Western Reserve by Howard Simon is a thoughtful record from an artist with some recent background worth mentioning because of how his songwriting has evolved into more uplifting stories and themes with more characters. The view and concept of one of the songs involved an assignment given to Simon by Shawn Colvin at a guitar and songwriting workshop in New York. The songs vary in style within the classic and modern realms of folk, pop, gospel and even the blues. This combo renders the overall style to be that of a holy blues in-essence.
Going from straight folk to a more diversified style isn’t easy but he makes it look that way. What you won’t get is the difference in how these songs stand apart from one another as opposed to his previous works. But that isn’t evident at first when the album begins with “However You Can” sounding more typical of his categorization because it sticks to his usual formatting. But “Western Reserve” being the title cut and coming in so soon on the track list, signs of musical growth immediately begin to show on this big number.
BANDCAMP: https://howardsimon.bandcamp.com/album/western-reserve
“Never Going Home” continues to show where it appears Simon’s musical direction is going, regardless of where that is. You’re captivated and not analyzing anything about it by this time and it comes on strong very early and doesn’t stop until the tenth number. “Lost And Found” is definitely a moment where things pick up and you’re into every voice, word and piece of music you’re hearing. There really is no turning back after this song.
The words take on more incendiary shape with “Tend The Fire” being the Shawn Colvin influence mentioned, and it’s also probably the best overall cut on the album. It’s worth the price of admission.
These songs all have something different about them, but they also belong on the same album together, with inspiration from great songwriters like Bob Dylan, James Taylor and CSNY. “Don’t Keep Me Waiting” has the West Coast vibe written all over it. It’s hard to get out of your head once you’ve heard this music, and that is the mark of any great songwriter.
Jodi Marxbury