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KASEY ANDERSON
The Reckoning
(Terra Soul)

(NODEPRESSION.NET) -- Kasey Anderson's sophomore effort delivers on the promise of 2004's Eric Ambel-produced Dead Roses -- and then some. A versatile and confident songwriter and singer, Anderson nails these hard-luck tales with grit and gumption. He blends clever barroom rave-ups like "Wake Up" and "Hometown Boys" with more complicated fare such as the title track, a raw politically charged dirge that opens the disc. Other notable tracks include the piano-and-feedback-driven "You Don't Live Here Anymore" and the fully-realized character sketch "Buddy Bolden's Blues" (with Ambel on trumpet). Keith Christopher (one of Ambel's cohorts in the Yayhoos) and Catherine Popper (formerly of Hem and Ryan Adams' Cardinals) also contribute, but Anderson himself is front and center.

-- ANDY TURNER
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Andy Turner.