The country stream of Americana music is certainly the one where formulas work the best with the audience the music is aimed at.
Many artists within the genre prefer to stick to any of these formulas, as it guarantees them airplay, or stream-play (preferably all forms of those), leaving it to the producers, record labels or whoever to bring them fame and fortune.
Of course, there are those that go out on a limb, putting their creativity to the forefront, with possible reception of the audience becoming an unforeseen factor.
Still, there are those that try what you might call a balancing act – keeping the formula or formulas intact, but throwing in elements that supposedly do not belong there, either musically or lyrically. Throwing musical cogs into the wheel, so to say.
Montana singer/songwriter Sean Devine shows on his latest (fourth) album Here For It All that he quite possibly belongs to the latter category of Americana music artists.
Musically, it belongs to that category that sticks to country-rock formulas known since The Byrds came up with their seminal Sweetheart of The Rodeo. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, particularly if it is played at a great level, as it is here.
Yet, where Devine really tries to modify the formula is with his storytelling capabilities, which prompted one of the reviewers to call him ‘The Bob Dylan of Montana.’
“’Here for It All’ means being here for the inevitable heartbreaks and the sorrow that will come with life, no matter what,” Devine says. “You’re not going to avoid it and you’re not going to hide from it. You have to be in this with your whole heart, right? It’s that feeling of staying open and taking the risks that really matter.”
By taking that approach Devine practically does take it all. Well, almost, but Here For It All is a great listen for Americana fans in any case.
