Propelled by an inebriated lightbulb moment, Delta Spirit’s Matthew Logan Vasquez gathered up a six-part supercrew with Austinites Kelsey Wilson (Wild Child), David Ramirez, Adrian Quesada, and Jason Robert Blum, plus Washington stater Noah Gundersen. Over a week in New Mexico, the assembly whipped up a warm, smoky Americana debut. The recording locale bleeds into timeworn Western takes on drunken lessons and dusty heartbreak, with high ceilings asserting a gentle reverberation of voices. Above all, camaraderie prevails on an album enlivened by count-ins and clatter. The congregation shuffles around on vocal leads, one that includes a visit from Nathaniel Rateliff (the searing “I Know”). Cohered by everybody’s seasoned status and adjacent aesthetics, 12 grab-bag tracks phase through chamber folk (“Sinking Ship”), bluesy jams (“Heatstroke”), and wounded acoustics (“Lincoln Creek”). Woven in full-hearted finger plucks, “Friends” offers a wistful campfire chorus for the multi-musician project: “It’s how it is/ Friends like this/ Are meant together.”
This article appears in September 28 • 2018.