Following on from last years excellent 'Self Titled' disc, Carol has released an album of traditional American and Cowboy songs - and it's a wonderful choice of subject matter, the mix of realism and romanticism in the stories is unique to this genre of songwriting. This collection contains imagery that is both comfortable and familiar, but still has an air of the fantastic about it - it's easy to add colour and details to the images in these story songs.
The choice of material is really well balanced, a mixture of trad Western folk songs, covers of more recent material, and a few new self-written songs.
The whole album is superbly recorded, and the guitar work of Duke Levine and Kevin Barry is excellent, it's understated and sympathetic to the material. The real highlight of the album is Carol's vocals, confident, clear, and as pure and clean as you could ask for - it's a superb performance across all the songs, and it's all beautiful recorded.
There are a number of standout songs, but the title track is the obvious, it's a great tale of an Arizona Ranger and an Outlaw, the outcome in doubt until the final few lines.
'Big Iron' is a title that is off the beaten track, and may seem a little outside many people's normal listening material, but you should approach this album without prejudice and with an open mind - the reward is a superb album, full of great songs, melodies and performances.

£12.99