• Album Review – Mark Lennon – Down the Mountain – (Vagabonds Tune Records)

    www.CountryMusicPride.com Posted On September 2, 2009
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    Jim Simpson | CountryMusicPride.com

    Atlanta, GA — At first glance, there’s nothing special about Mark Lennon. He’s the guy next door, the laid-back neighbor strumming his guitar on the back porch while sipping a cold drink. He’s not flashy, but then again he doesn’t have to be. Just listen to his music and you’ll realize he’s a savvy musician speaking simple, honest truths.

    Lennon’s third album, Down the Mountain (a stripped-down production and rather short at only seven songs), opens with the title track, his comfortable vocals gliding effortlessly around a swirling Hammond organ and whipsmart pedal steel and acoustic guitars, inviting us to check out a view of life from a different perspective.

    Reinforcing this sense of place, “My Hometown” stresses the importance of retaining within your heart that burning light of home, the territory and loved ones that define and shape you, no matter how far from home you stray. Throughout the song, Lennon’s voice drips with longing.

    A North Carolina native living in Los Angeles for the past seven years, Lennon has adopted the easy style of Southern California country-rock singer/songwriters while retaining his small-town roots from a place which he refers to as a “speck-on-the-map” town.

    Just when you think this album can’t get any better, there’s “Wildside”, a gorgeous duet with Simone Stevens, who has been rightfully compared to Emmylou Harris at her best. The song (co-written by Lennon/Stevens) begins with an unexpected muted trumpet…

    Trot on over to CountryMusicPride.com to read the rest




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