Radio Sweethearts Reviews
home - history - profiles - discography - soundclips - contact - live - links - news - club -new lyrics / guitar tab page - where to buy "Lonesome Blue"
"Scotland's Radio Sweethearts are living proof that Americana knows no borders"
David Goodman - Modern Twang
SINGLES |
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| HEADIN' ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY | NEW MEMORIES / BEER & WHISKEY | RAMBLING MAN / FOUND A NEW LOVE | ||
ALBUMS |
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| CHARTBUSTERS | NEW MEMORIES | REVISITED | ||
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LONESOME BLUE (Spit & Polish SPITCD 002) *** "If your idea of a good country album is something cast in the slick contemporary Nashville mode, then look elsewhere. Radio Sweethearts prefer the real thing, and their feel for the music is as authentic as anything you will hear these days." Kenny Mathieson. The List |
That a British band can create old-style country music in such convincing fashion takes a little getting used to. ...many of these songs - confident models of economy with succinct decorations of pedal steel, mandolin or fiddle - wouldn't sound out of place in small-town Texas. There are Western Swing songs (the excellent Let Me Be Your Man Tonight), honky-tonking toe-tappers and ballads of broken hearts and barstools, ...the best - Look Homeward Angel, Heart On The Line - blow away any regionalist doubts and may yet have Johnny Cash reconsidering his retirement. (***)
Ian Cranna - Q Magazine
George Strait and Alan Jackson may be lamenting about Murder on Music Row, but on the streets of Glasgow, traditional country music is alive and well. At very least, the Radio Sweethearts are a blast of fresh air. But, to the fan of real country music, this album goes a lot deeper. At a time when our music is being dominated by commercial values, and the local bands play the same old line dance numbers, it's worthy to note that this album is 100% originals and features pedal-steel, mandolins, fiddle and guitar. We never see much of the Radio Sweethearts in the established country clubs. Instead, and perhaps more significantly, they play a student venue in Glasgow regularly, as well as supporting visiting artists like Dale Watson and Heather Myles. But the music on this second album is unmistakeably country. It's really hard to pick out any stand out track - they're all great. If I had one complaint it would be that their "Sweetheart Hoedown" is a mere 75 second instrumental, which I think is far too short. Otherwise, a great album, which is a must for real country fans - proof that this tyle of music really does exist in the 21st Century.
Stewart Fenwick - Country Music & More!
A year or so ago, the Glasgow-based Radio Sweethearts made their debut with New Memories... Revisited. Combining Hank Williams songs such as Ramblin' Man and A House of Gold with self-composed material, they exhibited a clear-sightedness that paid homage to influences whilst retaining enough of their own individuality to elevate them above the run of the mill. Now they have returned with another fine offering, Lonesome Blue.
Co-produced by Big Star legend Alex Chilton, this time they have axed the covers, relying instead upon the songs of mainman John Miller (vocals, guitar, mandolin and organ) or Miller with Frank Macdonald (vocals, drums, guitar and piano), which are drenched in the feel of 1950s country music - especially I Must Have Been Out Of My Mind and Bumming Around.
However, where this album makes its pitch is in utilizing the orthodox sounds and rhythms of country music in the arrangements; Malcolm McMaster adds some sparkling licks on pedal steel guitar, with Battlefield Band virtuoso John McCusker contributing fiddle and mandolin.
What this adds up to is an album that is rooted in the traditions that spawned it, but as contemporary and relevant as anything coming out of Nashville. If you live in Glasgow, you probably know that anyway.
Hugh Gregory - Country Music International
Thank Hank in Heaven for wur ain Radio Sweethearts as they offer another fine album of mellifluous music... Lonesome Blue is for anyone who's lonesome and blue, or for anyone who's swoonsome and in the pink, frankly. ...If you know the devil ain't got all the best tunes, you should take these boys homeward soon.
David Belcher - The Herald
Radio Sweethearts have come up smelling mighty pretty with a second album of classic country music. It sounds more like a Nashville original than many of their American contemporaries. Lonesome Blue is packed full of classic pop tunes stamped with a white-hot country branding iron, ranging from swing numbers, heart-rending ballads and up and at 'em honky-tonk stonkers.
Fraser Middleton - Evening Times (Glasgow)
Let's hope this group stay together and keep making music because they are on to something big Legendary Steel Player Al Perkins (Gram, Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Dylan, etc.,etc.) |
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Old songs are like old friends. It's always good to see them come back, and your recording of "Is Anybody Going To San Antone" sure brought it home. I am proud to be a part of this great album. Glenn Martin (co-writer of "...San Antone".) |
Your CD should contain a sticker with Beware! You could become dependant on this CD after a few listens... I play your CD only when I have a spare 50 minutes because I can't stop it until the end.
Country DJ Aleksander Lazaveric (Serbia, Yugoslavia)
for more reviews follow the links below
SINGLES |
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| HEADIN' ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY | NEW MEMORIES / BEER & WHISKEY | RAMBLING MAN / FOUND A NEW LOVE | ||
ALBUMS |
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| CHARTBUSTERS | NEW MEMORIES | REVISITED | ||
Headin' On Down the Highway" EP (Swingset)
The songs here are highlighted by clean picking and melodious fiddle playing and are as memorable as any coming out of the back bars of Nashville.
The Bob (USA)
"Headin' On Down The Highway" is just about the grooviest country pop song you will ever hear. ESP (UK)
New Memories / Beer & Whisky (Shoeshine)
...two more fiddle and steel weepers, as down home as anything from Bakersfield.
David Snyder. The Bob
Beer and Whisky is a classic tale of love on the rocks.
Eddie Gibb. The Sunday Times
Music and instruments don't care about gender, nationality, creed, age or anything else. All they care about is how well they're played. And the Radio Sweethearts play really well, with both spirit and sincerity. They prove that music knows no borders.
Sid Griffin. CMI
The only non-pop thing here is the country flavoured Radio Sweethearts. This is authentic...,it's certainly credible and should have the Nashville contingent scared
Pop-Sided (USA)
Things take off with the Radio Sweethearts whose "Beer And Whisky" is a genuine Flying Burritos manqué.
David Sheppard . Q
Best of all is the Gram Parsons-esque Radio Sweethearts, whose sound is that of grown men in inappropriate western garb weeping into warm pints of eighty bob. And bloody marvellous it is too.
Pure Pop Music Store (Internet)
Country music from Scotland? You bet... it's better than practically anything you see when you accidentally dial in CMT
Page O'Fun (Internet)
Rambling Man / Found A New Love
7" on Shoeshine
You'd swear they've been busking in downtown Nashville for decades trying to stump up the drummer's alimony
Keith Cameron NME
John Miller's voice is haunting and beautiful, offset by Brian Taylor's electric guitar... The Radio Sweethearts have mastered Americana and deserve a seat alongside genre standouts such as Wilco, Son Volt and the Old 97s
Dawn Sutter, College Music Journal (USA)
A Hank Williams classic reworked by Glasgow's finest exponents of new country... 5/5
The List
The Sweethearts give Hank Williams' "Rambling Man" the swarthy, smoochy treatment, while maintaining the song's cowboy credentials. Tip your hat to 'em. It's a winner.
Record Collector (UK)
Absolutely the best new country stuff I've heard... I'll be playing this for years to come. It's a classic
Joss Hutton. Bucketfull of Brains
Radio Sweethearts are the best band in Scotland. There's no competition.
'Teddy' Rogers. Next Big Thing
While American country acts join a lemming-like scuttle to sound like MOR rockers, John Miller and Frank Macdonald pilot the Lanarkshire outfit back into a raw country sound that is a compound of classic 50s country (with Hank Williams top of the list) and a more modern, radical edge (via Gram Parsons)
The List
Glasgow's premier country-rock purists... they sure do their thing in a way Hank Williams would approve.
David Belcher. The Herald
Pure authentic country... well worth searching out.
Country Music International
These Sweethearts prove that you needn't hail from Nashville to put out good country music
Jeffrey B. Remz Country Standard Time (USA)
Radio Sweethearts deliver a healthy dose of gut-wrenching singing, songwriting and flat out honky-tonking.
Sing Out! (USA)
At last a country-rock band that can 'do it'... and they're not from America.
Chris Hopkins. Country Gold
six guys who have country soul evident in their picking, singing and writing... Glasgow's Radio Sweethearts are destined to be the nation's sweethearts.
Pete Smith, Country Music Round-Up
...playing country like they were born with broken hearts and bad livers... a welcome addition to any country fan's collection.
Erik Fossen. Off Beat (USA)
A symphony of straight ahead, washed in the blood country.
Lawrence Kay. KALX California
Radio Sweethearts have as much appreciation and respect for the Gram Parsons musical ethic as anyone.
Rob Bleetstein Gavin Magazine
Gram would have loved it!! Thanks for the real country.
Phil Kaufman (Road Mangler Deluxe) and friend of Gram
Who better than Glasgow's Radio Sweethearts to add a dash of indie passion to Nashville professionalism. New Memories.. is indeed fresh and memorable. A strong debut.
Sid Griffin. Q Magazine
I am confident that if you listen to any two tracks you will want to add this release to your collection.
Ian McQueen Country Music News & Routes
They sound like they really come from Nashville...understated, yearning and timeless.
Katrina Dixon. The Scotsman
Their songwriting is sometimes good enough to outshine the Gram Parsons comparisons.
Mark Blake. Mojo
An immaculately played set of straight, no frills country.
Go! magazine
As twangtastically yodelsome as the best that Nashville has to offer and about a million times hipper to boot.
Hector McKenzie. Caithness Courier
This band from Scotland have captured the essence of the burgeoning alt.country scene... it is apparent that they have an incredible knowledge of traditional country and roots music that they apply honestly to their own sound.
Billy Block. Host / Producer of 'The Western Beats Revival' Nashville, TN
If you hanker after great vibes, great beer and great music then check out the Radio Sweethearts regular slot.
The List
Now Scotland appears to have a band with the songs, performance and musicianship to stand alongside the best of the Americans... Hear them once and the tunes stay in your head for days.
Colin Sommerville. Evening News
If there is a better male country singer around in Scotland right now, I'd like to hear him.
Kenny Mathieson. The List
That cool drink of water in a desert of unremarkable twaddle... they are so great I can hardly stand it.
Lindsay Hutton. NBT
Their reversion to the one true path actually sounds a lot fresher and way more interesting than much of the newly minted, super slick production line fodder coming out of Nashville these days.
The List
(Radio Sweethearts) have a really impressive style, mixing the old and new country together in one package.
Stewart Fenwick. Country Music People
home - history - profiles - discography - soundclips - contact - live - links - news - club -new lyrics / guitar tab page - where to buy "Lonesome Blue"
