Clay Street Unit – Sin & Squalor
11 songs weigh in on this debut collection by Clay Street Unit’s Sin & Squalor (Dropped Feb 13/Leo33/40:00) as produced by Chris Pandolfi (The Infamous Stringdusters). The music is back porch-certified, dancehall-approved, & with homegrown slices of apple pie.
The opening tune (“Nothing Else Matters”), while nothing special, is simply a musically expressive straw in the mouth on a hot, humid day with a glass of ice-cold lemonade at your foot & a bloodhound asleep under your chair. With elements of The Band & Little Feat, Clay Street Unit has a primitive, old-timey sound, decorated in traditional beauty.
Driven by plucking strings from a mandolin & banjo, city folk may find this too rural, but it’s country soul music. It’s the beauty of rust on an old, reliable tractor, or the determined wet cotton flannel shirt on the pigtailed blonde in cut-off jeans swabbing a soapy sponge on grand-dad’s fading Econoline. Each tune tells a little story & what the band manages with skill is incorporate the environment into the music. “Let’s Get Stoned” is a slow narrative similar to what the late banjo & fiddle player John Hartford did.
There’s lots of country airiness in the music, but it’s never corny or commercial. While other country artists sing with a fishing line in their musical brook, Clay Street Unit shows you how they bait the hook. “Where Have You Gone?” & “One Last Time,” both are dynamic, fast pieces, with lots of polished pastiche in the smoke-burnished warm voice of Sam Walker. Picking fiery with an electrical current that dazzles the dance-tempted, smelly-toe-tapping in sweaty boots foot. Wonderful songs.
I’d venture to say that even the late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia would’ve appreciated this band’s instrumental purity. A duet with Sam & Lindsay Lou on “Choctaw County” is performed confidently, with no showboating applied – just a musical stratum that’s like a rainbow across the valley after a spring rain. More like this would be a good, diverse route for the band. Not quite as exciting as Goose Creek Symphony, the group understands the value of pacing & variety on their album. With “One Last Time,” they really assert themselves, rollicking in a Goose Creek tradition.
The group has individuality & that’s key to their creativity. Their pastoral threads are tight, as emphasized in the Ramblin’ Jack Elliott-type “Freightline Blues” that’s snappier & more countrified than folky. Andy Griffith used to say in his 1960s Mayberry comedy show. “It’s goooood.” I agree. Yes, it is.
Highlights – “Nothing Else Matters,” “Let’s Get Stoned,” “Where Have You Gone?” “Choctaw County,” “One Last Time,” & “Freightline Blues.”
Musicians – Sam Walker (vocals/guitar), Jack Cline (banjo), Brad Larrison (pedal steel), Scottie Bolin (mandolin/vocals), Jack Kotarba & Will Poyner (bass), & Brendan Lamb (drums).
Color image courtesy of Robert Chavers. CD @ Apple & Amazon + https://www.claystreetunit.com/music/sin-and-squalor