Tom Brosseau - Cavalier

This is a review I wrote last year; but since I referenced Tom in my review on Horse Feathers I thought I would post it up here. Mostly it is a space filler as I usually don't have time to blog on the weekends. As you will read this is a great album, well worth the $10 you'll spend.

His second LP in 2007 and third in the last two years, Tom has possibly crafted his most authentic folk and introspective LP. The album was recorded in "an old stable made of brick and still the old stable smell" in Bristol England. There is nothing overly fancy on Cavalier, only ordinary folk sounds, well crafted songs and the soft, almost eerie, voice of Tom Brosseau. The LP was recorded in 7 days, yet each song is tight and concise. In the quickly evolving folk scene, where dozens of instruments are used to create idiosyncratic styles, Tom Brosseau is the puritan, a 1962 Martin guitar his pulpit and Cavalier his bible. A must for all folk music fans, particularly early Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seger.