WEAVER HAWKINS Slow Rider
****
An incisive debut from a new homegrown talent.
It's easy to be complacent when yet another independent CD by a domestic artist comes through the door, but this mellow, thoughtful debut set from British singer-songwriter Weaver Hawkins is the best offering to have landed on my doormat for a good while.
Having started out with early '90s band We'll Always Have Paris (he played guitar on their long-deleted 1993 four-track ep Something's Going On), Hawkins is better-known as half of country-bluegrass duo Hicksville, who have played at the Brixton Windmill often and also appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival. This laid-back, 10-song acoustic solo debut finds him in fine form as a musician, as he accompanies his Dylan-Stevens-Prine vocal hybrid on guitar, mandolin and harmonica, while adding his own cool backing vocals. But it's as a lyricist that Hawkins really shines, his wide, unashamedly nostalgic, observational net taking in everything from heartbreak and parenthood to firm friendship and, not least, anger and despair at those who rule over us.
Saturday Night is perhaps the album's most obvious highlight, although by no means its only one. It's the only song here to have been previously performed by Hicksville, this superior remake pairing guitar, mandolin and delicate backing vocals in an affectionate, wistful reminiscence of high times with mates long gone. Its references to friends who have already got kids of their own dovetails nicely with the tender Winter Song, a gentle reflection that contrasts the uncertainty of financial hardship with the joy of knowing there's a baby on the way. No Kiss Goodnight, featuring backing vocals from Hawkins' former Hicksville partner Rob Mills, uses soft guitar picking to chronicle the anger and powerlessness of discovering a lover has transferred their affections to another, and features some nice mandolin passages in the middle section, while the slightly pop-oriented Bobby and Me once again opts for nostalgia, using delicate minor chords and a plaintive but catchy chorus to recall a good friend who has moved on. Again, there are some nice mandolin touches in the closing bars - it's the best cut here. The mood of Help Us If You can is markedly different from that of the rest of the album. It's a scathing indictment of greedy politicians and the lot of mankind, a study in disillusionment of a world that's running down and hasn't long to go ('See the broken down people living in a broken down land, Some say it's the work of God, but I know it's the work of man'). Feistily strummed guitar and ghostly, distant harp drive the point home. Following closely on its heels is the slightly uptempo Part of Me, which returns to the theme of parenthood. It's a sensitive, essential life study that uses wonderful lyrical imagery to paint a picture of the joy of having kids and, along with the abovementioned Help Us If You Can and the lovely Bobby and Me, is one of the album's crowning features. Boasting skilfull musicianship and top song craftsmanship, Slower Rider is a worthy addition to any serious country/folk fan's collection.
Check it out asap.
Jeremy Isaac• Taken from www.maverick-country.com/ with thanks
Weaver Hawkins "Slow Rider" (Lonesome Shoes Recording 2005)
A member of country bluegrass duo, Hicksville, Hawkins has released a record that sounds as if it was recorded in a mountain cabin, late at night. Essentially a one man album, Hawkins plays guitar, mandolin, banjo, percussion, sings and composed all of the songs. Fellow Hicksvillian Rob Mills adds harmonies on one song. With vocals at times reminiscent of stalwarts like John Prine and Vic Chesnutt, Hawkins has penned a series of affecting vignettes, with some interesting lyrics and a warm laidback acoustic setting. Starting off with harmonica, opening song "Caroline" heads off with guitar and mandolin strumming away reminding me of Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance. This and "I'll Be On My way" are the jauntiest songs here with the latter having a great refrain in the grand folk tradition. Many of the songs are about relationships and parenthood, some happy and loving, others bitter. Moving from the aching tenderness of "Part of Me" to the anger of "No Kiss Goodnight" Hawkins essentially paints a portrait of love and loss, the melancholic "Saturday Night" and "Tomorrow (She'll Be Gone)" are particularly effective. The mood is broken however by "Help Us if You Can", a song about the unwillingness of politicians to address poverty and helplessness. Overall this is a very nice album, best parked in that corner marked folkie singer songwriter. PK (7/10)
• Taken from www.americana-uk.com with thanks
WEAVER HAWKINS Slow Rider (Lonesome Shoe)
South London duo Hicksville were one of the unexpected highlights of the 2003 Cambridge Folk Festival, with their rootsy backporch Americana. However, apparently unable to consolidate on this success, they now appear to have reached that fork in the road, where each is unto his own.
If you hadn't read what I've just told you, chances are you'd assume that Slow Rider was the work of some struggling folky-cum-barhop from the smallest Smalltown in the Texas Hill Country, so pure is it in its unaffected rustic beauty. Just a parched, occasionally straining, voice over the simplest guitar and mandolin backing, stumbling like a mule on a rocky road. Unsure, yet dedicated in the delivery of a collection of the most striking songs of life, love, loss and longing.
Recorded in a cabin in the middle of the night - and it shows! - it's very possbile that Hawkins will never be able create anything this magical again. But create he must. And you know? I think he just might.
Bruce Hornsey• Taken from www.mulefreedom.demon.co.uk with thanks