The John Henrys

Ask six people what Roots/Americana is all about and there is a fair chance you’ll get seven answers or more. The genre contains so many different elements of the music that has been gestating in the US and if truth be told there really is no single description that holds the whole truth.

The John Henrys definitely sit in the Roots vein, many of them in fact, and they happily plunder so many styles and forms that they could almost be a Roots jukebox on their own.
But what makes them different from a lot of the other dilettante visitors to the form is that they actually play with a huge amount of talent and the ‘homages’ to Neil Young and The Byrds and The Eagles and The Band are quite superb in their own right – they even manage to tip the hat to Nervous Norvus at one point and huge kudos for that.
There are twelve songs on this collection and I wouldn’t say that there is a single one that pushes me to the ‘Skip’ button on the CD player.
From the title song which is a gorgeous a piece of country as I’ve heard in yonks and through the Neil Young-esque ‘Lost In The Canyon’ and on to ‘Ain’t Gonna Drink No More’ – as silly as it sounds – or ‘Eldorado’ and the gobsmackingly fine ‘Truth Be Told (Inez)’ this is real quality.
Rey Sabatin Jr’s guitar playing is superb and Steve Tatone’s keyboard skills give a real extra dimension to the music.

The strength in Roots at the moment is incredible with bands like OCMS, Gill Landry, the Deadstring Brothers and Britain’s own Hey Negrita giving a huge variety of styles and belt of talent – The John Henrys are supping at the same table and I cannot think of any reason they should bow to the others. Canada rools ok?