Vertigo Records Album Review: S/T by THE WHISKEY CHARMERS

SPONSORED BY VERTIGO RECORDS – 193 RIDEAU ST. OTTAWA, CANADA

On occasion, it happens that the idiotic nonsense I get myself into coincides nicely with the few responsibilities I must get through on a daily basis.  It so happens that I sit here before you writing this review with a 4 alarm hangover after two days of filth and flander, filled with excessive use of alcohol and foul language.  What better music to review than twangy-guitar-filled country and western.  Well, The Whiskey Charmers aren’t your typical country and western group.

The dark atmospheric twang of that hollow-bodied Gretsch sound mixed with double bass, brush drumming, and haunting vocals comes crushing down on my booze-soaked brain with a the subtlety of lace and the heat of lead.  You might think me in agony, but the reality is much worse; it’s making my happier than I have been in a long while.  The sorrow in this music makes me feel human.  The twang of both the guitar and the voice takes me to a swampy place I want to lie down and die in.  Again, it’s making me happier than I have been in a while.  To feel the agony in music is to feel what it is to be alive.  When music can make you feel alive, then it is doing the job of saints.  The Whiskey Charmers bring that dark, brooding sense you get when you enter a scary motel for the first time.  This sound makes you want to drink more whiskey, even though you know full well it’s the worst idea you’ve had all night.  The vocals of Carrie Shepard cut at you like a swiping switch-blade, yet rock you to sleep at the same time.  The cutting guitar riffage from Lawrence Daversa walks you down a foggy beach only to find a bloody plane crash at its reaches.  You feel the pain.  You want to feel the pain.  The pain has you flipping the record over and over so you can get at more of it.

I’m not saying you need to be hung over or a little bent to enjoy this record; not at all.  It is finely crafted country fusion with the soul of a thousand lovers.  The voice of it all soothes you.  This is wonderful music to enjoy a few kind-hearted drinks with a few friends on a Friday night over some good food and conversation.  Heck, even put on a few episodes of Twin Peaks while listening to this record.  All I’m saying is, if you happen to be lying on the floor wishing you were dead because of the ridiculous amount of whiskey and wine you had consumed over the last two or three days, using The Whiskey Charmers as the soundtrack to that home video will only serve to heighten this experience as it guides you back to reality.  Even while I fight back the occasional burst of sick in my mouth, The Whiskey Charmers nurse me back to health with this wonderful record.  Click here to get your hands on some of this fantastic music. – FATS

STRAIGHT AND NARROW by THE WHISKEY CHARMERS