“Yesterday and Me” – Kayla Ray (2018) [english]

There are voices that just listen to you leave something, not only because they are beautiful, persuasive but because they can tell the difficulties of life with disarming ability. Here is the voice of Kayla Ray, from Waco Texas, it is so, it seems subtle delicate but has the strength of the great country singers of the past and you can say that today she is the reference for every independent country singer who wants to try his hand at this adventure, despite his young age. Along with Erin Enderlin and Sunny Sweeney, Kayla can be considered one of the best products of American women’s music in recent years. This wonderful record (and last for now, singles apart) was his second and consists of 12 pieces (among which only two signed not her), so it is long but it runs fast. The production is entrusted to his friend Jason Eady and the sound of the record proves it, you see the hand of the Texas author, one that with dry sounds, acoustic and never artifacts, has created a sound recognizable, personal and effective. A country without frills and lots of dust. Violins, pedal-steel and lots of real life. Here is the secret that Kayla Ray keeps in her writing, melancholy stories, even dramatic and hopeful, what the country should be. For this reason, its success over the years has been genuine, appreciated by fans but also by professionals, has opened the concerts of many superstars such as Cody Jinks, Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours, Erin Enderlin and many others. She has played the most important stages of the country and her music has reached this side of the Ocean, although obviously in Italy it is almost unknown. The album opens with a song not his, Rockport, and the influence of the classic country is glaring, almost a sound like Willie Nelson, a story of escapes from their demons that run faster and faster than us. A simple but damn effective piece and the singer’s voice is like the quiet water that destroys bridges. Delicate, never over the top but incisive and intense. Camel Blues is a slow ride that pedal-steel envelops that melancholy typical of the country, finished loves and guilt to share. The tension is broken by the wild honky tonk of Hell of a Day to Drink all Night, bar and drinks and her voice that becomes more powerful to follow a wild rhythm between slide guitar and the aces of a bar. Funny and believable. The taste of the classics emerges with every listening, it is a merit to know how to bring to mind the sounds that made the story and the cover of Keith Whitley, Once a Week Cheaters, is there to prove it. A more country-like sound and a duet with colleague Colton Hawkins that perfectly completes the voice of Kayla, she delicate, he deep and powerful. The rhythm is still unleashed in the funny Pills, ironic and irreverent is a kind of ode to pharmacists and prescription pills. Kayla Ray is comfortable both in the slow tears, both in the songs to dance and unleash, a Loretta Lynn of the new millennium. Still love in the title-track, persuasive and melancholy thinks about the changes that time brings on relationships as you get to the end of the record, which closes with the sweet memory of grandparents in 1963, a ballad supported by a splendid piano work, that slowly grows and brings a breath of hope and smiles. As I said, Eady’s production really leaves its mark, he is one of the few who can make a record with only acoustic guitar and violins, really full and never boring. A record that will make you discover a truly remarkable artist, classic but with a modern original touch, the shores are those of the truest and purest country, never boring and always anchored to the difficulties of life but lived with hope for the future.

Good listening

Trex Willer

(you can find original italian article in the blog at this link :https://www.trexroads.com/yesterday-and-me-kayla-ray-2018/ )

 

Pubblicato da Trex

Sono un blogger e scrittore appassionato di musica indipendente americana. Scrivo gialli polizieschi e ho inventato il personaggio del detective texano Cody Myers.

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