Stephen Kellogg -‘Blunderstone Rookery.’ (Bread and Butter Music)

For someone like this reviewer who has got really fed-up with a surfeit of singer-songwriters, it is a mark of how great this record is that I have played it so often before sitting down to review it. Erstwhile leader of The Sixers (no, me neither – but on the strength of this album I really ought to investigate) it’s really a rather wonderful record.

The title doffs its’ cap to Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, but this is a very American record, in terms of its lyrical concerns and sound. Americana and folk are labels that are branded around to the point of bordering on the meaningless, but there’s evidence of both here. If I could compare him to two other artists, then it would probably be Tom Petty for the sound and Bruce Springsteen for the lyrical concerns.

The centrepiece of the record has to be the penultimate ‘Thanksgiving’ which at ten minutes long (wait! come back!) sums up the life of a man from birth to death and all inbetween. And it doesn’t feel like ten minutes either.

A strong piece of work, don’t let it pass under your radar.

****

Blunderstone Rookery is out on August 12 on Bread and Butter Music.