You know the way Neil Young’s electric guitar work outs just seem to be a little too harsh…You know the way that Gram Parsons is just a tad too close to your mother’s country favorites, I said just a tad…You know the way you'd love to just knock the edges off Young’s too harsh and Parson’s a tad to mother’s country. Well, Peter Bruntnell does both and in a way that merges Parsons and Young together much like those Apple 7-inch labels did to John and Yoko’s heads in the 70s. As I watched this New Zealander, brought up in south Wales, and his band in Belfast’s Errigle Inn (part of a brilliant weekly Thursday night Real Music Club) I was thinking endless amounts of things all at once. I never knew anyone in Britain was doing the alternative country thang, never mind being as good if not better than the Whiskeytown, Wilco, and Son Volt. Was I in middle-America sinstead of Northern Ireland? Is this the dreams of my favorite musical sounds in paradigm. Yes, I was well impressed.

In his colorless brown suit Bruntnell looked older than a man who has only had three albums and only now stands on the cusp of greatness. I wondered if he was a peer of the Nick Lowes and Graham Parkers who’d gone back to his country roots after reading a No Depression magazine. We wondered indeed if lanky guitarist James Walbourne was Bruntnell’s son! Indeed Walbourne was more than a talent himself. He was gentle when necessary but when he needed to give bite he gave it with precision and passion. He rocked. His harmony vocal was vital and one of the few disappointments on the album is that his voice appears too little.

Normal For Bridgewater is the new album and made up the bulk of the second half of the show. The first half “because we don’t have enough stuff of our own” was a delightful walk through the influences. Young’s "Down By the River" was startling, never has “I shot my baby” sounded so celebratory. Parsons "Song for You" had me running back home for my Parsons back catalogue and there was a great version of "Wild Side of Life" as well as a zealous conviction on "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down." They convinced me it would!

That first half placed us in the setting. The second half was a revelation, as Bruntnell’s own songs did not find themselves out of place in such company. This man can write. "You Won’t Find Me" is the song that says we are not all losers US country singers. You won't find me in the gutter. "NFB" was explained as what is written across the rather insane folk of Somerset. The doctor writes "Normal for Bridgewater." Jimmy Webb gets a nod of appreciation in the radio friendly and a little more rocking "By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix," and Young is back in the influence credits on "Shot from a Spring" that has you peering over the wheat fields of Saskatchewan. Oh those guitar solos that never became over indulgent but sent you off in dreamscape visions of joy. Beautiful in every kind of way. Pure inspiration.

Three things to do. Buy the album. Bruntnell's album Normal For Bridgewater is available on Rykodisc. Set it among the best albums of the past ten years. Lastly, I’d sign to my label James Walbourne. There were two new stars on this stage tonight. 

Steve Stockman 3/16/2000