Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs: Medicine County

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs: Medicine County
Holly Golightly was hailed the U.K’s “garage-rock queen” by Spin magazine. As a member of the all-girl garage rock group, Thee Headcoatees she made a name for herself in the native U.K. and then experienced a successful solo career, releasing upwards of eight studio albums over the last decade and a half. For her last three albums, she has teamed with the Brokeoffs. On her fourth album with the Brokeoffs, Holly Golightly moves farther away from her garage rock roots and closer to the sounds of the American South.
Medicine County was recorded in an abandoned church in rural Georgia. Perhaps it is no surprise that Golightly may no longer appeal to the fans she made in the mid-90s. “Two Left Feet” is a country rock tune featuring a male-female vocal duet. The track may exhibit some of the grittiness of Golightly’s previous work, but certainly the use of slide guitar is new into the equation. “I Can’t Lose” is a much more traditional bluegrass country song. The track feels a little like a Loretta Lynn song and contains a killer fiddle solo. “Dearly Departed” is more of the traditional country fair but for some reason it reminds me of Jenny Lewis‘ album with the Watson Twins.
For country fans, the album is probably right up their ally but for non-country fans the album offers very little. The album’s opening track “Forget It” is probably the closest to non-country the album gets. The track has almost a slow yé-yé pop style similar to something Frances Gall may have sung. But the track sticks out like a sore thumb on an album of otherwise traditionally country-styled tunes.
Overall, I am not a huge country fan but the album still did have some appeal to me. Although my favorite track is “Forget It”, the traditional country fare did get my attention and keep it for most of the album. Some of the slower songs had me wavering which is the only reason for the low rating.
Rating: 6.1/10
MP3: Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs “Forget It”
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