There's the old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover." The problem with that cliche is this: *That's what covers are there for!* Covers are there to give you some idea about what can be found inside, there to pique your curiosity...
I raised an eyebrow when I slipped Hunter Robertson's "Sings Songs for the Masses" from its envelope. Young guy, long haired, holding a baby, fuzzy focus... I estimated that I was in for a listening of homemade but uninventive folk. Something young and soft.
How (wonderfully) wrong I was. Hunter's not as young as he looks... at least not in his soul and the music is anything but soft. "Sings Songs for the Masses" is a collection of gritty americana with Robertson's skilled banjo playing as the focus. It's fairly traditional (more than half the numbers are vintage tunes) but this collection never sounds stale. Perhaps that has as much to do with Hunter's gruffy Tom Waits-like voice as it does the energy and vitality of his playing.
And it does sound vital. This isn't some stodgy, dusty recreation of old-time field recordings (if it was Robertson probably wouldn't include kazoo in the instrumentation or a greek folk song in the repertoire). Hunter brings youth and energy to these songs, which bodes well for his future outings.
