Harley Kimbro Lewis – Harley Kimbro Lewis
Independent – 22 February 2022
Every now and then, something drops in that hits the spot that you instantly take to and sit and listen to the whole album, forsaking everything else. In this case, Harley Kimbro Lewis distracted me with their self-titled album, Harley Kimbro Lewis. The band are, in fact, Martin Harley, hit slide guitarist, hotfoot from Hertfordshire, Daniel Kimbro, mainly bass, and singer/songwriter Sam Lewis, both from the US.
Harley has been taking his music about since the start of the century, often further than many with The World’s Highest Gig in the Himalayas, a tour of Nepal on a motorbike and a tour of the UK on a bicycle. On many occasions, Kimbro has paired with Harley and has worked with luminaries of Americana in all its forms, including Jerry Douglas’s band. With four album releases to date, Lewis straddles many styles of music but, being based in Nashville, that has to be the best thing.
This album is an excellent collection of twelve self-penned songs that not so much fall into a broad country-blues category as revisit the style of all that variety of tunes from the thirties to the sixties. They are full of characters that we have all come across, and perhaps even know quite well: the person who sings I Gotta Chair whose house is not quite perfect – by a long way – but serves him well; the Grey Man who listens to his heartbeats just for something to do, the dullness emphasised by the contrast of the slide guitar; and then there are the Neighbours, a set of people that will strike a chord with many, the ones who everything they own illuminates at night, and the ones that if they lived next door, you would have nothing to say to them, and the ones who are tolerated because they have great pot.
Of course, songs from that earlier period had to feature the cowboy searching for a dream and one featuring the Hawaiian sound. Here they are brought together in Cowboys in Hawaii, an excellent pastiche and homage at the same time, the singer thinking about trading in his old pony for the white horses in the waves, and all complete with solo Hawaiian guitar. Perfect!
Then there is the real Good Guy to know, who is not a good man but can get you what you want when you need it. And he is probably the antidote to Man Get Ahold of Yourself, a message to us all to be careful out there.
These characters are built-in tracks of about three and half minutes each, stories made, and key moments in life are displayed, from the small to the big. And all with a sense of ease, a sense of simplicity that belies the collaboration behind this album. As a trio, they work really well, from the partnership created in writing the songs together to the end result, great acoustic sound, tightly knit.
This is an album of great wit and humour, and it will make you smile, even laugh at times. There are great tunes, comfortable and easy to sing along to, and a real feel-good ambiance about the whole thing. And then there is the slide guitar, clearly melting many listeners, including this one. Excellent.
Harley Kimbro Lewis is scheduled for release on February 22 2022, with a 16-date UK tour in March.
Harley Kimbro Lewis UK Tour
March 2022
Sun 6 Tring The Court Theatre
Tue 8 Cardiff St. David’s Hall
Wed 9 Bristol St George’s Bristol
Thu 10 Bury The Met
Fri 11 Stamford Stamford Arts Centre
Sat 12 Otley Otley Courthouse
Mon 14 Edinburgh The Voodoo Rooms
Tue 15 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Music Room
Wed 16 Barton Upon Humber The Ropewalk, Ropery Hall
Fri 18 Shrewsbury St Mary’s Church
Sat 19 Cambridge Cambridge Junction
Tue 22 Shoreham Ropetackle Arts Centre
Thu 24 Teddington Landmark Art Centre
Fri 25 Truro The Old Bakery
Sat 26 Wimborne Minster The Tivoli Theatre
Sun 27 Portsmouth The Wedgewood Rooms
More here: https://www.harleykimbrolewis.com/
You can hear a track from the album on our recent Folk Show, Episode 112 here.