The walkin', talkin', guitar-playin' miracle that is Ally McErlaine has put the brain aneurysm that nearly killed him in 2009 well behind him. Last year he enjoyed a return to the top end of the charts with Texas's album The Conversation, and now he finds time for Red Sky July, his close-to-heart side project with wife Shelly Poole (Alisha's Attic) and singer Charity Hair.
This is music that, in a way, could be seen as picking up from Texas's third album, Ricks Road, and heading off on a pure country path instead of the pop arena route. Alongside the skilfully crafted female harmonies and electric guitar chords, it makes room for pedal steel, Dobro and hoedown fiddle, pitching itself comfortably between the west-coast pop of California Dreamin' and the heartstrings tug of a Nashville ballad.
Lay Down Your Love is as catchy and Solitary Woman as moving as anything McErlaine has worked on, arguably raising Shadowbirds above, say, the more heralded recent album by The Pierces.
It doesn't push any artful envelopes, just delivers great easygoing tunes with no filler, a stronger set of songs than the band's 2011 debut. Anyone catching Sheryl Crow on her upcoming tour should get there early for the support band.
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