Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The starkness of the black and white image is always more illuminating, arguably more interesting, than the full colour expose of life, a picture or a film will always be more intriguing than the added flavour of wild and vivid colours which cloud the issue and in many respects take away from the story at hand; a tale of a returning wanderer, so long unseen, his voice missed, is one that should be loved for all its glory in the scene of black and white contrast, a view in which we can smile and rejoice as we shout out, Hey Brother.
It is in the voice of James J. Turner that we see through the black and white image, a declaration of dramatic intent coming forward, the gunslinger unholstering his guitar from its case, the itchy fingers glinting in the sun that beams down through the hot, deserted wasteland where no sound has been heard; and his belief, the music comes, not drawn and bolted like a horse that has been branded, but softly, an almost sensual caress in which the lyric and the music are as one. This is the return for James J. Turner in his new single, Hey Brother.
The problem we find when music is all consuming in our lives, that somewhere in the dust and haze, those we find exciting, those that have words tumbling out them and music in which you are pleased to be infected by, that when they ride out of town for a while, we miss them ever the more, like a sheriff who has kept law and order by wisdom and good feeling being promoted, then what remains comes out from under the darkness, out of the shadows and leaves a bad taste in your mouth; occasionally we should do more than laud the black and white expression, we should ask our brother for a hand and offer two in return.
Ahead of what is likely to be a tremendously appreciated new album, Hey Brother is a stark reminder of what has been missing, that the sheriff with his guitar had to leave the town for a while is just shy of a travesty, but the brother has returned, the guitar strings have had the dust blown off them and the scent of musical beauty is once again hanging in the air, Hey Brother, it is always good to know where he was always bound.
Ian D. Hall