Album Review: Lincoln Durham - The Shovel vs the Howling Bones (Rayburn Publishing)

It does appear strange that the name of two beautiful cathedral cites in England should be associated with such full-blooded and authentic American music. Lincoln Durham's gritty vocal and determined guitar style dominates the eleven self-penned songs on this his debut full length album. Following hot on the heels of his initial self-titled four song EP (2010), which contained Living This Hard, Georgia Lee, How Does a Crow Fly and Reckoning Lament, all of which appear once again here, the debut album elaborates on something we already know, that Durham is a force to be reckoned with.   

With a voice that would equally suit the front person of a full-on rock band, Lincoln Durham's appeal lies in the earthiness of his lyrics and the authenticity of his guitar style, surprising really, in view of the fact that Durham's beginnings in music was as a promising fiddle player, winning the Texas State Youth Fiddle Championship at the tender age of ten. The songs on THE SHOVEL Vs the HOWLING BONES couldn't be further from those initial musical endeavours. Georgia Lee wouldn't be out of place on one of Free's early albums, with Durham performing with a vocal not dissimilar from Paul Rodgers.

Durham's mentor Ray Wylie Hubbard seems to have identified a more suitable lineage, claiming that Durham comes from the same musical gene pool as Townes Van Zandt and Son House. Listening to the blues-drenched and pulsating opener Drifting Wood through to the ode-to-the-road ballad Trucker's Love Song, featuring some empathetic backing vocals by the flame-haired Texan singer Idgy Vaughan, it is apparent that each song is delivered with the same sort of gutsy approach of a seasoned bluesman.