Paul Metsa
"Texas In The Twilight"
by Johanna J. Bodde
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"Giving voice to those who don't often have one", explains singer-songwriter Paul Metsa (The Pitbull of Folk) from Minneapolis his dedication over the past twenty-five years. Rummaging in a drawer he found the cassette, the only existing one, containing a natural session from 1990, recorded in a studio during his visit to Austin, without the intent to ever release it as an album. Songs from his debut "Paper Tigers" were featured and others, in the planning for "Whistling Past The Graveyard", even a few songs that never appeared on any album. The idea to use this recording for a CD to celebrate his jubilee, popped up spontaneously. Tom Garneau worked miracles while mastering that old tape, the artwork came from a small painting, found in a packing trunk from 1880 and then the CD "Texas In The Twilight" was born! We hear a man and his acoustic guitar (a 1955 Martin D-28), on two tracks Booka Michel joins in with has castanets and bongos. The fifteen songs are performed with intensity and a lot of inspiration, by a voice with raggedy edges, folk regularly rubbing against blues. Paul is a big admirer of Woody Guthrie and his influence is very clear, but the stories of the iron worker who got fired, the young criminals, the Vietnam veteran in the junkyard and various other people whose life is far from easy, are also reminiscent of an early Bruce Springsteen. Recommended to the music lover who appreciates good, sometimes complex lyrics featuring metaphors as well as street poetry. A gem that grows upon you. --- Written by Johanna J. Bodde, Dutch original of this review previously published on Real Roots Cafe, The Netherlands. ===== |
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