Matt Harlan
Tips and Compliments
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also available on amazon
This, “Tips and Compliments,” is the initial release from this Houston based songwriter, who is another of those fine singer/songwriters Texas seems to spawn, must be something in the water. He brought in Rich Brotherton to produce this disc of his songs, he wrote all but one and that one was co-written by him. This is a powerful introduction to this Texan who has already garnered a plethora of well-deserved accolades for his songwriting, including being a finalist on Prairie Home Companion’s national Talent Show. His songs are written with an ability to get to the point in an expressive manner that also makes for spinning a good tale. His opening cut of “Elizabethtown,” is the edgy story of watching a ‘brother’ slide into drug use. He doesn’t sugar coat the story and the effects are the family at all, he spins it straight. His songs contain those images that often stand stark naked in front of you causing you to stop and think.
He has some wonderful people playing with him on the disc; Rich Brotherton adds vocals, guitars, lap steel, mandolin, cittern and percussion; Warren Hood, fiddle; Riley Osbourn, keys; and Rankin Peters, upright and electric bass to name but a few who stand out here. A well-crafted disc that is sure to help ratchet this songwriter’s career up a hefty notch, and get him more of the audience he deserves.