Brennen Leigh – Obsessed With The West (LP)

‘I’ve been obsessed with western swing since I was a kid, and
it’s always been an influence, but my records in the past have
ranged from bluegrass to hard country to folk, So I’ve never
fully explored it.’ So says genre-busting Fargo-born, Austinincubated, Nashville resident Brennen Leigh, whose new
collaboration with the kings of modern-day western swing,
Asleep at the Wheel, Obsessed With The West (out on May
6, 2022), is a showcase not just for the Bob Wills fans, but for
anyone who’s ever curled up with Loretta Lynn, Hank Sr., Cindy
Walker, Billie Holiday, or Willie Nelson. On twelve all original
songs, Leigh’s supple winking voice and multi-instrument
fluency, her interplay with Ray Benson, and the undeniable
chops of the Wheel serve up a treat on Leigh’s seventh album.
With cameos from Emily Gimble and Katie Shore, and all the
players getting their moments in the sun, Leigh – a two-time
winner of the Texas Music Awards Best Female Vocalist award
– demonstrates on the terrific jump 40’s rhythm and blues,
‘Comin’ in Hot’ and the lonesome cowboy musing of ‘Riding
Off Onto Sunset Boulevard’ why Rodney Crowell and Lee Ann
Womack have recorded her songs. Obsessed With The West
is a celebration of music for music’s sake in 2022, not just an
exercise in looking back on times gone by.