Description

Andrew LeDrew’s first CD in 8 years is a real gem. A cohesive album that plays like a good read of short stories many and varied.

‘Fair Winds’ opens with the jaunty ‘Red Skies’, a wistful traditional/pub style number spun with whistle and fiddle and an invitation to come aboard for the ride.

‘Moonlight Over Cupids’ is the prettiest song Andrew has ever written and containing plenty of substance to boot. Beautiful, simple images are painted in the lyrics. Mandolin and fiddle tilt and bend while the accordion carries the melody. Andrew must have felt a lovely calm upon completion of this song about chances, beginnings, and endings. One hears the influence of Ron Hynes’ tender side and classic Elton and Bernie circa 1971-1973. It would fit snugly on ‘Tumbleweed Connection’.

‘Northern Rose’ is a country&western character-sketch song featuring a breezy banjo part dancing midst a rhythmic pop melody.

‘Brookfield Road’ delves into territory mined well by Blue Rodeo, delivering soundly in that style.

‘Random Island’ smacks of the Celtic side of Bruce Springsteen. A storyteller in a pub holding his buddies court with a tragic, heartbreaking take of love, lost, and mortality.

‘Cuckold’s Cove’ reveals a sweet melody, spare production anchored by a lyrical fiddle track complete with a gorgeous chorus awash in accordion.

‘Portuguese Whalers and the Southside Brawlers’ gives us a musical work that sways whimsically in contrast to the lyrical content. Imagine Bernie Taupin lyrics dished out by Springsteen complete with E Street Band vocal stylings.

This 10 song album closes with a subtle anthem. ‘This City’s a Legend’ is a great bookend to the opening track. Andrew sings ‘It’s been burned, it’s been broken into. You can get yourself lost in the mist in a legend like this… or you can find your way back in the arms of this place’.

These songs are about places and folks, changes and pondering thoughts with eyes, ears, and mind wide open. Andrew has matured as a vocalist, substantially more confident and at ease in delivery and approach. Well Done.