Eric Congdon - Starfall

Hear The Track Here

This is my third time round with Eric Congdon, a country artist I met over at MP3 Unsigned at the end of last year. Both of those tracks (Crawling Back and Good Ol' Days) got a Highly Recommended from me and not just because I am partial to a bit of country. Nope it's also about professionalism in all aspects of your work and Eric Congdon delivers on them goods too. Although I have had problems with final mixes before (notably on Crawling Back) what comes out the speakers is fine by almost anyone's standards.

Eric has a neat habit of picking good songs too, as my ratings also confirmed, because it was the songs wot done it. As good as a musician is, and as good as the production is it means nothing unless it underpins a good (nay great) song. It would probably help if you had an interest in country in general or acoustic guitar music in particilar, but a good song - I find - can often cross genre prejudice. Out of the three tracks I think I prefer Starfall because it gives me the things I particularly like about this style. Tremendous vocals, lots of jangly guitars and if that weren't enough, a nice dollop of slide to top it all off.

I've spent a good bit of time with this track now and I really appreciate it the more I hear it. It's certainly a lot more of a commercial sound than anything I have heard from this artist as yet, and that can never be a bad thing. Again there are slight issues I could take about about post-production but that really is splitting musical hairs, so I'll desist. Ultimately, holds its head up proudly and well it should because it's certainly given me a few nice moments so far and I'll be hanging on to it. Musically, it's a little Maggie May (Rod's version) but vocally it's v-e-r-y West Coast and a wonderful singalong harmony - all the things that make life extra sweet. Yummy, and a shoo-in for me old mate Mike Kohlgraf's SNR show and SC Stations methinks.

Highly Recommended (don't be put off by the country tag!)