EDDY MORTON – Rainbow Man (New Mountain Music NMM 2015/2)

Rainbow ManRainbow Man is Eddy Morton’s fourth solo album since the demise of The Bushburys and it finds him cast in the role of neo-sixties troubadour. Heaven knows there is plenty of scope for sharp song writing.

The title track is resolutely American and inspired by real people. Eddy does a great accent, an amalgam of mid-West and West Midlands, and as I played the album for the first time I heard more Americanisms than are actually present. That may have something to do with ‘Emily’ which can trace its lineage back to 1965.

After ‘Rainbow Man’ come three songs that address our current situation. ‘The Battle For Stourbridge’ – where Eddy lives – is in part a tribute to the working narrow-boats that crossed the country from Liverpool to Boston. Beneath that is a song that will resonate all over the country about the fight between people who know what they want and the bureaucracy that tells them otherwise. ‘In London Town’ is a classic contrast between a “have” and a “have-not” and ‘This Is War In Any Other Name’ covers just about every other obscenity committed by this government.

It’s not all political diatribes, though. There are reflective songs on episodes of life; songs like ‘When The Circus Comes To Town’ and ‘On The Journey From The Schoolhouse’ and meditative pieces like ‘When I’m Gone’ and ‘Angels Never Cry’. Eddy’s band includes Andy Jones on fiddle and Trevor Spinks on Dobro, providing the Americana with Aidan O’Brien’s uilleann pipes used sparingly but to great effect and a guest appearance by rising star Sunjay.

This is a record to groove along with. I think Eddy has done it again.

Dai Jeffries