Slaid Cleaves' 1997 album No Angel Knows was produced by Lucinda Williams' band guitarist Gurf Morlix and comes out of similar singer/songwriter territory. The acoustic-band feel that ran through Morlix's previous small label recordings with Maine band the Moxie Men combines with the Texas troubadour tradition to produce a sound resembling that of Peter Case, Darden Smith or Robert Earl Keen. A song from Cleaves' early days revisited, a co-write with childhood friend Rod Picott in "Wrecking Ball," and others capture small-town stories as well as Morlix's more famous employer. There's also a hint of Springsteen's passion for cars, rivers and bleak working-class lives on tracks such as "Last of the V-8's" or the defiant "Not Going Down." The fine production enhances a set every bit as good as Cleaves' 1992 Life's Other Side, which led to his receiving a Kerrville New Folk songwriter award, or the 1993 self-released For the Brave & Free which employed a host of Austin musicians. File under literate country-tinged folk-rock with a touch of swing.
Slaid Cleaves
No Angel Knows
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AllMusic Review by Shaun Belcher
Track Listing
| Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:48 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 2 | 2:49 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 3 | 3:36 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 4 | 3:16 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 5 | 2:31 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 6 | 4:01 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 7 | 3:20 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 8 | 3:48 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 9 | 3:36 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 10 | 3:18 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
| 11 | 3:32 | SpotifyAmazon |
