Album Review: Ryan Sheridan, Americana

Despite it all, the romanticised image of a 'real' America has yet to fade completely from the global imagination. Whether it still exists, or ever really existed in the way we tend to think it did, is beyond the point – when you've got the undeniable power of great Americana and country music conjuring that world up for you every time you hit play.

On his new album, Co. Monaghan’s Ryan Sheridan is putting his spin on some of the songs that he feels best embody his own view of the States – a country he first experienced as a teenage dancer in Riverdance’s touring stage show. For the majority of Americana, the Irish singer-songwriter leans into his trademark high-energy approach, aiming for some dive bar grit as he covers tracks by the likes of Chris Stapleton, The Black Keys, The Lumineers, Tyler Childers, Nathaniel Rateliff and more.

The majority of his selections are contemporary, with the exception of album stand-out 'Rock Salt and Nails', written by Utah Phillips, and first released in 1961. If the strength of Sheridan's version of Phillips' song is anything to go by, Americana could have benefited from even more of a decade-spanning approach – not to mention the inclusion of some of the great Americana and country tracks penned by women, like Margo Price, Brandi Carlile, Mary Gauthier, and Lucinda Williams, to name a few.

Some bolder interpretations of the selected songs could have also elevated the project further still – but, as has always been the case with Ryan Sheridan, there's no denying the talent at play here.