Will Kimbrough
Sideshow Love
Daphne Records
The incredibly busy Kimbrough – of Willie Sugarcapps and Daddy fame – found time to create his sixth solo album, and it’s a doozy. Some songwriters pen songs, Will Kimbrough captures moods. From the opener, “When Your Loving Comes Around”, a relentless Tony Joe White vibe of a song that rides the drums of Paul Griffith with spare chords from Kimbrough, to the 1920s jazz feel of “Home Economics”, every cut here is a testament to the taste, clever wordplay and stellar instrumental skills that Kimbrough has in spades.
As you might figure for a guy who was born in Mobile, Alabama, this is songwriting, southern style. Will has performed with everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider and many more, and has a great easy-going, never hurried manner. “Soulfully” sounds like an early Sunday morning, while the hauntingly confessional “I Want Too Much” is a late-night Saturday evening avowal of those impulses that few give words to. The light-hearted “Dance Like Grownups Dance” features a great slide guitar part while Neil Young-flavored “I Can Count On You” is starkly beautiful, a measured fingerpicked guitar that casts a somber note.
Will Kimbrough has been a force in roots/folk/country scene since his early days in Will and the Bushmen back in the 1990s, and Sideshow Love continues his run of great albums. One of these days he’s gonna be a hit, and this is a fine example of one of those records that compels deeper listening. Discover Will Kimbrough before the rest of the world, and you can say you knew him before somebody takes one of his songs to the top of the charts. Trust me on that.
Will Kimbrough: http://www.willkimbrough.com
