Confident debut from British artist who’s done his Americana homework. With eleven self-penned songs played with a confidence that doesn’t betray any beginner’s nerves this album is immediately attractive. Opening song “I Don’t Think I’d Ever fall in love With You Again” leaps from the starting gate with a nice drum shuffle and twanged guitar intro. Gibson’s voice is strong and the song has some great hooks throughout. Ryan Adams circa Heartbreaker comes to mind here and other parts of the album reflect this. “Slow Train” is another impressively tuneful song with honky tonk guitars and a very memorable refrain. “Break My Broken Heart” stomps along sounding like a youthful Neil Young at the Grand Ole Opry. “Tennessee Skies” is a slow, fractured country waltz harking back to the Burritos’ southern soul influences with pedal steel and Hammond organ and female harmonising from the delightfully named Brandy Barksdale. Other ballads on the album demonstrate the empathy the band have with Gibson’s songs with some very tasty guitar from Dominic Keshavarz and sturdy backing from Robert Hann and Tom Scheponik (from Philadelphia band Gringo Motel, who, according to their website, know how to have a really good time at their shows). Gibson, who is English, recorded the album in Philadelphia and the presence of homegrown musicians seems to give a depth, authority and authenticity to the sound. Gibson’s lyrics in the main are about the American experience, places, trains, girls, but on the relatively unadorned acoustic song “Home Movie,” a moving tale of failed relationships, missed birthdays and reminiscence he reaches up to the pathos that someone like Loudon Wainwright might achieve. With the exception of the closing bonus track, a Beatlesque romp that probably goes down well in a live setting but is out of place here, this is a very impressive album. Monday, August 28, 2006 Paul Kerr - Americana UK http://www.americana-uk.com/