Customer Reviews

Paradise

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wylie Gustafson plays western music that would be at home on a Sons of the Pioneers set or Ian Tyson's post-Ian & Sylvia work. His songs are short, often clocking in under 3 minutes. This tall redhead from Montana has a voice that is melodic and often expressive. He writes some sweet melodies such as "Swinging On A Star" & the title track. Many of the tracks are fairly slow, but he can certainly set a toe to tapping as on "Whoop-Up Trail." While most of these songs are more western than country, the Wild West do have some pedal steel on "Without You" that sounds like a classic country weeper that probably sounds good on one of Wylie's Grand Ole Opry appearances. One of the liveliest tracks is "Hooked On Honky Tonk" about a girl who loves to "jump to the juke box all night long." "The Gal Who Invented Kissin'" is another lively track with a western tango beat. Wylie's version of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" is a showpiece for one of Dylan's lovely melodies. This is a nice set from an artist keeping our traditional western song alive. Enjoy!

Wylie and the Wild West's best effort to date. The guitar pickin' and vocals both have a more relaxed feel than earlier releases by the group. Buy the CD. You won't regret it.

I have other albums of theirs that I like better but this is still good music.

Unlike the myriad of blow-dried pretty boys who slap on a cowboy hat and call themselves "country artists," Wylie Gustafson is the real deal. As an actual working cowboy way out in eastern Washington state, Wylie clearly knows the north end from the south end of a horse, and so sings his songs about Western life with an unmatched authority.
Wylie's up-tempo numbers are joyous and bouncy, and make you want to hit that Whoop-Up Trail alongside him: his voice is rich and clear, and his band is tight and swinging. Although the songs themselves are generally strong (Dylan"s "Girl From The North Country" is an unexpected treat), the inclusion of perhaps one too many lugubrious love ballads-- the bane of the genre-- brings the production down one star.
Oh, and did I mention his yodeling? Talk about a rare talent: what would be terminally corny in the hands of a lesser-gifted artist instead raises goosebumps. Wylie could yodel the Yellow Pages and still be impressive.