Tom Brosseau just so happens to be this native North Dakotan pictured above. Other than being magnificently displayed above he is one who brings well wanted heartland country folk to my ears.
I am not saying that Brosseau NEEDS a new album, but maybe I need him to have one, yeah, that’s probably more accurate. Once and a while you just need the casual easy strumming guitar and his patented voice (it’s delicate with twang, if that is possible). While I might think that his “Cavalier” is his strongest, it is usually “Grand Forks” that I return to. I think I may be partial with “Grand Forks” with it being a concept album of “the flood of the century” that enveloped both North Dakota and the Southern portion of the Province of Manitoba where I am from. A concept album that is about something that I actually experienced (however little of it, but I was there!). But I digress, Tom Brosseau music is timeless, something that you know it could have filled a dusty 1920’s booze-can or a modern day summer folk festival. While I think he needs to be heard acoustically and in a smaller venue, like most artists of the Slowcoustic variety, I think he can command almost any sized crowd of folk encrusted ears. Take a listen to “Cavalier” and try to think he is not sitting in the next room just singing to whomever may be listening – like modern day honky tonk melancholy, and hell that must be good.
Take a listen, swing by his website for some more info and downloads or even be his friend on MySpace.
~Smansmith
Tom Brosseau
“The Young And The Free” (mp3)
from “Tom Brosseau”
(Loveless Records)
Tom Brosseau
“Amory” (mp3)
from “Cavalier”
(Fat Cat Records)