Legends of Country - Talk About Country

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 8 / 10 / 2015

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Legends of Country, formed by Jof Owen from The Boy Least Likely To, leave little doubt from the band's name and the title of their debut album as to where they are coming from musically. But, as with a lot of country music that is being made today, the country tag is only half the story. The band, Owen, Adam Chetwood and Rob Jones, hail from North London, not Nashville, and that simple fact immediately adds another element to their take on country music. While they proudly recreate the sounds of country music’s golden era, Owen’s so obviously English vocals and the amount of humour he injects into his lyrics push the band’s take on country far beyond what the chosen group name and album title might indicate. Despite musically sounding like it is fresh out of Nashville, ‘Talk About Country’ is quintessentially English and all the more refreshing and appealing for that. In fact it’s that Englishness that makes ‘Talk About Country’ the best album from that genre that has been released for some time. Owen, on this showing, is part of that line-up of great British songwriters who can capture the essence of small-town England in the space of a three-minute pop song. With the songs on ‘Talk About Country’, Owen has earned a place alongside Ray Davies, Paul Weller, Difford and Tilbrook and the rest. The fact that he’s painted his evocative lyrics of British life in a country music frame is what will attract even more people to the joys of country music. If you’re still not convinced that Owen deserves just a little of your time, bear in mind that here is a man who has readily admitted that twenty years ago, on his birthday, his heart was broken as, on that very day, it was announced that Sarah Records was to be no more. That maybe tells even more about where Owen is coming from that the music on ‘Talk About Country’… The fittingly-titled ‘It’s a Start’ opens the album, mariachi trumpets adding a feel-good vibe to the self-doubting lyrics and Owen’s breezy vocal style perfect for this type of country/pop; it’s a brilliant, upbeat way to start the album and captures the listener's attention from the very first second. The title track follows, and any song that opens with the line “Some nights it’s all about Dolly and Porter/45s all over the floor” should win you over. With Liz Hunt from the School on background vocals (the album was produced by Rob Jones who has worked with the School), and name-dropping Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson and a host of others, including the TV programme ‘Little House on the Prairie’, it’s a fun-filled nostalgic trip into the past. But the lines about sitting in a bar broken-hearted until “you were sitting there with your Marie Claire and putting peanuts in your Coke” will raise the biggest smile. Even Jocky Wilson gets a mention. As with all of the songs on ‘Talk About Country’, Owen wraps his astute, witty lyrics in such catchy melodies it makes the whole thing irresistible. Even on the less upbeat numbers such as ‘Different Planets’, despite the sadness showing in Owen’s vocals as he details the heartbreak of a couple growing apart and the imminent end of their relationship, there are glimmers of light shining through as he delivers his heartfelt lines. The reflective ‘Forty in the Spring’ features yet another killer opening line with “I never really grew up/I just got older…I kept thinking I should try to do something with my life/But I never got around to it.” With those trumpets again battling with nice big, fat Duane Eddy guitar lines, it’s another country song for those who don’t like country songs. They’ll be a few knowing nods and smiles from a certain generation while listening to this song; “maybe I shouldn’t’ be fixing whiskey and Wellbutrin” indeed. The touching ‘Turn to Dolly’ (Opening line: “I have always belonged in a country song.” Oh how right you are, Mr. Owen) finds the narrator finding consolation in country music, female superheroes and, of course, the music of Dolly Parton. “All alone I sat at home and did what any other boy would do; I turned to Dolly and Lynda Carter,” he sings before reaching the pay-off line of “superheroes are just as lonely as you.” Heartbreaking. ‘The Saturday Dads’ tackles the often-recorded subject of weekend fathers; again the lightness in Owen’s vocals lifts this sad tale out of the ‘just another country song’ bracket and, apart from being one of the most touching lyrically on this subject, it is strangely not over-sentimental in any way. You feel the pain and awkwardness of the father in question but never lose sight that that was the direction he chose to take. Its opening line is “It’s been six years since I left/I wonder if you still collect Pokémon cards/When you’re not here I forget I’m not around as much as all the other dads are.” It is again heartbreaking and more so as the song unfolds. ‘It’s a Long Way Back from a Dream’ concerns Richie Burnett, a dart player, and the way Owen describes Burnett’s drive from South Wales to compete, on New Year's Eve, in the 1996 World Darts Championships being held in Frimley Green, Surrey is pure genius. Burnett, the defending champion, lost and, although the struggle he experienced with his job and marriage in the aftermath is only slightly touched upon, with Owen’s lyrical skills we can still feel the man’s pain. To say that ‘Talk About Country’ is an album like no other, especially like no other country album, is not really enough. The simple fact is that over a dozen songs Owen and his band sing about lives that we can all relate to in one way or another, wrap them up in melodies that already feel like old friends and will have you smiling or crying, sometimes in the space of one song throughout. In a year that has already seen so many absolutely brilliant albums released, Legends of Country have made a strong case for their debut to be considered one of the very best. Another one to carry with you…

Track Listing:-

1 It's a Start
2 That's What We Talk About When
3 If I Knew What I Was Doing I'd Be
4 Old Guns
5 Different Planets
6 Jelly and Jam
7 Forty In the Spring
8 Turn to Dolly
9 Gone Leaving
10 As Country As They Come
11 The Saturday Dads
12 It's a Long Way Back From a Dre

Band Links:-

https://instagram.com/legendsofcountry
http://legendsofcountry.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/legendsofcntry
https://twitter.com/LegendsOfCntry

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