Steve Adams & the Tangled Party
Steve Adams & the Tangled Party
(2017, Rink)
It was well worth the 15-year wait for Berkshirite Steve Adams’s sophomore album, featuring a dozen of his mature, well-crafted, rootsy, hook-laden folk-rock tunes. His catchy melodies, gritty vocals, jangly guitars, and deft wordplay instantly recall Elvis Costello by way of John Wesley Harding; at his most naked and earnest, one can hear traces of Rick Danko’s vulnerability. The members of the Tangled Party comprise an all-star crew of Berkshire talent, including keyboardist Rob Putnam, bassists Jon Suters and Jody Lampro, and Adams’s brother Pete, whose pedal-steel guitar lends the entire effort a Nashville accent. Adams himself handles acoustic guitar and drums, and one suspects that his instrumental pedigree for hitting the skins is responsible for the inherent rhythmic logic of his compositions. And a shout-out to Will Schillinger, who produced the album with Adams, helping to capture the earthy, organic, good-time vibe of the band’s interplay.
This article appears in May 2018.
