FOR ALL BUSINESS [email protected]
SINGER/SONGWRITER BORN OFF OF THE "LEGENDARY" BLUES HWY61
MYLEENE , VOODOO*
RECORDED , MIXED & PRODUCED BY
NEIL SADLER AT NO MACHINE STUDIOS , UK.
(C) HIGHWAY 61 RECORDS 2007
* ADDITIONAL TRACKING & MIXING BY
"LEGENDARY ROLLING STONES PRODUCER"
CHRIS KIMSEY @ SPHERE STUDIOS , UK
BURN ONE DOWN
MIXED & PRODUCED
AT VENTILATOR STUDIOS
BY MIKE FARMER
(C) HIGHWAY 61 RECORDS 2007
THE REVIEW'S
If Mike Farmer wants to be a star, I for one wont mind.
Farmer has taken the whiskey and women on his mind and massaged them into songs worthy of a cross-continental unleashing.
Farmer uses his well-chiseled voice (think Tom Waits, but with more hope) and songwriting to celebrate the scuffed boots and lifted skirts, back alley, dirt under your nails side of America. The collection contains straight-up anthems and ballads, nothing on the rocks, no watering down.
But each song stays open to country and blues suggestions, while other unexpected twists pepper the playlist. Atmospheric filler and killer lyrics (The life that I once knew is asking me to leave in Like I Do) and surprising accompaniments by way of the piano (Burn One Down), soulful background vocals (Its in the Way) and Farmers own folk-worthy harp (Sunday Mornin) boost each tracks weight. Small town, drink-you-under-the-table subtexts (Hey bartender line me up a shot/I got a story for you) round out Farmers all-too-true tales.
Overall, the disk provides just the right pace; upbeat numbers sidle up to songs desperate for answers if only temporary ones.
Women within earshot of Farmers songs will wish they were his reason for writing. For everyone else, spinning this CD perfects the windows-down, cigarette- and rubber-burning drive. Farmers songs were made for coffee and cigarette mornings and Jack Daniels nights where equal parts heartache and hope make life worth living and, in this case, worth listening to.
Sherri Lynn
INtake Weekly
Indianapolis, IN US
Content Editor
International Tattoo Art
New York, NY US
Assistant Editor
