Songs of the Plains by Colter Wall - Album Review

Graham Craycraft 

Colter Wall comes back with his second full length album one year after his self titled piece in 2017. Colter Wall is a Canadian born singer-songwriter who holds onto the notion that western isn’t so much a direction, but a state of mind. Wall’s Songs of the Plains was produced by Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton) through Mary’s Record Co. and distributed through Thirty Tigers. Wall is only 23 years old, but carries a voice packed with as much scar and gruff of a late time Johnny Cash. Like Cash, he has come to be known for his stories of sin, redemption, and the harshness, but beauty, of the west.

There are songs like Wild Bill Hickok and Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail which are just fun. They make your head bob and foot tap and, in the case of Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail, laugh out loud. Even though two of these songs are not original to Wall, he brings such an energy to this album that you just can’t help but smile and nod. This guy has something. Songs like Plain to see a Plainsman and Saskatchewan in 1881 rouse a feeling that most of us have had. Simple simple homesickness. We’ve all experienced it, but Wall captures it so beautifully. The simple line repeated at the beginning of each verse “let me die in the country that I love the most,” drives home the idea that no matter where you visit or travel, home is where you’re rooted, and, to Wall, where you should lay it down for good.

Wall’s sophomore album is a well produced mix of western and real country music. He borrows from the greats like the before mentioned Cash, but also Dylan, Nelson, and others. Wall says these men are what led him to write songs and not just play guitar and we are thankful for it. Each song carries a thread of cohesiveness in the guitar, harmonica, and steel lap that keep the album together. But Wall has enough flare on specific songs, whether it be up beat quick paced or more solemn ones, to make each song stand out.

Wall is a young man. He knows it. In the song The Trains are Gone, he admits that he’s seen too few setting suns. There is a struggle for young talent in any field. Many write them off because of lack of experience, and even the artists themselves will think that they don’t know enough to make something worldly or deep. Colter Wall knows he’s young and hasn’t seen as much as these seasoned writers, but he admits he is changing fast and the more he goes on the quicker the changes come. Colter Wall is not pretending to be anything he is not.

Give this album a listen and let me know what you think. I think it was excellent, and I can’t wait to keep picking it apart.