Some albums simply deserve a vinyl edition, and Wes Tirey’s No Winner In The Blues is certainly one of those.
It is fair to say that Wes Tirey is an underground cult artist working within the realm of Americana. He is deserving of more; though his work is heavy and sometimes bleak, there is a depth to it, and there is no leap of imagination to picture this music appearing in western movie soundtracks. Wes has stated in the past that he does most of his writing at night, sat with his guitar on his porch. When you soak yourself in the wide-open spaces of his music, this description makes perfect sense. It is easy to imagine him sitting there, the dark of the night slowly submerging him, the chill of the evening air enticing his fingers to keep moving, and the night silence necessitating an alertness to the threats lurking behind the shadows of artificial light. He would not want to blast the quiet into the great beyond with noise but rather co-exist with this peacefulness, playing music that reflects the solitude and is also inspired by it. I say all this for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the work of Wes Tirey, priming you for the sombre mode of his sound and serving notice on the wild west panorama often juxtaposed with kitchen-sink lyrical threads, not to mention the sense of history imbued into the songs.
On No Winner In The Blues, that lineage is felt throughout, not least on the song ‘Good Lord’, which sings like a testimony to the spirit of Robert Johnson and many other early Blues icons of the 1920s. He does this by coining a little trait very much favoured by Bob Dylan, the direct referencing of words or phrases such as “killing floor” and “wake up in the morning, believe you dust your broom” that instantly transport you to the time and place Wes sees in his mind’s eye. And yet, like Dylan, he does this within the framework of a new song that is very much his own work. This is the tone of the record as a whole like you are tasting a seasoned production nurtured at its own pace and grown from the deepest roots. As Wes himself says in ‘Easy Leaving’, “babe, I ain’t playing, I ain’t fucking around”, and when words like that are sung by a voice with such weathered conviction, you pay attention.
Some albums simply deserve a vinyl edition, and Wes Tirey’s No Winner In The Blues is certainly one of those; there are times (maybe late at night) when having this record on the shelf will fill the moment superbly. That is why this limited edition vinyl re-issue is so welcome for before now; other than streaming platforms, it was only available as a 2019 cassette release. Certain songs seem tailor-made for that wee-small hours vinyl spinning situation, ‘The Bachelor Life’ being one such fine example. That said, there is more going on here than straight-ahead guitar and voice, ‘Welcome To The City’ is underpinned by some disorientating hazy noises that are appropriately the audio equivalent of car headlights blurring your vision in the dark. The guitar strokes on ‘Serpent Mound’ sound like they are floating off into some foggy canyon; it is an effect that dazzles. Similar earthy psychedelics colour other tunes (check out the Byrds-like backwards guitar phrases of the title track), and much of this will be thanks to the electric guitar jiggery-pokery of Shane Parish, although Wes Tirey’s tastefully picked guitar and gravelly voice are always the solid backbone.
All in all, this is a song writer deep in the big muddy, whose album has rightfully found its home on the vinyl range.
Order No Winner in the Blues on Vinyl here: https://fullspectrumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-winners-in-the-blues