Joe Whyte "Devil in the Details" (Bridge & Tunnel Records, 2007)

Surprisingly good

On first hearing ‘Devil in the Details’ I thought I had been landed with yet another clichéd, boring Americana artist. However, after numerous listens, there is a hidden quality to the album to be found. Joe manages to portray warmth in his songs that really hits you hard, and its hard not to feel just a little melancholic when you hear his voice soar.

Musically, the album is perfect. The title track is just beautiful – the slow tempo is accompanied perfectly by lap steel, and the whole song is well arranged. On the other side, ‘Linden to L.A.’ is a quick-tempo song; I dare you to listen to it and not let your foot start tapping. ‘Out of tune’ is again so fantastically arranged, and Joe’s voice is really let to work on this song.

The bad points? Not many. At times his lyrics do tend to be a bit clichéd, yet I think with work he can improve them. My other gripe is that all the songs are a bit too similar – it would be nice to hear him really experiment a bit more with the Americana genre, I think with his talent for song writing he could really get some good results.

Date review added:  Thursday, May 08, 2008
Reviewer:  Aled Roberts
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Artists website