The Ghost in the Choir

Album Review

If quiet is the new loud, and folk is the new punk, then alt-country is the new revolution, with CDs galore. So many artists are suddenly discovering the pleasures of country music, 30 years after Nashville abandoned any taste! Harrington is not one of the new bandwagon purveyors, however. He is better known for his Orange County band, Cowboy Buddha, which has been combining his love for punk rock and roots music for years, on several LPs and EPs like the enjoyable Cement Pond. One, however, begins to think his OC coffee house work and his solo LPs are his true love, however, judging from Eyes on Fire & Knuckles Sore, and now this, The Ghost in the Choir, both for Lopie. It brings us back to the old "country punk" (misnamed, actually) of the early '80s, like Rank and File and Dwight Yoakam. That is to say he's got a great way of making the old west sound new, with songs that remind as much of Richard Buckner or Muswell Hillbillies Ray Davies as the new Gram Parsons school of charm. Too indie rock to be pure country, and too Americana to be indie college radio fodder, Harrington writes sleeve-tugging little tunes like "And It Strikes Me Like" and Big Dumb Luck" that show real talent and heart, even in this suddenly crowded field. Betcha he's got more for us, too, and will still be doing this when it gets less fashionable. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide