RONNIE FAUSS - Mulligan

Ronnie Fauss is a singer-songwriter from Dallas, with a couple of EPs to his name straddling folk songwriting ("I Can't Make You Happy") and alt-country ("New Songs For The Old Frontier").

While the first two releases are very interesting and show an artist deeply rooted in the broad tradition of American country-rock songwriting (be sure to check out at least the two opening tracks, "The Saddest Love That's Ever Been Made" and "I Can't Make You Happy": heartfelt, sincere ballads sung with deep conviction), with his third short release in two years, simply titled "Mulligan", Fauss broadens the sonic range of his music, moving closer to classic rock with results that are far from negligible.

Uptempo tracks with a rather raw, essential sound such as "To Ease My Mind" or "It's A Long, Long Way", with an almost honky-tonk piano and the telecaster taking center stage, could have been written today just as easily as in the roaring years of rock and roll. "Tia Maria" too, both in its subject matter and its troubadour-like pace, ties back directly to country rock of old. Only with "Wish", the simplest and most direct track of the batch, do the sounds of his earlier work resurface forcefully, thanks to a soft mandolin accompanying a smooth, linear melody, showing Fauss's ability to master classic, no-frills lyrics and arrangements while managing to avoid the genre's worn-out clichés.

"Mulligan" thus succeeds, in the short span of just six tracks, in showcasing Ronnie Fauss's remarkable songwriting skills and his excellent versatility. At this point, all that's left to do is wait for him to face a more demanding test soon.

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21/12/2010