Review: Paul Reddick -- "Sugarbird"

This is Reddick's fourth cd for Northern Blues, following Rattlebag (2002) and Villanelle (2006) and Revue (2007). It is a really delicious cd. Paul Reddick's work reminds me of the great music by The Band--and this disc, like "Music From Big Pink," shines with a deeply burnished musical wisdom. The first two or three times you hear this you might not be impressed--but then when you keep listening you'll make connections and you'll see the links and you'll began to notice that there is a lot going on under there, a lot of good stuff going on. Speaking on intelligent musical types, this disc is produced by Colin Linden, who also plays guitar and contributes two of his own songs. Players here include The Band’s Garth Hudson on accordion on three tracks, LA bass player extraordinaire Hutch Hutchinson from Bonnie Raitt’s band, Nashville drummer Bryan Owings (Emmylou Harris, Shelby Lynne), and the core of Blackie & The Rodeo Kings’ rhythm section, Gary Craig (drums) and John Dymond (bass). Alternate bassist Dave Roe, from Dwight Yoakam’s band, worked with Johnny Cash for 12 years. Arrangers Chris Carmichael and Darrell Leonard are also make significant contributions on strings and horns respectively. And the songs--the songs are the best part of it all! Reddick fills out this cd with a truly Dylanesque set of songs. He is a songwriter of rare ability--he should be declared a national treasure in Canada.

A special treat--the lyrics are available at: http://www.northernblues.com/cd_sugarbird.html