That "passion" is the one thing what sets these cats apart from so much corporate radio-scarring "country" seeping forth like some vile mutation from Nashville nowadays. It's probably why I took a dislike to Martha's Trouble upon hearing no more than twenty seconds of the opening track. Images of those vulgar, obnoxious hounds I once observed prancing around to the strains of some overblown ballad on satellite television, those soulless, saccharine examples of contemporary American Country, before, thank Christ, Uncle Tupelo and so on offered an alternative, all of that stuff came back like some twisted childhood memory of physical abuse.

That kinda pish turned me off contemporary country music until a chance hearing of Hell Among The Yearlings by Gillian Welch convinced me that there was something meaningful going on in the backwoods again.

The last thing anyone needs is to have a decade of alt.country majesty wiped asunder with one ill-prepared bout of record-playing.

But Martha's Trouble, whilst sounding little like, say, The Handsome Family or Buddy And Julie Miller, are no less deserving of accolade.

A husband and wife team who have crafted a set of occasionally subtle, occasionally more immediate hook-laden songs of loss, hope and self-discovery, Martha's Trouble are worth the time it takes to set a prejudice or two aside and give it a fair shot.

Even if Rob Slocumb does look disarmingly like a young Donnie Osmond.

Puppy Love, motherfucker.

Their Slab Of Web-Net has a "music" section wherein folks can listen to a few tracks from previous records, and also the first track from Forget October (although it seems to be a streaming carry-on rather than a save-to-desktop type deal), but, as far as The Duke is concerned, Forget October works best as a whole, when melodies and hooks are permitted to creep unannounced out of the ethereal production, and I don't know that City Skyline is the best number for to demonstrate this endearing quality to the uninitiated.

Better to heed the wise words of The Duke, who has decided that for folks what are fond of the commercial country-folk shenanigans, but who have been burned on account of the vacuum existing where stuff like the "soul" and the "blood-pump" should be in most examples of such, then Forget October should prove to be a particularly worthwhile purchase. It's not gonna knock The Gilded Palace Of Sin off its pedestal on The Duke's Turntable anytime shortly, but it has managed to initiate an action what I initially assumed to be at least a mile wide of the "fetched", in that I find I'm putting it on because I want to hear it, rather than because I have to.

It's a good record, occasionally a fantastic one, and there's not a dance beat nor an electronically enhanced yodel nor a line-dancing number in sight.

Thank the sweet lord for that.

Thanks folks.

Forget October is released on October 5th 2004.

The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando

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