Troy Breslow The First of My Kind
Country musician and songwriter Troy Brelsow recently released his album The First of My Kind via Well Water Records. The album was produced by Troy Breslow and Steven Miller at Well Water Records in Williamsburg, Virginia, and was engineered, mixed and mastered by Steven Miller.
This is a country album with songs with titles that often identify as Jewish, and are delivered in heartfelt, country folk styles. These are passionate love songs, songs about rising above the mundane, recounting cruel childhood traumas and then re-centering through commitment to fatherhood. Troy adeptly mingles universal sentiments, personal history and weaves them with just a touch of jewish history to enhance his quality songwriting in quality country (the good stuff) and sometimes folk-based style. And most importantly, the weave of his songwriting is first rate.
“Zion” leads off the album with acoustic guitar and then mournful, sustained fiddle buildup. It’s a love song: “you might say I’m young, you might say I haven’t lived here long enough…just tell me what you need and I’ll do my best to make it happen.” Rich vocal harmonies and electric guitar add to the lofty heights, and the song is ultimately powerful.
“Gospel” adds a touch of banjo as Troy sings about being a single father raising a child completely on his home and his own childhood time in foster care and then the rough return home. It’s a raw, confessional song, and Troy’s vocals fluidly come from the heart as he expresses the pain and ultimately the renewed hope: “I am a brand new kind of father, one that I have never seen before…. I still believe in everything I am and want to be.”
“Local Boy” rips with a sense of humorous observations about local scenes, leaving town and searching for something more meaningful. Troy showcases a powerful country style musical arrangement and commandeering vocals, as “it’s another beach themed bar tonight, but we’re all just feeling all right hanging with the Tuesday night choir.”
“Are There Any Other Jewboys Singin’ Country?” is fast paced and fiddle based in a bluegrass style “I’m the only one I’ve seen for miles around. I can never go to synagogue on Fridays ’cause I’m always playing songs from town to town….” A nice flex for Troy.
“Arlo’s Stories” is about finding more music-minded folks who would play together, some who walked through some darkness and the nostalgia for the days when they’d play music til the sun came up.
On the closing track “It’s Hard Out Here for A Jewboy” it’s just Troy on vocals and acoustic guitar “nobody calls my name, and everything I’ve ever done has been marked down with shame,” and, there’s yodeling.
These songs all ring true with a mature profundity. Alongside country and folk style musicians in the quality music canon like Kinky Friedman and Marc Rubin, Troy Breslow is casually taking his place in line with this album. He’s the real deal.
You can discover more details here on his website: http://www.troybreslow.com
Musicians on the album are Troy Breslow on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars; Mike Behlmar on drums; David Scudder on bass; Steven Miller on electric guitar and percussion; Zach Moats on backing vocals, piano, organ, accordion, and synthesizer; Andrew Magruder on fiddle and mandolin; Phil Humphries on trombone; Aaron Reeves on trumpet and flugelhorn; Sam Guthridge on banjo; and Steve Forss on jawharp.