Marie Marie

Dave Alvin’s a great country rock singer, and on this record he’s roped in a few more great but disreputable vocalists in search of atonement (the Guilty Women). And so they collectively croon flawlessly over some beautifully produced and expertly played cajun n’country n’rockabilly picking and fiddling. Marie Marie adds up to much more than the sum of its parts as it takes many of the usual suspects from country music – pain, lap steel, heartache, thick harmonies, death, acoustic guitars, burning cities, accordions, nostalgia, swinging rhythm sections etc – and makes them all sound energised and fresh. Excellent.