Joseph LeMay
Seventeen Acres
Reviewed by: Jane Roser
The debut full-length album by Tennessee singer/songwriter Joseph LeMay was written within a few months after he and his wife moved to a small farm east of the Mississippi River. Seventeen Acres starts off with two love songs which are pretty, but not profound; although they don’t need to be anything more than a simple love letter.
The album kicks it up a notch with fun old-time Nashville tunes, “Crazy Woman” and Molly My Girl”, that are rhythmic, snappy and light-hearted. These were the tunes I could listen to over again (and did).
“Warrant For My Worry” is an interesting choice to include and it’s placement on the album serves almost as a pause to catch your breath since it is sung a cappella and lasts about one minute and thirteen seconds.
My favorite track by far, however, is the niftily titled “Possumhaw” that has the best lyrics on here: “Listen to the tin roof singin’ in the pale moonlight; wonder why it’s always so sad at night, and when I see the rain falling on the earth’s skin, I’m thinkin’ of the way things might have been.” I love songs that cause you to reflect and your mood is identified by your surroundings: “Possumhaw against a pale grey sky, Tennessee winter, man the sun don’t shine.”
Seventeen Acres isn’t anything new under the sun, but it does cast a warm glow.
Rating: Listenable
