Endless Sky

The return of the modern troubadour.

     

In so much space as an album, Chuck Pyle proves that the concept of a storyteller still lives, its heart beating both ferociously and languid as his thumbbeat on the acoustic which sings under his hands.

Taking some deliciously wicked turns (such as the tale harking back to Paganini in Gypsy Minor) and mixing them in with both darker heartstrings (The Winter of Our Affair) and the warm pinings of the hapless romantic (Sailing), Pyle balances an evocative, expressive voice in his acoustic playing with a rugged, wise tempered voice that, in separate turns, soothes and stretches in desperation for a love unrequited.

Keeping the lyrics slightly off kilter (how many songs actually use the word 'semaphore'?), the keen listener is drawn to the threads that Pyle weaves together. Alternately tapping the gentler Western sounds of be-bop country (Rio Rey and Texas Mosey) in one moment, while exhaling a borderline new-age/western fusion in the next (Akasha Wind), the self-proclaimed Zen Cowboy never fails to entertain with his virtuosic playing, his hunker-down storytelling, and masterful composition.

And I'm sure his inner committee is certain you'll agree. :)