Sad Hill Cemetery - Whiskey and Sin (Road To Salinas)

Hear The Track Here

Sad Hill Cemetery is much better known to Soundclick denizens as Road Apples, a Canadian rock musician who I have reviewed favourably in the past. Sad Hill Cemetery is a new alter-ego 'for my more acoustic, country-sounding music' RA states in his blurb. Now anyone who knows this guys rock persona will already be aware that he is a musician to be taken seriously, and judging by Whiskey & Sin we need to add Sad Hill Cemetery to the roster. Obviously to really appreciate this track and this side of the artist you would like country and/or Americana, and I do admit I have grown a taste for it over the years.

The track is actually a four way collaboration between Lou Quarmwater, JCMosquito, Michael Hughes, and Road Apples and definitely nails the genre right on the head. I'm hearing the faintest of echoes of early Bob Dylan in the vocals and The Travelling Wilburys in the arrangement and production and - for my money - that's a very good selling point. The best thing about the track, IMHO, are the lyrics - although the music and performance are no slouches - because 1) they tell a story and 2) they are intelligent and evocative of an America long past. Even if it has some uncomfortable parallels in our modern day.

Always a sucker for a good song, me.

Providing you like the genre, Whiskey & Sin (Road To Salinas) is a great track, full of classic American folk sounds and structure, exactly the kind of track I particularly warm to. I am only too well aware that people will often discount something because it is labelled either folk or country and a great many of the tracks I have personally reviewed and liked were much more Americana than either of the genres I've mentioned. It's a smart blend of rock, country and pop and - when done properly - can be tremendously uplifting. I certainly found Whiskey & Sin that kind of track, although there was a certain boominess in the mix which I suspect is down to the amount of recording the vocals and other parts took up. Nonetheless, a very listenable track indeed.

Highly Recommended Americana with a tale to tell.