Goodtime John Cowhie has already shone as a prolific performer and writer with a 10” EP and a five star studded 7” ‘For the Girls Back Home’ testifying to a voracious appetite for refreshing acoustic pop for tender years.

Dragged Four Ways Out Of Town saw a cast of fellow musicians, friends and clowns immerse themselves in the rustic charms of a house in Avoca, Co. Wicklow. The happy gang included Noc Airport, Glenjammin, Cockroach, Johan Banjovi, Cheech and Charlie Bucket in their fretboard picking ranks, who also moonlight as members of the Connect 4 Orchestra, The Redneck Manifesto and the Goodtime John traveling live circus.

The title track and ‘My Idea Of Fun’ introduce this collection’s deliciously loose and languorous charms, replete with acerbic lyrics and a self-depreciating wit. The over-earnestness and po-faced emotion of much singer/songwriter fare is pleasantly absent.

Best of all is the terrific mid-section comprising of an ace instrumental marvellously entitled ‘Did You Meet Anyone Better Than Yourselves?’ which lingers in the mind thanks to a haunting outro. The starkly beautiful ‘Before I Freeze’ also hits the upper peaks; a gorgeously crafted lament of the city’s lack of love, space and honesty. ‘Goodtime’s At the Top of the Lane’ injects Cowhie’s inimitable mixture of humour and country-tinged blues, before diving into a strong closing flush of ‘Slappy’, ‘Throw A Question’ and ‘I’ve Always Had You To Hold Me Down’, confirming this debut’s worth as funny, sad and idiosyncratic first chapter.