Guitarist William Tyler’s 2013’s release The Impossible Truth was a loose, rambling, and beautiful exploration of American music traditions and landscapes, and with his latest album Modern Country he explores “the cultural geography on a vanishing America.” Modern Country was written in Oxford, Mississippi and recorded it in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with co-producer Phil Cook (multi-instrumental), Glenn Kotche (percussion) and Darin Gray (bass) then finished in Nashville. At the album’s core is a sense of loneliness and loss for a beloved country that only lives in memory. Album highlights include: the Bill Frisell-esque “Highway Anxiety”; the acoustic country tinged “I’m Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)”; the blues/folk touched “Kingdom of Jones”; the centerpiece “Albion Moonlight”; and the reverent closer, “The Great Unwind.” Modern Country is another ambitious and sprawling album that is as much an ethnomusicology lesson as it is a hauntingly beautiful listen. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Daniel Bachman, Steve Gunn, Jack Rose, Ryley Walker