Leave this long-haired country boy alone

Ahhh. Day's over and I'm sitting here as my wife indulges in a bout of ironing. She would hate if she knew that I'm writing about it, tee hee. Anyway, not much to say, except that there's a CD I wanted to pimp despite the fact that its lyrics have got to range among the dodgiest I have had the privilege of coming across in a lifetime's musicianship. Okay, they're not as bad as those written by a Romanian(I think) producer I once did some work for. Then again, this particular guy literally spoke no English (part of the reason he hired me). That didn't stop him writing songs, though - oh no; his "lyrricks" were cobbled together by the simple expedient of lining up random words and phrases he a) assumed were English and b) had picked up off other people's songs/newspaper clippings/"Denglish" advertising garble. Oh, how I wish I had kept some of his oeuvre for posterity now - alas, I was young and foolish and didn't recognise the kind of greatness which I now so treasure...

(all images courtesy of www.kashew.com)

Anyway. The CD whose virtues I wish to praise today was recorded by my good friend and fellow drummer Markus Kern a.k.a. KaShew. Please don't ask me what the spelling's all about or what the name means (else I might ruin the pimping bit by spouting a load of derisive tripe about well-meaning Denglishers) - what it is is a German country CD featuring the incredible PatMcGrath and a few other Nashville,TN, studio stalwarts. In fact, Nashville is where part of the CD was recorded, and the influence is clearly audible. So, what does good ol' boy charm and slide guitar playing do for German music? Quite a lot, in fact. Markus, who has spent most of his previous musical career playing with metal/hard rock bands ("teenagers banging bits of garden furniture together," as the wonderful Jeremy Clarkson put it), seems to have had a bit of a change of heart and has ventured out from behind the drum kit to record his first solo album with the help of a bunch of German and American buddies. And I must say, at least in this jaded lil' know-it-all's ears, the results sound really rather tasty. The singing has shades of Cash or Daniels in there somewhere, while the playing is fun in a distinctly two-step-ish, howdy-yeaawwl, sort of way. I like it! And so, I think, will you. So - go chekk it out! I'll say it again (a first, I think) - www.kashew.com has the country-flavoured, mellow-hued-if-a-little-odd-shaped bomb. Yeehaw!