its historical echoes and should be produced on shellac but at the end of the day its about the writing. The writing throughout is superb..up there with best of Daddy and Uncle Townes. Now I rarely get this effusive but shit this is the real deal.



I could pick out highlights but there so many where to start....the muscle shoals start to 'Slippin and Slidin' is spot on. If Otis was alive I could hear him singing this. Elsewhere apart from Jimmy Rodgers i also hear hints of Micky Newbury and Charlie Rich and hell those are two mountains of modern American song to try and climb and JTE does it so well.



I doubt if there will be a… Continue

This gig should be in black and white….and slightly scratchy around the edges. Even before the Wiyos play a note you are transported back to a pre-war movie-hall. This is the look and sound of Dylan’s Theme Time brought up to date, no wonder they appealed to his Bobness enough to accompany him on tour. Indeed, they would probably make his ideal backing band in heaven should he ever need them.



Straight in with washboard to the fore and suddenly the ghost of the Three Stooges is playing pranks and a lead singer straight out of a prohibition gangster movie via Bruce’s New Jersey is spinning tales and spells. Brilliantly arranged and syncopated they wear their busker hearts on their sleeves and pay homage to a lost era of brilliant musicianship and often neglected songwriting. How many would have honestly heard of the Washboard Rhythm Kings before the gig. A first set included many highlights including a fine rendition of Charlie Poole’s ‘Milwaukee Blues’ and a song I think called ‘Crapshooter Blues’ which outdid Tom Waits for funereal bliss….closer to theatre than simple singing..a stunner. Ensemble playing especially the slide and steel guitar was fabulous throughout. Without missing a beat there was plenty of visual slapstick a la Mack Sennet to keep the eyes and ears involved….and even Dereck Guyler ( ask your mum and dad) couldn’t have kept up with these washboard kings!





After a brilliant first set they had a short break and then took up the reins at an even greater pace and many were open mouthed at the sheer musicianship on offer. This was probably one of the tightest outfits ever to play the Maze in recent years and much appreciated by the sell-out crowd. Before I had to leave early (the gig went… Continue