Joshua Hedley – Neon Blue – Coke Clear colored LTD. (LP)

Joshua Hedley is ‘a singing professor of country & western,’
he declares on his raucous and witty new album, Neon
Blue. It might sound like a punchline, but it’s not. An ace
fiddle player, a sharp guitarist, and a singer with a granite
twang, he’s devoted his entire life to the study of this
genre. His previous records have showcased his deep
knowledge of country musics history, in particular the
beery ballads of the 1950s and ‘60s. Neon Blue, on the
other hand, examines a very different, often forsaken
era: the early 1990s. Neon Blue asks, What if that fork
had never happened? What if country kept on sounding
like country?’ Hedley finds something exciting in that old
hat-act sound, and Neon Blue plays up the excitement
of bigger-than-life choruses, the relatable emotions of
those sad-eyed ballads, and the inventiveness of the lively
production.