ALBUM "LET IT RIDE" AVAILABLE ON WWW.BRAYVISTA.COMNEW NEWS!!! Bray Vista play their only gig this year in the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray which will coincide with a pre-release of their new album "Let it Ride", out early 2009.
This album was co-produced by Grammy Award winning Jim Lauderdale (famous for much production and singing work with the likes of Ralph Stanley, Lucinda Williams and Buddy Miller) and Leo Pearson (famous for his own production work with U2 and Elvis Costello) in Thomastown, Kilkenny.
This 12-track album continues in the same vein of heartbreak but expect some new sounds..Reviews for the last album "Sing My Darling":
"It would be a heart of stone indeed that would fail to melt on hearing this dazzling collection of old-time country music, played with love and zest...something truly unique and original...This album has an innate timelessness" 8/10 - Hot Press
"Home", a big revival bluegrass choogler full of banjo, Dobro, harmonica, acoustic guitars and sweet harmonies all playing off of each other, rolls out the musical carpet of this charmingly rural affair. But just as you start thinking that "home" for these folk must be the Appalachian region, you notice that the liner notes place this 9-piece outfit closer to Dublin, Ireland. Recorded and produced by Karl Odlum, Sing My Darling captures the band - whose songs were written primarily by guitarist/vocalist Neil Tobin - as they journey from Bunker Hill to Bakersfield with a Let's Go Americana guide in hand. Yet they've managed to evoke the spirit as well as any native while keeping things just on the quirky side of reverently traditional. The most drastic example is "Heavenly Penicillin", a tongue-in-cheek gospel number praising the titular remedy for whatever ailments might occur from sinful doins. A couple other rollicking numbers ("Keep On Keepin' On" and "Slim Pickings") put a little 'lectric twang in the mix and balance out the traditional roots of the band quite nicely. But it's a wonder that so many people from the same Irish town, Bray of course, could find equal footing between the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and old Merle Haggard."
Milesofmusic.com
check out:
http://store.milesofmusic.com/Compact_Discs/Bray_Vista/36098
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"...these songs, steeped in the spirit of pre-Nashville packaging days, sound like the real deal..." 4/5 - The Irish Times
"By the end you realize that the classic sounds have been filtered through an urban sophistication that acknowledges the history and the generic nature of the songs but that isn’t knowing or cynical so that they leave the emotional core of the songs intact. The closing ‘Reprise’ illustrates this perfectly, a plaintive mail voice that could be Willie without the waver - the female backing vocal, the easy melody and the chords that pluck away at your aorta… it could be mawkish and sentimental, but this is no roadhouse. It’s more like a sit down supper club where the broken hearted gather, a million miles away from the village hall. Whilst the refugees from love sit and nurse the drinks that they can’t afford, ‘Your Eyes’ will have them calling for one more round, and when ‘You’ll Always Stray’ with its moving vocal from Alison Byrne floats around the room like a fog of regret and longing, it’ll be drinks all round - it’s time to try to buy a friend just so you won’t be alone. " Americana-uk.com
"Americana fans should check out Bray Vista hugely enjoyable "Sing My Darling". This nine piece from Wicklow in Ireland have made one of the most authentic slices of Americana to be heard outside the US. Neil Tobin's original song's span the full gamut of country songwriting from matters of the heart like the tender "Your Eyes" to tales of bad luck "Slim Pickings", there are jaunty numbers such as "Home". Neil splits vocal duties with Alison Byrne whose "You'll always Stray" is sublime." rootsmusic.co.uk
