Hailing from Vancouver, Canada this roots quartet brings with Lay you Down a worthy successor to their debut, My Old Friend. Front men Jonas Schandel & Matt Bryant successful blend their voices with the music created by them and  rest of the band  into yet another great album.

The first notes on Lay Downsounds like they are taken straight from the score of Paris, Texas.  However once The death of me sets in, the tone changes towards something that comes with the same beauty of Sixteen Horsepowe mixed some southern style Hammond B3-organ. On Brown Stone road the band veers away from the roots rock territory ofThe death of me and takes a look into old time, string-band music.  In contradiction to Under the rocks and stones, Brown Stone road is a nice up tempo country-roots tune.  The first airs a brilliant mix of old time instruments mixed with the more commercial sounds of Americana. Although it misses the mystery of the aforementioned Sixteen Horsepower, the atmosphere in some of their tracks is often pretty much the same. Fred Eaglesmith’s Freight Train is nice rendition and comes with the good sounding lyrics we know from Eaglesmith.  “I whish a I was a diesel locomotive, I came whistling down your tracks”, Is still a great way to introduce yourself to a woman, don’t you think.  Finger picking their guitars and banjos, accompanied by accordion, bass, organ, mandolin, drums and beautiful harmonies this band oozes some class that is hard to find. On The Drifter they owe as much to CSN&Y as they do to The Dire Straits. Still their music is still roots rock and although they are occasional wondering in folk territory the majority of their tunes breath country and related genres!  On Never Going Back they once more emphasize this statement with another great country track.

For each of you that wasn’t confirmed yet after listening to “My Old Friend”, Lay Down is here to proof you where wrong.  The beautifully created sounds and lyrics on this album are a testament of their taste and if you share the same taste as these guys then there is no doubt that you must have some class as well!

Mr Blue Boogie