You'd expect a guy born and raised in Newfoundland to sing about the ocean, bitter weather, and fishing. And while
Ron Hynes
has actually done the requisite time playing
folk
music of a more specifically Maritime character (one of his earlier albums was titled
Face to the Gale
, which sounds a bit more like it), his first album for Toronto's
Borealis
label squarely straddles the line between
singer/songwriter
and straight-up
country
. In fact, to American ears there's a certain Midwestern flavor to his delivery -- on occasion, such as the lovely
"From Dublin With Love,"
he sounds like no one so much as
Freedy Johnston
in his vowels and inflections. Like
Johnston
,
Hynes
is more of a songwriter than a singer, but his homely voice is just the right vehicle for the bitter
"Record Man"
(a bitter denunciation of record label execs, accompanied by a jaunty and uncredited banjo) and the excellent
"Ghost of Dana Bradley."
On other songs, you wish he'd sing with just a bit more power, or, failing that, at least a little more speed. Recommended overall. ~ Rick Anderson