Cobhonian Freddie White established his reputation over the past 25 years with his dynamic interpretations of a wide range of songs by writers as diverse and as idiosyncratic as Frank Zappa, Warren Zevon and Randy Newman.
Domiciled in the US for over a decade, his new album contains five originals and eight covers. The non-originals all come from across the Atlantic, including Zevon’s classic ‘Accidentally Like a Martyr’ (superb), the brooding ‘Dusty Woods’ by Greg Brown and two by John Hiatt, ‘Back of My Mind’ and the disturbing ‘What Do We Do Now’).
Sashaying in with the swagger of a Van Morrison, White reveals his uncanny knack of making covers his own, although one might wonder why no songs by the plethora of Irish songwriters currently doing the rounds were good enough for inclusion.
On his own compositions White shows an unerring instinct for the craft that makes you wonder why so many covers in the first place. ‘Lost My Heart’ is a fine slice of balladic pop. ‘All I Do’ has echoes of Dire Straits, while the poignantly autobiographical ‘The River’ show how easily he can weave magic across many moods. He can effortlessly transcend genres too, from folk to jazz, to get to the core of a song. We should cherish Four Days In May for White’s potential to excite his loyal fan base and equally tempt a new generation to explore quality songs for their own sake.