On one of his lasting recordings with Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon sings, “Go find America.”
Colombian musical mogul John Galbraith sets out to find the heartbeat of country music with his latest trio record, Anywhere. These 11 songs of his roots survey his musical landscape, traveling from peaceful, carefree sentiments to roadhouse rocker and his points of many sounds in between.
The record opens with a direct highlight of “Tennessee.” Musically somewhere between “Tequila Sunrise” and “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” this laid-back country-rocker has a beautiful, up-and-down vibe, Galbraith Surrounding the lead of the song, the vocal arrangement that emphasizes it pushes up the melancholy.
The soaring harmonies of a country church introduce and frame the rippling motion of ‘A Long Time Comin’,’ a kind of secular gospel song about confronting life’s goals.
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With smart interplay between guitars and colorful organ thuds in the background, “Wide Awake and Alone” is a little ’70s in approach and a little ’90s labor of perfect pitch. It’s a song of someone Galbraith describes the lonely blue-collar blues by lightly repeating the word “barely” in the first bar.
“I made it through the day without running away / Hardly working and on a meager salary / Barely enough to live on / Barely enough to make an effort.”
“Be Still My Heart” and “Hangovers and Heartaches” form a sort of mini-suite later in the tracklist. The former marches with a lighthearted wanderlust toward the prospect of saloon romance, while the latter laments the end of a romantic era with a lovely honky-tonk sadness.
“A Lot to Learn” records in an Old Crow Medicine Show-esque mid-tempo rambler made with warm bluegrass strings, harmonica grunts, and walk-perfect movements. closing.
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As usual, hearing Galbraith’s guitar thunder and envelop these songs is just a delight. The frenzied opening riff of “My Own Sweet Time” is equivalent to the guitarist’s auctioneer’s call and rhythm, while the crystalline tone of “If I Could Be the One” is a lilting, relatively relaxed ballad. beautifully arranged.
Galbraith strikes a thoughtful balance throughout, marrying the compulsion to cooperate with the desire to do one’s own thing. Peter LaMear is the drum anchor, and Austin Wilson provides the brilliant upright bass on some of the album’s best songs. Galbraith himself played about 10 of his instruments on the project, shaping the vision and then lowering it down to keep it spinning like a long neck.
From college rock to power pop to bluegrass and beyond, Galbraith has demonstrated not only style, but ease of use, in an ever-deepening and expanding catalog. “Anywhere” just finds an even more fun dimension, living up to its title and showing that Galbraith can play just about anything, anytime, anywhere.
Check out “Anywhere” at https://johngalbraith.bandcamp.com/album/anywhere.
Aarik Danielsen is the Tribune’s Feature and Cultural Editor. Call adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1731.