Today the Trex Road comes back on a road already beaten and does it with pleasure. In fact the bearded Luke Hendrickson I had already reported a few months ago talking about his beautiful debut One Night At The Crystal Lounge (https://www.trexroads.com/one-night-at-the-crystal-lounge-luke-hendrickson-2020/ ). We left it with an already mature record and played great, we find it with the ideal continuation of that road already traced. A disc of only 7 pieces but intense, evocative, melancholic and of a really remarkable emotional intensity. Luke has many different influences in his artistic background, he loved heavy metal, progressive rock (maybe he still loves them), not only folk and country, so his music leaves that feeling of original, of staff that he really likes. The album was recorded in “home”, in his Minnesota, in the Carpet Booth Studios in Rochester by Nick Hamilton, with a really great band (Charlie Burket on violin, Nate Warner on drums, Ryan Knudson on bass, John Nietz on electric guitar and Maggie Hendrickson and Samantha Gibson on backing vocals). This feeling of mixture of styles is felt for example in the third piece, the beautiful instrumental Open Seas. Sea in the background, acoustic guitar to cheer listening to the swarming of waves but it is the electric guitar to strike our thoughts along with the thunder of a thunderstorm. A short but not country-inspired piece, rock and metal often use instrumental pieces to emphasize and grasp thoughts. But the record starts with a brave piece, brave because the text is a punch in the stomach. An autobiographical story, tragic and intense, which put here at the beginning makes us immediately enter the world of a great modern poet. His voice and his guitar tell us the story of his father’s suicide, 1987, in a lucid and mature way, unanswered questions that remain to hover in this acoustic song, which the violin enriches with shivers along the back and tears. Him looking at photographs of a man who looks like him but never really knew. Mourning Doves is another poetic, evocative piece, his voice is convincing and the text so simple and true. Acoustic and electric guitar intertwined with the sound of the violin, a folk rock ballad, between the sun and the clouds. This guy has a gift as a storyteller out of the ordinary as in Homeland where he uses, with a country ballad with the sea and the violin in the background, the poetry of his friend (Victoria Ruiz) who tells us of the hope of a new homeland, the anguish left behind to seek a better life beyond the sea, beyond the ugliness of life. It’s an unconventional ballad, the guitar and the central bridge melody are original and never give you the feeling you’ve heard before. The solo then guitar-violin is exceptional. Beautiful. There isn’t a piece that lowers the intensity and interpretation of a piece by welsh singer-songwriter Josh Beddis, The Old House, proves it. The violin is like the voice, always in the foreground and the melody of this song takes the soul and the beautiful text, which tells us of the desire to rebuild an old abandoned house giving love and life, is no less. Probably a metaphorical tale with love that can reconstruct relationships and feelings that have been lost or let go to ruin. Here too the solo is a tear in the cloudy sky. Poetic and powerful. Street poetry, country music and lots of passion. This oozes from another beautiful piece, Me and Hank Williams, a dedication to the country father who inspired him, to his mother who believed in him and is in his soul, to guide him on this journey that was leaving the house and looking for luck around, to dream of being the new Hank. Rock always peeps out and makes these pieces so original, so fresh. The album ends with Chasing Ghosts, another song oscillating between the country ballad and the rock ballad, violins and electric balls. A very long piece, almost southern with that jam session soul but strongly country western, I emphasize it. Melancholic text and intense voice, the best way to finish a short work but without tension drops, without that feeling of already felt or boring. A record that likes from the first to the last second. Original and inspired, Luke Hendrickson proves to be a great artist, a poet dressed in a rocker and with a country guitar on his shoulders. Do not wait and go with him on this journey in American music and poetry, you will not be disappointed.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link : https://www.ticinonotizie.it/luke-hendrickson-a-place-to-call-our-own-2021-by-trex-roads/ )
