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Review: 'McDERMOTT, MICHAEL'
'Willow Spings'   

-  Label: 'Pauper Sky Records'
-  Genre: 'Rock' -  Release Date: '3rd July 2016'

Our Rating:
Stephen King reckons that “Michael McDermott is one of the best songwriters in the world and possibly the greatest undiscovered rock ‘n’ roll talent of the last 20 years”.

Despite high profile plaudits like this and no shortage of early hype, McDermott did not find fame as the next Bruce Springsteen and for a while his career and life went into free fall.

When he sings "Tonight I'm bound for glory" on Getaway Car he's a ringer for The Boss on Promised Land but, on balance, Steve Earle is probably a better point of reference. Like Earle, McDermott is an artist who has been to hell and back again.

Named after the small town where he now lives with his wife and young daughter, the fan-funded Willow Springs is, as the title song makes clear, written from a place that offers salvation and refuge when elsewhere "the news is so fucking bleak".

McDermott can also draw strength from the fact that he is clearly not an artist who suffers from writer's block. Hot on the heels of an album with his band 'The Westies', this is the Chicago based singer/songwriter's tenth solo album in a career spanning 25 years.

He is also fortunate in being able to draw upon the support of a talented group of musicians including multi-instrumentalist Lex Price, guitarist Will Kimbrough; keyboard player John Deaderick and McDermott’s wife Heather Horton on backing vocals.

The songs here are more personal than those on The Westies' album as he gets to grips with heavy issues like sobriety, grief, death, mortality, shame and forgiveness.

As a pessimistic Half Empty Kinda Guy he finds it hard to see the end of the tunnel or to put his experience into words.

Although a line like "seeking a rainbow on a trail of tears" (Soldiers Of The Same War) has a certain resonance, poetry is not always his strong point. An observation like "In the dark it's not easy to see the light" (Butterfly) is far from profound.

This may be why a song such as Shadow In The Window is conceived more on the model of a stadium rock anthem than as a confessional folk song.

In the tongue in cheek Folksinger, McDermott admits he prefers the idea of working with big guitars and nurturing dreams of having big hits. In this song he even fantasizes about hanging out with Bono and fighting off groupies!

Such desperation is not the norm, however, and the reflections on the closing song What Dreams May Come end the album on a beautifully tender note.

Stephen King's assessment of McDermott is an exaggeration but this is nevertheless a fine album by an artist at the top of his game and willing to take risks to get his voice heard.

Michael McDermott's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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McDERMOTT, MICHAEL - Willow Spings