Louis Ledford Reverie CD

On Reverie, Louis Ledford reminds one a little bit of an early Bob Dylan. He's a little scruffy around the edges and world-weary, giving the impression of someone who's done some hard traveling. This impression only holds true for the first two tracks ("All of My Dreams/Most of the Time" and "Make It Home") before shifting abruptly to alternative country on "Belle Isle." In both cases, though, Ledford retains a melancholy mood and has a lot to say about life's hard knocks. One gains the impression on "Lonesome Road" of lives that somehow fell short of their potential as possibilities narrowed. "Belle Isle" is a very long tale about the horrors of prison life during the Civil War, while "Lately," to borrow from Ledford's notes, is "about addiction, deception, anger, and violence." This makes the occasional deviation a relief. "Maury Street" combines a nice bit of blues with a bouncy backbeat, the kind of thing that Tom Waits might tear into. The lyrics here may sound just as desperate as anything on the album, but the bouncy beat gives the song a romantic edge. These songs, like some of Dylan's, are often long, and may try the non-folknik's patience. Ledford, however, has made a solid album, updating folk and, on occasion, country for the post-millennium. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.

"Louis Ledford is a great songwriter; witty, insightful, and observant regarding the oddities of human behavior. There is a real powerful air of truth in his music." - J. Kelly, Creative Loafing, Atlanta"Ledford's attention to lyrical detail is simply stunning." -J. Holgren, 9 X Music MagazineThis guy's music will sneak up on ya. Although a city kid born and raised in Richmond, VA, Louis Ledford's familiar roots lay in Western North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia where as a child he soaked up the rural culture and music. Ledford spent much of the 1990's fronting and writing songs for the Alt Country band Used Carlotta. He borrows from Randy Newman his style of crawling inside a character and presenting the songs as visually as possible. Ledford cites Raymond Carver, Charles Bukowski, John Fante and William Faulkner as influences. "I see myself as a storyteller. My songs are like very short stories." In February 2004, with Bob Rupe on board as co-producer and engineer and some of Richmond's finest musicians, Ledford began recording his debut solo album entitled REVERIE. The studio was Bob's Victorian era home. The sessions were loose and live, recorded without headphones, with little isolation or other studio trappings. "Heck, we had the windows open on one unusually hot afternoon. You could hear dogs barking on the tracks." From the civil war era "Belle Isle" to a first-hand cinema verite account of a trip to a Brooklyn gig and ground zero shortly after September 11 ("September"), Ledford finds the tender heart at the core of the epic tale. And his small subjects, often centered around the corrosive effects of poverty on the human spirit, paint unforgettable portraits that insinuate themselves in your memory. Ledford has spent 14 years writing and singing his own songs. He has both enjoyed success and accepted failure. He married, fathered a daughter, divorced, all before turning thirty. He has made a living as a carpenter, a pawnbroker, gas station attendant, bartender, janitor and window dresser. He has opened for many artists he admires including; Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Peter Case, Greg Allman, Michael Hurley, Warren Zevon, Mojo Nixon, David Allen Coe, Southern Culture, On the Skids, Junior Brown, Marcia Ball, NRBQ, Drive By Truckers, Eugene Chadbourne, Kenny Roby.