Matthew Reveles reveres the 60s, and his affinity for retro harmonies and stripped-down traditional folk is apparent on every track of his newest CD Well Meet Halfway, even if the album does open with the bluesy instrumental Give It a Try. The following track, Danny Boy, is back porch folk, right down to the country gee-tar picking and hand claps. Similarly, Oh My Lord sounds very Bob Dylan-meets-Ryan Adams (in an alley for a drunken jam tribute to Townes Van Zandt). Other songs, like The New One for Reals and Maybe Sometimes, resemble dreamy Beatles tunes, laden with overdubbed vocal harmonies. Except for rare moments like the whimsical pop ditty That Girl (which includes quirky horns, a kazoo, and the lyric Shes got a PhD in LuV), Reveles songs invoke images of melancholy Americana -- dusty back country roads, hippies hopping trains, and forlorn folks sippin whiskey on rickety plankwood porches. In fact, much of Reveles harmonic troubador twang seems to draw inspiration from a bottle, as he sings in the song Late Night Lullabies: Never mind these constant cries/Theyre just drunken, late night lullabies.
Sat., Sept. 20, 8 p.m., 2008