W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Sol Y Sombra- The Rose City Band (Thrill Jockey Records)

I’ve said previously that I’m a sucker for cosmic country and quite honestly they don’t come any more cosmic and country than The Rose City Band.  Their 2025 release, Sol Y Sombra which means sun and shade when translated to English is a laid back and quite a mellow offering that will take you to hiking in the desert early in the morning before the sun gets too hot.  “Lights On The Way”, the opening track of the album is one of the more upbeat tracks on the album but while it is a toe tapper it certainly isn’t what you would consider a get up and boogie kind of jaunt.  The rolling organ sounds juxtaposed with the sultry pedal steel reminds me of driving through that aforementioned desert in an early model convertible with the pedal to the floor and the hot desert breeze smashing you in the face.  Truth be told, my affinity towards cosmic country is usually a factor of my love for the sound of the pedal steel guitar and Barry Walker’s work on this album is transcendently blissful.  Be it the Buddy Cage-like escalating progressions of “Open Road” or the lamenting beauty and sadness he elicits on a tune like “Evergreen”, he pulls the melancholy of the moment together like a tube of gorilla glue.  All in all, Sol Y Sombra captures the mood and the psyche of the southwest in musical form much the way a Willy Vlautin novel does.  The two share with one another the despair of the downtrodden, the bleakness of both the landscape and of life but they also share the beauty of what lies beneath it all.