Advertisement

Album reviews Music

Ben Rogers

West Coast outlaw country picker Ben Rogers’s sophomore effort starts with the sinewy twang of Wild Roses, a heady interpretation of the Cain and Abel story set in the Garden of Eden. It’s gorgeous and tragic, and benefits from sparkling production. Its immediate follower, Wanted, works less well, mainly because of said production: a grittier approach would better suit the song’s simple, jaunty feel. It has a righteous (and dirty) guitar solo but still sounds too polished. 

The album wrestles with this push-pull from start to finish. For example, it’s easy to consider goofy but fun The More I Learn a gimmicky ditty due to its sheen, even though the lyrics reveal some folky wisdom that ends up buried. 

When everything works just right, the results are fantastic. Goodbye Rosa Lee, with its graceful pedal steel flourishes, is a veritable honky-tonk heartbreaker, and River a gospel-tinged stomper that pushes the album to its greatest heights. While The Bloodred Yonder could be more cohesive, Rogers’s strong songwriting should not be ignored.

Top track: River

Ben Rogers plays the Horseshoe on Thursday (September 10). 

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.