STEVE MAYONE is the very epitome of the travelling troubadour. Enmeshed in singing and song writing since the tender age of 12, he's done time in numerous American cities and bands including a New Wave outfit with the immortal name Sticky & The Benders before spending the last few years flitting 'tween New York City and his adopted home town of Boston, Massachusetts.
I was quite delighted with Mayone's second solo album, 2006's 'Unfortunate Son'. It ran the gamut of Americana-based inventiveness, taking in everything from harrowing, bar-room brawlers like 'Black Poison' to the great Townes Van Zandt-style murder ballad 'Truckee River' and it still frequents my CD player with something approaching regularity.
I missed out on Mayone's next record, the largely acoustic-based 'Understories' (2008), but now he's back with the backing of a new label, yet still recording 'on the run', laying down the tracks for his new album – the self-explanatory 'Long Play Record' – in a series of home studios in various locations in eastern Massachusetts.
If this sounds like the sessions were snatched, confused and laid down in an ad hoc manner, well maybe they were, but you sure as hell wouldn't notice the join. Regardless of the circumstances of its' creation, 'Long Play Record' is a coherent whole full of inspired songs which touches base with Americana, wistful acousticism, Beatles-style Power Pop and – in a couple of cases - genuinely dirty, sleazy Rock'n'Roll.
Brilliantly, Mayone subjects all the tunes to the classic “3-minute pop song” formula, ensuring nothing here outstays its' welcome and that 'Long Play Record' is a breeze for the listener.
As with 'Unfortunate Son', Mayone has rounded up some impressive collaborators, too. Ex-Fairports drummer Dave Mattacks adds his usual consummate touches to the Beatloid-style pop of the opening 'Everyone's Insane' while Aimee Mann collaborator John Sands gets behind the kit and makes like Levon Helm on the loping, rural folk-blues of 'Poor Heart' and Jim Fitting (The The) adds some fine, wailing harmonica to the swampy blues-rock workout 'Dirty Old Town'.
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Ultimately, though, it's Steve Mayone's skill as a songwriter which shines through the brightest. This across-the-board understanding of his craft allows him to pull off everything from intimate Country-Blues set pieces like 'Blue Sun' and 'High Lonesome' (both embellished by Mike Castellana's lovely, Sneeky Pete-esque pedal steel) through to purer pop moments - 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' could almost be a slightly gnarlier Crowded House - and even a gorgeous harmonic delight like 'I Heard It In A Song'. With its' multiple harmonies and everlasting Californian crush (“the girls are sweet like candy and they taste of lemonade”) this latter song inevitably brings Brian Wilson to mind, yet its' so lovingly and skilfully assembled, it easily transcends mere pastiche.
Steve Mayone, then, clearly knows his onions. As its' title pointedly suggests, 'Long Play Record' is an impressive collection of songs designed to be listened to as a single entity and I can guarantee it will bring pleasure aplenty to anyone who likes their Americana laced with a pop edge. All credit to the man from Massachusetts.
Steve Mayone official website
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