ALBUM REVIEW: Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters Bring the Light on ‘Good Morning, Sunshine’

The title of Portland, Oregon-based Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters’ second album, Good Morning, Sunshine, is perfect. Like their rocking predecessors in the 1970s band Fanny, Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters deliver joyous, high-octane performances, and the 11 songs on this collection overflow with ebullience and energy.

The bright title track rocks steady with shimmering harmonies and snaking slide guitar lines; it’s an ode to the glowing rays of the morning sun as it climbs above the Columbia River Gorge, and the song’s radiant lyrics and dazzling instrumentation brighten any listener’s day. The album opens “Drunk in Ojai,” a barroom ballad that features scalding lead guitar riffs playing call-and-response with a wailing harmonica line during the instrumental bridge.

The whirling “Deep River Hollow” gallops along with a bluesy rockabilly rhythm that’s suitable for a raucous barn dance, while the slowly burning “Love is an Ember” ponders the pains, pleasures, and enduring nature of love. Southern rock, folk, bluegrass, and country — think Marshall Tucker Band meets The Chicks in a sonic confab — spiral into concentric musical circles on “Tilly Jane Ridge,” a paean to resilience after the ravages of the destruction of nature. Twirling jazz rhythms combine with hoe down fiddling on the front porch toe-tapper “Eye of the Light.” The album closes the skittering, handclapping country rocker “Don’t Leave Me Lonesome.”

Every song on Good Morning, Sunshine will have listeners up and dancing; Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters light up any room they play, and the tracks on this album capture the energy and delight of the band’s live performances.

Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters’ Good Morning, Sunshine is due out April 4, 2025 via Blackbird Records.