Stranger’s Almanac - Whiskeytown (America)

Label:	Outpost Records (America)
Released:	1997
Highlights:	Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Everything I Do Waiting To Derail Losering Not Home Anymore

Rating: 9/10

Austin, Texas’s Whiskeytown are hailed as the next big thing in the so-called alternative country scene and judging by their second album, Strangers Almanac, it is easy to see why. Memorable songs are backed up by equally adept playing. Along with the straight ahead country sounds of Excuse Me While I Break My Heart and Dancing With The Women At The Bar, songs range from the soul tinged Everything I Do to the beautiful yet lonely Losering while Waiting To Derail sounds reminiscent of the Replacements. As with most good albums, Strangers Almanac gets better the further you listen and the albums best track, the urgent Not Home Anymore, is left to the very end.

One gets the impression that in the hands of a lesser band, many of these songs would fall into the MOR - FM Radio category thanks to the slick production of Jim Scott. Therefore credit must be given to main songwriter David Ryan Adams and the other members of Whiskeytown for making Strangers Almanac such an impressive album. Anyway, when people like Chris Stamey and Jody Stephens are thanked in the credits, you know there is a better than good chance that the album is going to be impressive.

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