Our favourite Brooklynite returns, as promised, with yet another killer single

Release date: 15th September 2022

Label: Self Release

Formats: Digital

Sometimes, it just feels like Annie Keating, At The Barrier’s favourite Brooklynite, is dealing from a marked deck. Every card she plays – every song she releases – is an Ace. And Lovesick Blues, her promised follow-up single to last month’s gem, Sunshine Parade, is the latest in that game-conquering sequence.

If you’re an At The Barrier regular and you haven’t discovered Annie Keating yet, then you really haven’t been paying attention, because we’ve made no secret of our love for her gritty Americana. To recap – we first boarded the good ship Annie back in June 2021 when we were amazed and delighted by her album Bristol County Tides – still one of the best things we’ve heard over the past couple of years. Next came a couple of mouth-watering singles, the joyous, glorious Twenty-22 and the tender, reassuring Feels Like Home, both of which will be high on our list when we come to identify our favourite songs of this year. Back in April, we even managed to catch Annie at a live show, at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath, and – guess what – she was on top form! So, if you’ve not had your Annie Keating taste buds whetted so far, then I suggest you grab a slice of the action as soon as you can – and, maybe the new single, Lovesick Blues, is a great place to start.

Like her three earlier singles of 2022, Lovesick Blues is taken from the Twenty-22 Tour EP, an exclusive offering that’s only available at Annie’s live shows (I’ll come back to this subject shortly…). It’s one of her “swampy” numbers – along the lines of Blue Moon Tide from the Bristol Coun ty Tides album. Indeed, there’s a real Creedence-y feel to the song, with fuzzy guitar and swirling organ as a foundation, to which Teddy Kumpel adds some typically fine slide guitar licks. As befits the theme and the lyrical subject matter, Annie’s vocal is alternately angry and vulnerable.

I’ve already described Annie Keating as a poet and a visionary artist and those accreditations are once more in evidence in the lyrics of Lovesick Blues, which, typically, are strewn with interesting and unexpected rhymes, such as: “Changed my shirt, changed my shoes – can’t seem to get over you,” “Changed the sea, changed the view – can’t seem to shake how I feel about you” and “I can tell a good story, tell the truth – fly to Spain or Kathmandu.” It all adds up to a gritty, stewy, savoury concoction that you’ll want to hear over and over again!

And, as you may be aware, Annie will shortly be on her way back to these shores for her autumn UK tour. If you haven’t already made your plans to drop in at one of her shows, I strongly recommend you make those plans. Now. It might just be the best decision you’ll make all year.

Watch Annie and her band perform Lovesick Blues – LIVE at Colchester’s Little Rabbit Barn – during her Spring 2022 UK tour here:

Annie Keating: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube

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