With no nasty knots to untie, Fine Lines join all the dots, for a perfect spread of country and north-western.

CELEBRATE!

As folk like me struggle to come up with an acceptable collective noun to describe homespun country music, from these islands, rather than anywhere less sceptred across the pond, let’s hold that thought and simply celebrate the sound of Fine Lines. Who, you say and I say keep up! For this is album number 4, and, in the years since 2017, they have built up a healthy following, in no small part down to live performance.

POLISHED PRACTITIONERS ALL

Perhaps unfairly, they often get mention courtesy the involvement of radio’s Mark Radcliffe, previously their drummer, and still having a hand in songwriting, but that takes two things away from them. Firstly, David Boardman and the rest of the band are polished and stirling advocates of, let’s say the word, americana, and adept practitioners across the varied strands that description can encompass. And secondly, FWIW, Radcliffe is so much more than just a DJ, as his many and varied other musical forays can demonstrate.

Each of the 6 musicians weigh in equally, dependent on the need, with keyboards and fiddle to round out the guitars, bass and drums, with lead vocals shared between Boardman and Helen Walford. Each are competent at taking the lead, yet better still when in harmony. For reference, Boardman plays also the guitars, with Emily Doggett on fiddle, Gary O’Brien on keys, Jim Broughton on bass and the drums of Emily Bailey. Additional textures of dobro and steel come from a guesting Toby Wilson.

A WIDESCREEN SMILE

A jangle of guitars and a swirl of organ opens proceedings, before a sawing fiddle ushers in Walford’s vocal, for Seven Wonders. She has the same touch of delectable brittle as had Dolly Parton, if without the warble. It is Doggett’s harmonies that arrive first, with some unexpectedly macho electric guitar searing in for the second verse. It is a grand start, the separate textures building a widescreen of individual textures. By the halfway mark, you should be smiling, tapping your feet and singing along with the ‘nananana‘ refrain. With an obligatory key change for the close, it’s a keeper.

Dialling down, Boardman takes a doleful lead for Giving It All. Initially just his languid acoustic strum and some affecting dobro, but as Walford takes over the microphone, piano tinkles in. The build is progressive and nuanced, moving to joint vocals, with Wilson swapping to steel as the rhythm guys enter. Textbook country, there is a sense of familiarity about this new song, via the construction, that just shouts a comfortable reliability. None Of Us is then a Walford helmed ballad that errs on the side of weepy, offering more, however, with a message of hope. I note this, and the opener, each had the hand of Radcliffe in the writing, alongside Boardman. (In fact, Boardman is the lead songwriter for all but one of these 10 tracks.) A delicious guitar solo seals the deal of this 3rd number, which has more than a whiff of anthem about it.

AN ABSOLUTE RINGER-DINGER

Trying to appeal to all the many tastes and flavours of country is clearly important to the band, and the Nashville-lite country pop of Hey, Come On doesn’t ring quite true, at least in the context of the songs thus far. “Hey, something there for everyone, …….songs that everyone can sing,” underlines the hoped for inclusivity, and, however good is the fiddle part, and it is, I can do without the clap happy percussion. To be fair, mind, without those drums, and in a live context, I can see it being a belter. Out Of Time, praise be, is then there to follow, the single, an absolute ringer-dinger of a song, which swiftly expunges any left-over saccharine. A lesson in how to put together 3 1/2 minutes of frothy commercial country-rock, it is wonderful, with the Tom Petty/Heartbreakers style keys integral to the whole.

Does Who’s Up There (With The Light On) refer to a higher power? I rather think it does, and, by channeling more tropes of classic country, chapel organ, rolling piano and mournful fiddle, I can enjoy that metaphor, which, in any other genre, might be of a lesser appeal. Followed by the acoustic dobro and guitar duet of The Love We Have Tonight, this is perhaps the peak harmonising opportunity, the smoother Boardman offset by the slightly acid tang of Walford. and if that sounds uncomfortable, think salt and vinegar, which should put it right. A cuddle your partner hard song, as the song goes down over an outside stage, it’s lovely.

A BOX-TICKING DOOZY

The Lie Of The Land is a lighter song that has me imagining a line-dance, which I accept may be my problem, given my agnosticism thereto. It is brusque, brisk song that bounds along, so I should probably keep my prejudices to myself, not least as it has the best steel on the album. Coming Home ticks all the boxes that such a title should, a bittersweet ballad that, hurrah, mentions the Great North Road over any transatlantic highway. In fact, as it unwraps, it is very redolent of the sort of song that Alan Tyler could pump out for the late lamented Rockingbirds. And that’s praise indeed, and it is an absolute doozy.

Do we really need another version of I Shall Be Released, was my first reaction to seeing this Dylan song down as the closer. And, actually, you know, I think we might need this one. The band make little secret of their allegiance to the Band, amongst their other influences, and here, probably unsurprisingly, the 2 keyboard arrangement smacks of the Big Pink musicmakers. But Walford attaches a whole different sort of wearied acceptance as ever did Richard Manuel, his vocal, unarguably, the definitive iteration of the classic. So that’s a yes from me, it also providing an ability to chill down and reflect on the 9 songs preceding.

IN FINE FETTLE

An album that is 80% precision is rare, and my misgivings over the other 20% seem almost insubstantial in hindsight, with increasing familiarity. Boardman is a more than competent songwriter, and, whether writing with Radcliffe, Walford, Tom Fordyce or Craig White, all here represented, there is a certain credible seamlessness about the set. The playing is superb and UK country music remains in fine fettle.

Here’s opening track, Seven Wonders, which is as good an encapsulation as any:

Fine Lines: Website

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