John Fairhurst-Saltwater

Self-Release/Independent
2014


First things first my friends and fellow lovers of all things righteous and rocking. The picture posted above is not necessarily the artwork for "Saltwater". As I wouldn't want anyone to go out looking for "Saltwater" and expect to find it based solely upon said picture I thought it would be appropriate to mention that fact up front. Also, I should probably mention and/or warn you right now that the music of John Fairhurst (like any addictive substance) is hard to walk away from ounce you've sampled it. Try as I might I have not been able to kick this habit and it all started the second I tapped into album opener/first single "Breakdown"! As just one of ten new numbers that make up this highly-personal, 46 minutes long debut album, "Breakdown" is blues-rock for those who have lived the blues and for Bristol-based John Fairhurst (a solo artist turned member of the three-piece that bears his name) that one concept started the very minute that he found himself bedridden for an entire year! Having taken a nasty fall down an unmarked manhole while on the job at a building site, John Fairhurst was left with a serious knee injury and bed bound, in pain and emotionally frustrated (all of which only served as fuel to the fire when one is talking about real blues!) he spent a year alone with a National Resonator guitar. Despite the hardship of such an ordeal it proved to be a blessing in disguise as he spent the year developing the virtuoso finger-picking technique that would soon define his style. And the rest is, as they so often say, history. Or is it? For there surely must be more to "Saltwater" then just "Breakdown" right? What about the album's second single "No Shelter"? Scheduled to appear in a new Luke Perry film, "No Shelter" is as blues-based as "Breakdown" only here we're looking at the rougher side of this power trio. And by rougher we're talking about down and dirty rock. Dangerously addictive dirty rock at that! Even more, the same can be said of feedback-rocker (and one of my fave moments of "Saltwater"!) "I'm Coming Home"! Somewhere between this album's first single and "No Shelter" it dawns of you just how far-reaching this trio can get and that is thanks in no small part to John's gruff singing style and the band's appetite for real, honest-to-goodness, rustic music. Move past the rock of "Breakdown" and you have the authentic twang of "Who You Feeling" and the home-grown feel of "More More More". Then there's the gospel-infused and whiskey-soaked "Pay Day" and the heart-heavy "Time Goes By" that captures you with it's roll away the blues look at life. Whether it's a sinful love for down-home blues as offered on "Black Cat" or a track like "Dance In The Pines" that wouldn't seem so out of place on a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, "Saltwater" not only has it covered, but it does so by way of wholly organic and meaningful music. Naturally-developed through actual blood, sweat and tears (as well as broken bones!), "Saltwater" found a welcoming heart and soul within me and chances are it can do the same for you!