New Music/Old Music - The Cotton Jones Basket Ride/Page France

Michael Nau of Page France has already released one of 2007’s best folk record’s with his band’s …And The Family Telephone. Word going around now is that he’ll be releasing a new record in early 2008 as part of a side project called The Cotton Jones Basket Ride. The first released track:

MP3 :: Had Not A Body
(from Paranoid Cocoon)
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Which brings me to this next track. After listening to …Family Telephone so much this year I decided to go ahead and check out Page France’s prior record, Hello, Dear Wind. I was naively thinking that it wouldn’t be quite as strong as its very well-received follow up, but oh how wrong I was. Hello, Dear Wind is by far the stronger of the 2 records, as well as the more raw. Nau’s vocals are rougher, but in a good way. In fact, in a great way - he sounds more like a regular guy at a microphone after a hard day than one who‘s just sucked back a balloon’s worth of helium. He spends 14 songs dropping biblical imagery like it’s the second coming. Themes and images continually resurface, giving the record a seamless feel to go along with its whimsical folk-pop.

“Chariot” is the lead-off track and my current favorite. It makes me believe in happy endings. If you download one song all day make it this one:

MP3 :: Chariot
(from Hello, Dear Wind. Buy here)

Bonus MP3 :: Junkyard
Bonus MP3 :: Bush
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