Can I sleep in your arms

(photo: Myspace)

I owe it to my sister and brother-in-law for turning me on to some of the best music I may never have listened to otherwise. Although I don't carry a torch for Ray LaMontange the way she does, I'm still glad she's made me take roots/country music a bit more seriously. I know nestled among the vinyl records she and I used to search for at Saturday morning garage sales are a number of Willie Nelson discs that have sadly sat un-played for far too long. But after having spent this week enjoying To Willie , the album of Nelson covers by Phosphorescent (aka Matthew Houk), it won't be long before I'm digging that vinyl out and dusting it off.

Houk's third full LP (he had a previous release under his old moniker Fillup Shack) is a sincere tribute to some of the darker moments of Nelson's back catalogue, and takes its inspiration from Nelson's own To Lefty From Willie , which was a tribute to honky-tonk man Lefty Frizzell. Houk handles all of the studio work himself, amazingly sounding like a full band, playing live off the floor. "I Gotta Get Drunk" is a perfect example of how all the layers come together to sound like a bunch of guys in the corner of a dusty bar on Friday night.

To Willie is out on Dead Oceans, home to another certain Brooklyn-based favourite of QBiM, Bishop Allen, and Phosphorescent is out on the road supporting the disc now, all the way through May. If his live band can pull off the vitality and love that comes across on the disc, then those shows are going to be fantastic.

MP3: Phosphorescent "Reasons To Quit"
Myspace: Phosphorescent
Buy: Phosphorescent To Willie