Tobacco City - Horses LP

With their Souled American releases last year (and Bruce Langhorne before that) Scissor Tail Records’ reissues have become a staple around here, so figured it was worth delving into their new releases and they’re not missing of late!

In the same way that last year’s Laughing LP was a satisfying exploration of Teenage Fanclub worship, this Tobacco City LP feels like a faithful revisiting of early-1970s country of the psych- or cosmic-tinged variety. Think weaving and soaring pedal steel, hints of Judee Sill or Gene Clark but managed with just the kind of band arrangements that could be recorded in a living room (no orchestras here) and the prettiest vocal harmonies this side of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Yet while harking back to the classics, there’s no hint of any silly cowboy boot and Stetson hat dress-up style country music here, just first and foremost great songs and melodies.
-Mitch