Rocky Votolato

Editor's Review:

Closing his latest collection of songs with the line, “The sweetest remedy to ever be delivered / heaven or heavenless / we’re all headed for the same sweet darkness,” Seattle troubadour Rocky Votolato leaves a listener wondering whether Makers more addresses an awaiting higher power and what lies beyond this lifetime, or the dead ends of drowned sorrows courtesy of the whiskey that also bears the album’s name. Comparing the blissful oblivions of death and intoxication is just one way Votolato establishes himself above his fellow indie-folkies, and with Makers’ sparse musical palette, occasioned by minimal percussion, weeping pedal steel guitar, harmonica and piano, his dusty voice is left with enough elbow room to drawl beautiful, sad caveats and command your attention with merely a whisper. The tight harmonies and quick finger-picking of “Uppers Aren’t Necessary” could have slipped right off of a Simon & Garfunkel album, but more representative of Makers is Rocky’s full and smoky voice belting its lovelorn gravel in “The Night’s Disguise” (featuring some haunting guitar work from former Whiskeytown guitarist Phil Wandscher) and the sole full-band rocker, “Tennessee Train Tracks.” But whether benevolent God or demon alcohol, it all boils down to transition; moreover, that rather than the destination, it’s the journey that really matters.

– Maurice Spencer Teilmann


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Record Label Barsuk Released March 2006

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