Foggy Highway

Paul Kelly | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 18, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cooking Vinyl
• ASIN: B000AV623S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,935 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Six years after recording his first Bluegrass album, Smoke, with Melbourne based Uncle Bill, Paul Kelly has returned to the genre. This time around, instead of using a ready-made band, he chose his pickers from Australia’s finest Ian Simpson (banjo) from the West, Trevor Warner (mandolin) from Adelaide and Mick Albeck (violin), James Gillard (bass) and Rod McCormack, the guitar-playing co-producer, all from New South Wales - then gathered at Rod’s studio in Terrigal on the Central Coast in mid-February where sixteen tracks were done and dusted in a fortnight. Bluegrass music, pioneered in the mid-1940s by Bill Monroe and his hard-driving band, The Blue Grass Boys, shocked and thrilled audiences across the southern United States on its first appearance. Like the hymns they spring from, Bluegrass songs remind us that we each face our Maker alone. They rehearse that lonely moment and, in their stark staring terror, find grace. It’s this tradition, as much as the instrumental exuberance, that Kelly is drawing upon: his songs, for all their warmth and compassion, have a taste for uncomfortable truth. In this collection, they show a deepening unease. Time’s running out but their mood is nowise contrite. It is haunted and, at times, aggrieved - a mood not entirely broken by the revelation with which the album ends. These songs fit their setting well. Initial copies of the album come with a bonus disc of outtakes from the Terrigal sessions: a brisk, bracing ‘Little Boy Don’t Lose Your Balls’; ‘Rank Stranger’, Albert Brumley’s peerless tale of alienation; the romping instrumental ‘Erina Valley Breakout’, named for the studio location; and Kelly’s own take on ‘Surely God Was A Lover’, the John Shaw Neilson poem he adapted for Jimmy Little’s Resonate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stormwater's Risin', September 7, 2008

By 

PHILIP S WOLF (SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foggy Highway (Audio CD)

Paul Kelly, is a legend.
The time is now for America to embrace Australia's premiere singer/songwriter: Paul Kelly. For over twenty years, Paul has making excellent Records and performing hundreds of concerts all over the world. The weird thing is that he is still almost unknown here in the USA.

This CD from 2005, is Paul's second recording of bluegrass music, and it is a: 'goodin' Paul & The Stormwater Boys tackle 12 wonderful tunes on this CD, and excepting Paul's distinctive vocals, it sounds like 1934 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This is real music, acoustic guitars, fiddle, mandolin, double bass and banjo. The sound of this music is of: lonesome highways and wind in the treetops, with a few snow-fed streams mixed in. It is great acoustic music fueled by modern lyrics that tell some wonderful stories.

From the opener: "Stumbling Block" through to "Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air" this is the most refreshing CD that has come forth in years. Bluegrass, country, folk, old time gospel and more than a touch of the blues are all found in this amazing music. Paul's vocals are mixed right up front with the harmonies right there next to him. With the chants of: "Rally Round The Drum", that is a story of a tent boxer who fought volunteers from the audience for a $5.00 payday to the story of a lad in his parents car who overhears his father and mama having a serious conversation up in the front seat in: "They Thought I Was Asleep", the tales that Paul tells are very engrossing.

"Ghost Town" is about the hauntings of everyday life, the music is near the style of the blues as it must have sounded about 150 years ago. There is indeed magicial stuff to be found on this CD. "Passed Over" is in the country/gospel form, by way of Bill Monroe. You really don't hear music played in this fashion anymore, these songs are performed with just strings and voices, they are modern and ancient all at the very same time.

The title track: "Foggy Highway" is very different from it's original version of several years back. On this disc, Foggy Highway is transformed with banjo and fiddles from Sydney Australia to a back road in eastern Tennessee, and this is a ride that is not to be missed. The music of: "Cities Of Texas" is as stark as the place it describes, with just the wind and an endless highway, this song puts you into the middle of the tale. This IS road music, Paul knows what he is doing here, and it's very nice indeed.

The closing song: "Meet Me In The Middle Of the Air" is like a prayer, uplifting gospel music at it's best. In the old church style of using just voices Paul sings to his maker here, very pretty and very moving.

The first edition of this CD includes a bonus disc with four extra tracks on it. "Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls" is as exactly as it sounds, lively and fun. "Rank Stranger" is old time country in slow-waltz time, get out your dancin' shoes fer this! "Erina Valley Breakout" is an breakneck-speed instrumental romp on all the strings that these boys could find. "Surely God is a Lover" is another great Paul Kelly original with smart lyrics and a catchy chorus. The Bonus CD is a nice touch, it adds greatly to the package that is presented here.

As I have never found a Paul Kelly CD that was nothing short of excellent, this one is right there for me as one of his greatest records. I never have figured out why this great artist who is a national treasure in his native land is still so little known here in America. But that is O.K. if he keeps releasing work as good as this, I'll be one of the very select few here in California, that enjoy his music.
This is a great CD from a fantastic singer/musician and songwriter: Paul Kelly.
4.5 Stars !!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another brilliant paul kelly l.p., July 27, 2005

By 

LANARK "rac" (FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foggy Highway (Audio CD)

Beautiful new album from Australia's premier songwriter.Mixing Paul Kelly standards with new songs and a Louvin Brothers cover,Kelly and the Stormwater Boys turn in an exquisite and intimate album.Well recorded and atmospheric this is another winner from one this generations finest songwriters. Highly recommended.


Be forwarned however.In EMI's zeal to make this disc compatable with cd/dvd-a/dvd-v/SACD/multi-format computers you may have difficulty with playback.Only my DVD player would play disc without any glitches.


But really,it's just such a smashing album.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite Paul Kelly album, September 25, 2005

By 

M. McDonnell - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Foggy Highway (Audio CD)

As a big Paul Kelly fan, I found this album worth a listen, but it's not my favorite. Stumbling Block, the first track, is in my opinion the stand-out track. Beyond that, it is nice to hear old songs done in a different style, but the originals far outshine these versions. So my advice, buy the rest of his catalog and hear better versions and so much more buy an artist who deserves far better recognition in the USA.