LOWER ALABAMA: THE LOXLEY SESSIONS (LP)

Vinyl LP pressing. Edward David Anderson returns with his second solo album, Lower Alabama: The Loxley Sessions. The nine-track effort is the most stripped-down and roots-based album to date by Anderson who's also known for his work with the late great midwest rock band Backyard Tire Fire. To capture the songs and sounds he was hearing this time around, he recruited producer Anthony Crawford - former Neil Young and Steve Winwood band mate and current member of Alabama alt-country band, Willie Sugarcapps. Together they'd work at Crawford's Admiral Bean studio in the rural town of Loxley, Alabama, close to the Gulf Coast where Anderson, a Bloomington, Illinois native, spends his winters writing and performing. The resulting collection floats melodiously on rivers of fiddle and clouds of pedal steel, on gentle acoustic guitars and hints of piano, dusted with some ghostly guitar from Will Kimbrough and striking vocal harmony from Crawford's wife, singer Savana Lee. Listen to the opening strains of "Firefly" and be transported to a lonesome highway, the endless fields stretching out ahead.