Andy Bob Beaumont - 'Shed Songs' Review

Andy Bob Beaumont is a blues-folk based singer/songwriter from North Wales. He has played in blues bands, jug bands and as a solo... artist for many years. He is lead singer in the blues-rock band Scapegoats and a member of The Beaumont Brothers.

 
His solo music is influenced by the Delta and Country blues-men, Jug bands, and Americana. This album, together with ‘Helene’ (Scapegoats) and  ‘Live At The Crosville Club’ (The Beaumont Brothers) can be found on his Bandcamp page (andybobbeaumont.bandcamp.com). A Hard copy of this album has also been released as a digi-pack CD on the Turquoise Coal label (www.turquoisecoal.com)

I’ll be honest in saying that blues has never been my genre but to be fair I’m liking what I’m hearing here. The production is first class and the standard of these songs to me, would give any big named artist a run for their money. I love the opening chords of ‘Sail Into The Sunset’, such a great, relaxing tune that pulls you towards it from those opening chords. ‘Red To Blonde’ takes it one step further with some great sliding guitar work and is another superb relaxing tune. As this album goes on, I’m becoming more and more impressed by its sheer professionalism. The production, the tunes, it’s just great how each song flows into the next. They keep you hooked for more. Lyrically fantastic is an understatement, as many of these songs relate to real events in Andy’s life, and each song tells it’s own story. ’Fantasy World’ has some great chord changes throughout, especially in the chorus. As soon as ‘Daily Life’ starts you just know it’s going to be a great song and it also confirms what I’ve been thinking throughout this album…….there’s so many links to David Gray here, and I used to love David Gray!

The album finishes with a classic get down and blues track ‘Bearded Bard Blues’, sheer brilliance.

For me, ‘Sail Into the Sunset’ and ‘Daily Life’ made the album for me, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes their blues. It needs to be heard, and I would love to see this guy live.

Score 9/10

Reviewed by Sty

Track Listing

1 – Head Over Heels

2 – Travelling Shoes

3 – Sail Into The Sunset

4 – Red To Blonde

5 – Silver Lining

6 – Ball With No Bounce

7 – Last Cigarette

8 – Fantasy World

9 – Letters

10 – Daily Life

11 – Bearded Bard Blues