KIERAN KANE – SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE ROSES

Kieran Kane, the name says it all. It doesn’t say fly-by-night idol; nor is it the moniker of a bullet-riddled self-promoter; it’s not even a once-I-was-in-a-boy-band-but-now-you-should-take-me-seriously type name. It is a solid name, a name with quiet self-confidence in its ability to do what it does and do it damn well. It is a name that fears not fashion, will out-live fad, and by god, it’s a name you could take home to meet the parents! It is also a name belonging to a 60 year-old acclaimed Nashville singer/songwriter/instrumentalist. Somewhere Beyond the Roses is Kane’s first solo album since 2002, and joining him on the album is Deanna Varagona (from Lambchop) on baritone sax, Richard Bennett on  guitar, and his son Lucas Kane on percussion (daughter Lucy contributes album artwork). Homegrown and homespun,  Kane has developed a folk-blues style that draws on each of his six decades on this earth, and his use of Varagona’s saxophone and Bennett’s guitar beautifully balances with his own banjo work here. While maintaining such a simple four instrument base, the subtleties of playing and arrangement gives the album a feeling of far more complexity – there is no substitute for experience. Sometimes it’s the nature that becomes the name.

*** 1/2