Anna Wescoat ‘World Famous’ Review

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BY ROGER SHARMAN

When our old friend of Country Lowdown, Ben Jarrell reaches out to tell us that’s he’s been working on a new project that he’d like us to take a listen to then we sit up and take note. 

He did exactly that for the upcoming release of Anna Wescoat’s latest Album, ‘World Famous’ recently. Ben appears on and produces the record. 

It’s apparent from the opening bars of the album opener ‘Right Side, Wrong Way’ that Anna is a young lady with an old soul, who’s decided that’s she’s going to do it her way. 

The precocious talent Wescoat, has learned to play over 30 instruments in the twenty seven years she’s been playing music, first tinkling on the ivories at the age of three. She’s a one-lady band, playing up to eight instruments at a time, when using modern looping techniques (used by the likes of Ed Sheeran to enable her to perform in the local Florida Panhandle Honky Tonks and venues without having to worry about hiring session musicians or forming a band. 

Hopefully you, as readers, are beginning to paint a picture of who Anna is, we all do that, it’s a natural thing for us to do, but that doesn’t paint the whole picture. She also holds down the fullest of full-time jobs there is, Anna home schools her three young children, a task that would challenge the best of us, and she wouldn’t have it any other way! She is thankful for the everyday life that she leads and is a naturally happy soul. In my eyes that makes this lady something very special. 

‘World Famous’ is very much a traditional country album, with elements of Rock n Roll, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass and Western Swing prominent on this recording, and vocally, and it appears that Anna is able to navigate effortlessly between the genres. Indeed at different times through the record reminds of Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and Doris Day, and contemporaries such as Brennan Leigh, Summer Dean and Stacey Antonel (formerly The Ginger Cowgirl). 

The album comprises of 9 original compositions as well as the title track “World Famous’ that was written by Jeanne Petersen and Karleen Watt, and Anna decided that it matched the sentiment and sound of the record. 

Now Anna is very much a story-teller, who lists the likes of John Prine, Jim Croche, John Denver and Loretta Lynn as influences on her music, which is reflected on this record. It’s my belief that her tone is very much suited to the slow, sad, angst-filled, downtempo, Country songs that this record mainly consists of, which reminds me of something that Vince Gill once said – “there are two kinds of music, the Blues and Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’. I can assure you, there’s no Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah here. 

It’s a mixture of uptempo stories such as “Right Side, Wrong Way’, ‘Tail Lights of a Tempest’, ‘My Name is Known’ and heart felt ballads like ‘Happily Ever After All’, ‘Heartache Home Etc’ and my own personal favourite “Do you or Don’t You’. 

As previously mentioned Ben Jarrell shares the vocals on ‘Cicadas” and I’m sure Anna insisted on that as Ben’s one of the most humble guys around. Singer/Songwriter Emily Shackelton joins Anna for ‘World Famous’.

So if traditional Country is your thing, then this album will be right up your street, it doesn’t come much more traditional than this, there’s more than enough Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah around right now to make this stand out from the  rest. I recommend y’all go do your ears a favour, don’t just take my word for it. 

World Famous is out now on all the normal platforms or can be purchased from her website.

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