Ellis and Vance have been friends since they started their careers in the Boston folk-scene of the late ’80s, and they’ve gone on to be recognised as two of the finest singer/songwriters around – this is their first project together.
The choice of material for this disc is interesting; there are only two original songs and the rest are covers from some of the best singer/songwriters around, from contemporary artists such a Mark Erelli, Jeff Black and Dave Carter through to older tracks from Neil Young and Van Morrison.
Things get off to a fantastic start with Erelli’s ‘The Only Way’, it’s an excellent song with a strong acoustic guitar and fiddle arrangement, and it sounds like it could have come from any Ellis Paul album. The second song, Lucinda William’s ‘Side of the Road’ has a totally different feel, Vance takes the lead vocal and while the arrangement is still in the contemporary folk style, the emphasis is certainly on the contemporary aspect. These two songs are representative of the disc as a whole as there are interesting and adventurous approaches to the arrangements throughout. The most striking and challenging of these is Dave Carter’s ‘Gentle Arms of Eden’, it’s a very spare arrangement and the song is taken at a much easier pace than the original, in this form it has a hymn-like quality, and it certainly takes a few listens to get used to this style, but it’s a strong song and it still works well.
They share the vocals throughout, and sound good when singing together, the harmonies are exceptional in places, with none better than those on Susan Werner’s ‘May I Suggest’, a simple song beautifully performed.
‘Side of the Road’ is a fascinating disc; it’s full of excellent songs and musicians, it takes a broad musical approach to the arrangements and there’s a strong theme linking most of the tracks. It’s certainly more intriguing than most singer/songwriter albums, and this is a disc with much to offer and one that demands repeated listening.

£13.49