COUNTY Gazette music columnist Kevin Bryan reviews new releases from Nashville's Rod Picott, folk singer Nick Hart, and rock and roll artist Michael McDermott.

Rod Picott, Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows (Welding Rod Records)

New Hampshire-born and Nashville-based Rod Picott is one of the most prolific writers and performers operating in the Americana genre today, delivering a compelling brand of blue-collar balladry which sets him apart from many of his contemporaries in this increasingly crowded field.

This refreshingly raw and unpolished package is the fourteenth album that the former construction worker has released during the past twenty years, boasting some arresting subject matter which runs the gamut from the usual Picott tales of outlaws and villains to affecting ditties such as ‘Sonny Liston’, a heartfelt exploration of the legendary heavyweight’s ultimately tragic life and boxing career.

This rough-hewn musical storyteller has rarely been captured in better voice, and as Rod Picott himself declares, “I don’t know if Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows is the best album I’ve made, but it might be.”

Nick Hart Sings Ten English Folk Songs (Roebuck Records/Proper) 

This starkly memorable offering was recorded during the first lockdown of 2020, as the multi-talented Mr Hart retreated to his back bedroom to assemble his most varied and inventive album to date.

The award-winning vocalist employed instruments such as the harmonium, lyre and viol alongside his inimitable guitar work to create the sparse musical backdrop for a stunning collection which features his distinctive interpretations of much loved traditional ditties such as ‘Henry Martin’, ‘Dives and Lazarus’ and ‘The Outlandish Knight’.

Michael McDermott, St. Paul’s Boulevard (Pauper Sky Records) 

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Michael Dermott has attracted a rather unlikely cheerleader for his work in the shape of Stephen King.

The master of horror fiction has hailed McDermott as “possibly the greatest undiscovered rock and roll talent of the last 20 years”, and I for one certainly wouldn’t disagree with this heartfelt paean of praise.

McDermott’s latest offering chronicles the lives of a cast of characters living out their lives on a fictional street somewhere in America’s heartland.

The finished product is typically memorable and compelling, with ‘Sick Of This Town’, ‘All That We Have Lost’ and the anthemic ‘Marlowe’ emerging as three of the stand-out tracks.

Written by Kevin Bryan