About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Every once in a great while an album comes along that has the potential to be truly significant to the musical landscape. "Snow," I believe, could be one of them. Richly drawn modern Americana with as much power as a "Blood on the Tracks" and as much skill as a "Wanted: The Outlaws," Kirkwood's exquisitely elegant songs touch the mind, the heart, and the spirit.

Pros

• "In Bone"
• "Box of Limes"

• "Here Comes Forever"

Cons

• None.

Description

• First solo effort for Curt Kirkwood, formerly of The Meat Puppets.
• Featuring Pete Anderson on guitar (as well as a plethora of other stringed instruments).
• Produced by Pete Anderson on Little Dog Records.

Guide Review - Curt Kirkwood - Snow

They come along every so often, in every genre, albums of music by artists which have the power and potential to really make an impact on music. Curt Kirkwood's new solo disc, "Snow," feels like that to me. Maybe it's not the next "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band," and perhaps very few people will, sadly, get a chance to hear it. But the incredible brilliance of this richly-drawn music is very hard to deny.

This is really a genre-less album, which these days tends to mean Americana - music too much itself to really belong to the corporate playlists that dominate mainstream radio. Still, there is satellite radio now, and we can but hope that this disc will grab listeners there. "Snow" is music at its most impressive - subtle, thought-provoking, fun, catchy, easy to learn to sing and yet layered with meaning calling for repeated listenings.

It's country, it's rock, it's blues, it's jazz. It's Americana, and it's beautiful.

Kirkwood made his mark on the alternative circuit with his former band, the Meat Puppets, and now it seems he's sure to make his mark on Americana. "And it seems the sweetest the sweetest things are hidden in the fire, just like snow settles on barbed wire; and we find our troubles no matter where we are, just like snow settles on barbed wire." The imagery is amazing. So is this disc.