featuring pretty-much stripped back to bare bones instrumentation, 'Stories Told' is a deep and meaningful work about life's trials and tribulations from one singer/songwriter's point of view. Maybe not quite 'protest' songs but getting close!
Play 90 second soundbite of 'Bridge To Panama' @ 'CD quality'
featuring pretty-much stripped back to bare bones instrumentation, 'Stories Told' is a deep and meaningful work about life's trials and tribulations from one singer/songwriter's point of view. Maybe not quite 'protest' songs but getting close!
Andy Mason sings with infectious simplicity as he 'cries' out his lyrics against empathetically restrained guitars and harmonica. Bitter-sweet additional sentiment is occasionally added via dobro and keyboards but generally this is an album about one man and his songs. And, what a great job Mason does here; his style is pretty unique and it conjures up pictures of man and guitar sitting in rocking chair on the porch, guitar in hand, singing to the moon.
This is a very chilled work that errs on the country-blues side of acoustic folk. Mason's songs are delivered with a gritty honesty and surprising clarity allowing the listener to see inside the songs and feel the sentiment along with the artist. Nothing's rushed, there's no unnecessary clutter and nothing's over-stretched, 'Stories Told' is just about as real as it gets and benefits greatly from its laid bare and cleverly open production; Andy Mason tells it like it is and allows you to get in close and really feel his songs and live in them.
Listening to 'Stories Told' by Andy Mason is like listening to a modern-day Woody Guthrie; songs that are instrumentally spacious yet punctuative, lyrics that are poignant and meaningful and a delivery that's honest and heartfelt. 'Stories Told' by Andy Mason is a gloriously easy, timeless sounding album to sit and think about as you let it's subtle beauty waft around you and work its magic - stripped-back maybe but no less hard-hitting and tangible for all its realism - mean and damn dirty nu-folk with country undercurrents and blues nuances - really cool stuff this and one that I'll be re-visiting quite often if only to get myself a reality check!
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