The Imperial

Where country meets soul and makes a new sweet golden sound of its own. The second album from the Delines - it took three years to finish while vocalist Amy Boon (The Damnations, TX) recovered from a bad car accident. The players are keyboard/horn player Cory Gray, pedal steel player Tucker Jackson (The Minus 5) and a bunch of Richmond Fontaine band members namely Sean Oldham, Freddie Trujillo and of course novelist Willy Vlautin. All ten tracks are written by Willy Vlautin, recorded in Portland, Oregon and produced by John Morgan Askew. A Fender Rhodes kicks in and you know you’re in a safe place. It’s lush resonant tones set the scene, a lap steel slides in to introduce a laconic but oh-so dulcet tune. Crying guitars present tales of broken hearts. Smooth soulful vocals and the sweet golden tones of a brass section complete the mellowest album this year so far.