The thirteen tracks on this album are twangy, jangly and resolutely centred on good vibrations. The upbeat philosophy is explained in the liner notes: "We decided early on that our duo songs would be uplifting, encouraging and hopefully empowering, acknowledging the dark but holding out a spark...".
After 20 years together, Texans Pete and Maura are a long way from being dead Kennedys. To prove the point, 2015 will be a particularly busy year since, following this duo record, they are each set to release solo albums.
Black Snake, White a "sitar-driven vignette" inspired by B.D. Love's short story Black Snake serves as a precursor to Maura's solo work (Villanelle) which will feature lyrics by Love.
Seven of the tunes are joint compositions, Pete, who was formerly part of Nanci Griffiths's Blue Moon Orchestra, contributes three. He sings lead on just one, Jubilee Time, which is a pity as sharing the vocals would have added some much needed variety to the record.
Signs is only song written by Maura alone, an ode to healing power of nature ("smell then water, feel the breeze").
The two cover songs are The Queen Of Hollywood High by the late John 'Daydream Believer' Stewart and Perfect Love a Byrdsian tune written for them by John Wicks of The Records.
During the course of the album the couple dip freely into America's rich literary and musical heritage. Travel Day Blues is a kind of homage to Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode while the title track name drops Hemingway, Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie and Willie Nelson.
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These modern-day dustbowl ballads emphasise the power of love, comradeship and, in the case of Southern Jumbo, good grub.
Elegy is a touching banjo tune dedicated to late American folk singer Dave Carter but a weakness of the album is that the tunes often stray too far into sentimentality.
Sisters Of The Road is an ode to sisterhood that has the same airbrushed triteness as Sally Oldfield's Moonlight Shadow. Even cheesier is a pass-the-sick-bag Buddy Holly style number called Locket in which Maura offers up the key to her heart as a mark of trust: "It will open your heart if you give yours to me".
Good, Better, Best closes the album on a similarly gushy note and shows how glossing over the darker sides of life serves to engender a mood that is more mawkish than hopeful.
The Kennedys' website
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