This is the first time I have come across rancher, alt-country musician and dreamer Avery Hellman, but I certainly hope it will not be the last. In 2023, they were working on an album, podcast, and documentary on Lucinda Williams and discovered how important writing poetry was to Williams, so they decided to give it a go themselves. It was from those beginnings that an album came into being as they worked with co-writer/producer Sam Cohen and it soon became the latest release under the name Ismay.
Hellman grew up surrounded by bluegrass and country, helping out at their grandfather’s festival from the age of eight, and playing in multiple bands. This album is an 11-song suite of songs about rodeo horses, salvation, and finding yourself. Alt-country is the right description for this style of music and there is obviously a close relationship between Hellman and Cohen as the vocals are always front and centre and while the accompaniment can often feel quite sparse it is always the perfect support, and while they may come from a bluegrass background there is a strong commerciality about it all. In fact, the singer I am most reminded of is classic Suzanne Vega, although the song structures are often quite different in style, although they do flirt with pop and even rock at times. It is very much an album which has followed its own path as opposed to being shoehorned into one style or another as Hellman has just followed their muse and has gone where they have been led as opposed to attempting to drive the direction. The result is an album which is fresh, light, and thoroughly enjoyable the first time it is played, and it only gets better. For anyone who enjoys alt country, singer songwriter, or sublime female vocals.
Rating: 8/10
Links:
https://www.ismaymusic.com/
https://fossilrecordsco.com/