(English Translation)
Since their spectacular debut in 1997, "Last Train Home," and their equally excellent "True North" (1999), Washington D.C.'s Last Train Home has been one of my all-time favorite groups, working a vein of timeless and intelligent country rock, a style they continue to mine with transcendence and passion. The inventiveness and richness of the instrumentation and the charismatic lead vocals blend together in an organic sound that conveys the group's sharp material with great style and class all grouped around chief songwriter/guitarist/lead singer Eric Brace, longtime music columnist with the Washington Post. Despite the long break since their last album (not counting compilations, tribute albums and a holiday EP), the group's third full-length release, "Time and Water," picks up where the last one left off, rewarding the listener with more exceptional offerings. The band seems more open than ever to new musical ideas and new musical collaborators. Around a core of Eric Brace, his brother Alan (mandolin, harmonica and harmony vocals), guitarist Bill Williams and a rhythm section of bassist Jim Gray and drummer Martin Lynds (both of whom can also be heard playing with the Washington band the Graverobbers), the band is joined as needed by pedal steel guitarist Dave Van Allen, trumpeter and violinist Kevin Cordt, Graverobbers mastermind guitarist Karl Straub, sognwriter and guitarist Scott McKnight (who's also a solo perfomer and member of Kevin Johnson & The Linemen), Little Pink frontwoman Mary Battiata, Australian slide guitarist Jeff Lang, and very busy producer/guitarist/keyboardist Doug Derryberry (Blue Dogs, moe.,John Mayer, Bruce Hornsby)....Thus some songs feature ten musicians, layered so that the sound is not at all dense, but rather just right. Last Train Home has clearly mastered the art of musical arrangement!
Other than one song from Alan Brace, one from McKnight and another from Battiata, the material mostly comes from Eric Brace's pen (eight songs). The one other tune on the CD is the old bluegrass standard, "Walls of Time," by Bill Monroe and Peter Rowan, transformed here into a soulful country-rock number with horns and organ. This striking album closes with the instrumental "Las Lagrimas del Pollo Rico," imbued with south-of-the-border soul with a nod to Calexico.