Stetson Adkisson and Cia Cherryholmes—Songs of the Fall—have a new Americana album out, called Confessions. After an initial singer-songwriter release as Stetson & Cia, they recorded a self-titled album in 2012. So this may be a sophomore effort, or it may not. In light of Cia’s multiple Grammy nominations with her Cherryholmes family bluegrass band, this couple has high expectations and they’ve been working on these songs for awhile.
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The result is pretty good. Stetson grew up in Pagosa Springs, and a couple years ago they moved back to the mountains of Colorado from the hills of Tennessee. Their last album, Songs of the Fall, opened strong with “Beneath the Willow” and several strong tracks without filler. This effort also opens strong with the upbeat “Love and Lust”. I caught two well-crafted releases on the new album at a local show back in the fall of 2015, the upbeat “Good to Have You Back” and the maudlin “Lucky”. The rest of the album is growing on me, although I’m puzzled by the choice of “Confessions” as a name. It’s almost a nod to a Fleetwood Mac or Blondie pop sound, without diluting their roots too much, or something completely different. A friend heard a kinship to The Civil Wars duo. Whatever the trend, the couple can cover the bases from string band to rock & roll when they want to.
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Confessions was just released in mid-May 2017, and they’ve been holding release shows around Southwest Colorado. Songs of the Fall perform as a strong duo and I’ve also seen them with a band adding bass, uke & beat box. Stetson, Cia, and their little one head to Europe in August, with dates posted for La Roche-Sur-Foron, France, and Bystricka, Czechia.
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