Over forty years ago, Fleetwood Mac was giving the Eagles a run for their money as Most Ubiquitous Band in America, and a big part of that was Buckingham’s uniquely sophisticated songwriting and unrecognized guitar prowess, both on display here.
These two have always made for a dynamic pairing, a yin and yang of raw backwoods holler and big-city sophistication that together make for some of the most genuine American folk music to come out of your newfangled contraption.
Twenty years ago, Grandaddy’s banged-up future was wrapped up in heavy production… now that has been stripped out, leaving only Jason Lytle, his songs, his piano, and his characteristic keening on inevitable observations.
No topic is too esoteric for John Darnielle to base an entire Mountain Goats album on, not even the persecution of pagans as a wave of Christianity moved through Europe in the middle ages.