Jeffrey Foucault: Ghost Repeater (Signature)

Not sure where this album has been -- it was recorded in 2005 and released in the rest of the world the following year - but it has just turned up in my letterbox.

Produced by Bo Ramsey (a hallmark of quality) these are troubadour country songs grounded in a dark America of lonesome travellers, the search for a place, ghosts of the past and the freedom of the open landscape. And plenty of songs of love and affection.

With Ramsey on electric guitars, Son Volt's Eric Heywood on pedal steel, and Hammond organ, upright bass and accordion, the music here has an earthy and organic feel -- although Ramsey's production keeps things clean and focused.

Foucault has a deep, lived-in vocal style and he can be one part Tom Waits, one snifter of Jackson Browne and a lot of familiar Americana singers.

But it is the strength of his songs -- they are acutely observational and stark, evocative images abound -- which sets him apart.

Nope, dunno where this album has been but I'm very glad it finally found its way from somewhere to Elsewhere.