REVIEW
STEFF NEVERS
Closest To My Heart
One Beer A Day / Alphabet Song
/ Closest To My Heart / Party
At The Farm / He’s Not Here
Saloon / Stay For A While / Keep
It Up / Whittle Away / Higher
Ground / Merle Made Me Do It
/ Redneck Rehab / Let It Rain /
Closest To My Heart (Norwegian
Radio Version)
Producer: Steff Nevers
AGR Television Records
426001922045
45:18
Steff Nevers looks the part, sounds the part, drops names like Haggard and Jones with ease and sincerity, has cut an album that any major label Music Row star would be proud of, with top session men like Brent Mason, Paul Franklin, Eddie Bayers and Glenn Worf, sounds like he hails from Georgia, but is in fact Norwegian. Yes, you read that right - Norwegian! Born in Drammen, he grew up in Modum, Norway. Not only that, he’s made an album which actually puts the majority of Music City fodder to shame.
Recorded in Nashville and Norway (but mostly Nashville presumably), Steff shows a real talent for picking a decent song, and writes some pretty damn good tunes himself, like a more mainstream Norse Dale Watson. Among the numbers with his name on the writers credits is Merle Made Me Do It, a clever nod, not only to Merle, but also Lefty, who made Merle do it. Sung with conviction, Nevers never feels as though he’s dropping names because he ought to, I sense genuine admiration and appreciation here. Likewise, The Alphabet Song, one of two Bart Butler / Billy Yates compositions included (Bart Butler has also had a hand in a few other tracks as well), runs through names from Acuff to Watson and Webb as a way to learn your ABCs. A few letters were obviously problematic, hence the great line “Iggy Pop, no that stuff stank” sandwiched between Hank and Jones. There is also a drinking theme to several songs. The opening two-stepper, One Beer A Day “keeps the ex-wife away”, had me singing along on the first listen, Redneck Rehab cleverly likens huntin’, fishin’, chewin’ tobacco, and male bonding to discovering ones “inner caveman”. The real knockout tracks though, are the title track, to be found here in two mixes, one of which is the (superior) Norwegian Radio Version, but deserving of at least a top 5 placing on the Billboard Country chart on any day of the week, and the stunning Rick Trevinoesque Let It Rain.
I get the feeling this album is likely to be one of my favourites from this year. An excellent example of how to make a country album that manages to be both contemporary and traditional at the same time. Difficult to recommend it strongly enough, and rather nice that it has come from a geographically unexpected source.
- Duncan Warwick
WEBSITE: http://www.countrymusicpeople.co.uk/
