2/13/20:
One last

Last Train Home hasn't released anything in ten years. It hasn't released an album in twelve. Eric Brace has kept busy with other projects, and every once in a while LTH would play. Just for fun, mind you. But then the band participated in the 2017 farewell to the IOTA Club in Arlington (Va.), and that gig created the germ for this album.



Eric Brace & Last Train Home
Daytime Highs
& Overnight Lows

(Red Beet Records)


LTH was/is the perfect sort of band for IOTA, playing a lush version of americana. Pop/rock song constructions, plenty of horns and Brace's vocals, which can range from craggy strength to downright rough-hewn. There is a reason this is not simply a LTH album, though. Brace organized the recording (from Nashville to D.C. and elsewhere), and these songs sound as much like his more recent work than the older LTH stuff.

Don't worry--old fans will find plenty to love. This has all the hallmarks of a by-the-books americana outing, but the playing is soulful and just a bit elegiac. This might be the last time around for this group, and I think everyone involved knew that.

So there is a small sense of loss, but an even greater appreciation for what exists in the present. Brace's songs are as solid and insightful as ever, and the production has faded, time-worn feel. If this is the last call for Last Train Home (as far as recording goes, anyway), it called from the top shelf. Lovely.

Jon Worley


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