Search - Paul Burch, Wpa Ballclub :: Wire to Wire

"This old horse can't play favorites," croons this Nashvillian singer/songwriter wryly on the opening track of his second Checkered Past long-player. If Burch's style suggests an older country music, the magically understated sound of Jimmie Rodgers and Tex Ritter, there's not a trace of camp or retro pretension in his songs or voice. His original material shows that rare, light touch with a melodic hook and subtle instrumental arrangements. "Borrowed and Broke," for instance, rolls with pumping harmonica and snug harmonies while Paul Niehaus's steel licks percolate through the Western swing- informed "Some of These Days." There's nary a misstep in these 14 songs, a rare thing, whether in mainstream or alternative country. In the end, what's most refreshing about Wire to Wire is the way it reminds one of the inexhaustible joy and deceptively simple beauty in classic country idioms, and builds on them with the talents of a gifted, truly individual songwriter. --Roy Francis Kasten