I just picked up "Time and Water" by Last Train Home. It's FANTASTIC. I saw these guys (I think there were seven of them) a couple years ago crammed into a very small bar (Bishop's Collar) in Philly, not your normal place for a countrified musical act. When they began their set, the young hip crowd was busy yapping. By the time the boys plucked the first chords of their second tune, everyone--even the gorillas in their leather car coats and the bronze-skinned Manayunk maidens--shut up and paid respect to this awe-inspiring act. LTH owned the room. The beers went down a bit slower and a lot smoother as we all got swept up in the cozy wistful vibe.
"Time and Water" is beautiful, bittersweet music that's swells with soul and understated passion--something that is sorely missing from the alt-country poster boys today who all seem a tad too bored with the bland pabulum they're producing. In contrast, LTH are playing music they love and it comes from the heart. Go to the LTH website right now (open new browser window--don't you dare leave this site) and listen to "All Gone Now" or "Once in a While" and I guarantee you will be hooked immediately.
Jim Carson Gray and the boys open the CD with the up-tempo "Lorelei" and settle into some down-home mellow magic with just the slightest pop edge. Last Train Home is a band without pretense. Just kick back and enjoy the yearning smoky vocals and sweet harmonies floating gently over a pleasing cacophony of pure country goodness--guitars, mandolins, harmonicas, lap steel and pedal steel guitars, banjos--and a couple of haunting trumpet solos. How cool is that? Very cool my friends. (Warning: train pun coming at ya) So move your caboose, get on board and enjoy the ride all the way home!
Fun fact: Last Train Home is a DC based band that put out their fine CDs on the Adult Swim label. Adult Swim was founded in 1989 by punk rock vet Jeff Nelson, co-owner of Dischord Records (with Ian MacKaye of Fugazi) and founding member of Minor Threat.
- Jeff Lyons, UsedWigs.com