Description:
Ache is palpable in the grooves of Mescalito, Ryan Binghams Lost Highway debut, but whats even more plain is the steely strength needed to overcome it -- a tenor thats evident in both the singer-songwriters preternaturally wizened voice and his remarkably poignant songs, which resonate with roadhouse wisdom and rough-and-ready border-town piquancy. Affection for tradition is evident throughout Mescalito, an album that finds Bingham digging deep into raw-boned country (on the just-jawed workingmans ode "Dollar a Day") and revisiting his border-town upbringing (on the lilting, Spanish-language mariachi track "Borachos Station"). Aided by the sympathetic production of Marc Ford -- perhaps best-known for unspooling the sturdy rhythm guitar lines that powered the Black Crowes on their classic `90s albums -- Bingham manages to kick both the heart and the hips into high gear. (Lost Highway)
