Pete Cummins 'Crooked Highway' - Album Review

With a career stretching back almost fifty years, working with acts as disparate as Irish rock/soul outfit Granny’s Intentions, ‘60s songwriting legend Donovan and the fondly-remembered Fleadh Cowboys among many others, Pete Cummins has earned his place in Irish music history. Still performing regularly, he takes his inspiration largely from the pantheon of classic American folk, country and rock, with a clear debt to Bob Dylan in his songwriting approach. His latest solo album is a fine collection of tunes impeccably played and produced with his distinctive rough-hewn voice to the fore.
Though slightly undercooked lyrically, the opener ‘Distant Starlight’ is a lovely Blood On The Tracks-style tune with a yearning melody and a backdrop that includes pedal steel guitar. Underpinned by a light reggae beat, ‘The Gypsy Rose’ is a tribute of sorts to a regular live haunt of Cummins, while there are hints of both Gram Parsons and The Band on the nostalgic autobiographical ‘Same Old Rounds’ – which boasts a memorable, twang-filled melody. Elsewhere, ‘Mercedes Keogh’ takes things up a notch in the rock and roll stakes; ‘No Profanity Under The Roof’ works up a similarly swampy groove; and ‘Mrs Blooms Girls’ calls to mind the gritty alt. country of John Hiatt. An angry, bitter polemic against persons unknown, ‘The Harder The Rain’ recalls Warren Zevon’s ‘Lawyers Guns & Money’ in spirit and execution (“take all your money and crawl back into your hole”) while ‘No Train To Cavan’ (written by Lisa O’Neill) veers nicely into bluegrass territory.
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