Double CD : A Wonderful Sprawl Review by "Americana UK" This double album is the kind of wonderful sprawl Ryan Adams might have made if he wasn’t busy pissing his talent away trying to be a rock star. Two completely different records, it ranges from honky-tonk to Tex-Mex, from swamp-blues to Cajun, and all the way back again. Cris Cuddy has apparently been around since the sixties, including a spell in the gloriously named Jeremy Dormouse, but it’s hard to imagine that he’s ever made a better record than this. With lived-in vocals and a supporting cast including Andrew Hardin (who also produces in parts), Fats Kaplin and Albert Lee, he tells tales of love, life and loss with class and style. Of the two “Keep the Change” is nearer the alt.country edge, with hints of Tom Russell along the way, in fact hints of a lot of things, all whirled into a glorious melange that passes all too soon. “Nowhere Town” is more mainstream and rockier, but still doffs its cap to its roots, with echoes of Roy Orbison’s vocal in places. Docked a star for the spectacularly offensive “Take it Off” and for the occasional lapse into chumble, this is a still a fine pair of albums. From Italy With Love Highway 61/Massimo Ferro Dear Friends, Last week I received the latest two albums released by the great Cris Cuddy. I already knew the music of Jeremy Dormouse because some time ago I discovered that album in a record shop here and bought it. But whilst that was a sort of psychedelic folk album(in the field of Tom Rapp, Country Joe and stuff like that) that was the son of its time, although a good one, Cris seems to me another musical affair and a very better one indeed. He has absorbed many different forms of roots music to create his own musical style that is pure "Americana" sound and a very enjoyable one. If is frankly hard to say which album I like (well, in fact I count "Keep The Change" and "Nowhere Town" as two distinct musical projects!) but I suppose "Keep The Change" is the one that best represents the eclectic but also organic approch of Mr. Cuddy to American roots music (and it has also some wonderful musicians contributing to it). That's why I already played three tracks from that CD - including the stunning "No Love No Nothin'" which reminds me Roy Orbison in his best days - in my radio shows here, but please note that more music from all those CD's will surely find its way on air here in the next weeks as there is too much good music there to miss it! That's all for now! All the best, Massimo Ferro