W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Margo Cilker – Valley Of Heart’s Delight From the moment this album was released I knew that it would be a top 10 finisher when all was said and done at the end of the year.  What I didn’t initially expect was for it to be my top dog, but god damn, it has just kept growing and growing on me throughout the year.  But the bottom line is that start to finish this album doesn’t have a single clunker on it.  When I seriously started pondering my top 10, it dawned on me that this album has a serious (to me at least) “The Band” vibe going on.  Now that doesn’t mean I’m putting Margo in the pantheon of Levon, Rick, Garth, Richard and (unfortunately) Robbie but it does mean that she’s got a great feel for americana based music that spans all kinds of genres.  She obviously has the country thing down pat but with songs like “Keep It On A Burner” she and her band prove that they can capture that dixieland swing too.  Then you hear a song like “Sound And Fury” and it would fit perfectly on any of John Prine’s albums.  The barrel house feel on “I  Remember Carolina”, the lilting 70’s Laurel Canyon-ish “With The Middle” and of course the Dolly does zydeco inspired “Steelhead Trout” all prove that Cilker and her band have a keen understanding of the backbone of true American roots music.