Ex-Golden Rough mainman Walker is backed by a full band of buddies on his second solo album, Ashes & Wine, and sounds like someone snug in his own skin. Here he draws on his carpetbag of honky-tonk tricks (“Helpless Guy”), Stonesy strut (“Dissatisfaction”; “Letdown”) and the rough-diamond rattle of early Son Volt (“Please Save Your Tears”). Walker’s voice is equal parts whiskey and gravel?classic rawk and bottom-of-the-glass country-blues -somewhere between Jagger and Steve Earle. Expressive, literate and ballsy stuff.
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