Renée Wahl – Cumberland Moonshine

Listening to Renee Wahl's vocals on her debut CD "Cumberland Moonshine" definitely gives you the feeling that this would be a gal who would be a lot of fun to have a beer with. When she sings "I'm not afraid of dancing on the train tracks" in the edgy and fun Buddy Hollyesque tune "Come On Baby" you know she means it. There's a couple of beautiful ballads, "Around" and "One More To Go", some straight up honkytonk and rockabilly with "Heartbreak Thing" and the Chris Isaak cover "I'm Not Waiting", an irresistible Loretta Lynn-like song called "Roses Are Blue" that features gorgeous pedal steel guitar and lilting back-up vocals, a murder ballad with a twist in the Appalachian influenced "Keeping You For Mine", a hypnotic "girl meets vampire, girl can't resist vampire" story with eerie vocals and twangy guitar riffs in the atmospheric "Got A Feeling", and the almost indescribable musical mash-up of the country-blues meets classic R&B of the opening track "On Something New", (which features Charles Treadway of The Dynamites and his trademark, soulful B-3 organ weaving along with the finger-picked guitar riffs of Roger Prescott and Kenny Vaughan).

The sparse, stripped-down arrangements on "Cumberland Moonshine" work well with Renee Wahl's vocals which have a sweet, plaintive "girl next door" quality with just the right amount of rawness, and her excellent backing band features outstanding performances from guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart Band); Bryan Owings on drums (Emmylou Harris, Buddy & Julie Miller); Pat Bergeson on guitar & harmonica (Shelby Lynne, Lyle Lovett); Fats Kaplin on pedal steel & mandolin (Mark Knopfler, Waylon Jennings); Charles Treadway on organ (The Dynamites); Roger Prescott (who also co-wrote many of the albums songs) on guitar (Trainwreck Ghost, Texacala Jones); and Grammy winner Charlie Chadwick (who also organized the band, and acted as engineer and co-producer) serving triple duty on bass guitar. A wonderful debut from Renee Wahl and a true pleasure to listen to, highly recommended.

Produced by Renee Wahl, Charlie Chadwick and Roger Prescott

Song Titles: On Something New, Keeping You For Mine, Around, One More To Go, Under My Skin, Roses Are Blue, Heartbreak Thing, Love Won't Be Denied, Come On Baby, Got A Feeling, I'm Not Waiting, I'm A Wave