A few eyebrows were raised, not least by the band members themselves, when The Long Haul by The Wynntown Marshals was placed at No 10 in the Sunday Herald's Scottish Albums of 2013 list.
I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but to these ears they're the finest Americana band outside North America, boasting a down-to-earth authenticity that has less to do with geographical lines on a map than with the working-class roots that reach down into country rock. Every song here is a musical bourbon-and-chaser, an end-of-the-week bar-room release. Vocal harmonies on the likes of Dead Sunflowers are perhaps closer to a distinctively Scottish brand of Americana than before, but where Teenage Fanclub wriggle their toes in Californian sand, The Wynntown Marshals stamp their boots in southern dust. Whether it's the guitar that bites at the beginning of Red Clay Hill or the organ that broadens the sound and deepens the soul on Better Than Yesterday, these are songs that lift me high, each and every time I play them.
Alan Morrison
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