Colin Linden & Luther Dickinson - Amour

Stony Plain Records SPCD1405

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Canadian Colin Linden is a renowned producer, guitarist and vocalist. His resume reads like an all-star who’s who. For several years he’s also worked as the musical director for the Nashville TV series. Luther Dickinson, also an acclaimed guitarist, is the leader of the North Mississippi Allstars and one-time member of the Black Crowes. They have come together with the Tennessee Valentines (Fats Kaplin, Bryan Owings, Dominic Davis and Kevin McKendree) along with guest vocalists (Ruby Amanfu, Sam Palladio, Jonathan Jackson, Rachel Davis and Billy Swan) to create an utterly original-sounding album that you have to listen to over and over again ... there hasn’t been a record with this kind of striking, damaged beauty in way too long.

The album opens with a sultry down tempo rendition of Careless Love and concludes with the wistful I Forgot To Remember To Forget, a fitting outro for an engaging listen from start to finish. The songs all have a romantic vibe and are given stunning arrangements that make even old chestnuts sound brand new. Every note played is necessary and every rest in between the notes is full of profundity.  The vocalists have been chosen with great care to not just enhance a song, but actually inhabit the lyric. If the vocals don't get you, the guitar playing and the incredible songs most certainly will. This is an alternative work of art, file under excellent.
Jesse Stone’s Don’t Let Go comes equipped with a sense of groove that is thick with power and purpose. Linden’s vocal enhanced by the call-and-response of Rachel Davis and Ruby Amanfu is classic rock ’n’ roll. It is Rachel who takes the lead on the bluesy Honest I Do. A quietly confident singer, her casually melting voice does real damage. We then get a second version of Careless Love, this time a more folksy rendition. The gentle sway is dusky and dark with Rachel’s haunting vocal shining like a lighthouse guiding the melody home. Sam Palladio handles the vocals on Crazy Arms, the classic honky-tonk song driven by the vibrant interplay between Colin’s Dobro and Luther’s electric lead. Then comes the album’s tour de force, the well-worn For The Good Times. Given a refreshing reworking, the haunting, sensuous ballad gets you absinthe-drunk on the ethereal guitar and Ruby’s brooding vocal that brings to mind a 1960s 3am smoochy soul dance.

Linden and Dickinson have a connection to the material and an earnest emotional commitment that gives each offering a lingering impression These are haunting and beautifully dark sonic explorations … Americana at its finest— reverential but wholly nonconformist and is highly recommended.

www.colinlinden.com

 

March 2019