All too often we take for granted the individual(s) that find warmth in a stool in the corner of a bar or restaurant and play to the, largely, seemingly uninterested collective. The patrons carry on their conversations about sports, office gossip, or politics while an artistic mind shrouds the establishment in song that is as diluted to the customer as the art on the wall.
But if one were to stop for a moment (other than the obligatory clap at the end of each song as to not come across overly rude) and afford an honest ear, the world might just be impressed by what they hear in their local venue.
On any given night in and around the Boise, Idaho area you can find one such artistic mind that is well worth tuning in to experience. In the release of his debut album, Hell of a Ride, Carter Freeman captures the webs he weaves live to Treasure Valley attendees in an honest ten tracks that are identifiably Americana and equally heartfelt.
Acoustically driven in a dance with a slight gravelly delivery, Freeman seems to pull the rust off worn out abandoned cars, the weather off long forgotten signs, and hits the pavement to audibly travel the byways and turnoffs that have long since been forgotten. Through his ten songs, the debut culminates as a style of Americana that has somehow been confined to film portrayal, one of folk legacy, one that is regarded as simply a pastime. But much in the vein of Marc Berger, Freeman captures a simple yet important sound with Hell of a Ride.
The self-produced debut displays a talent well beyond simple “bar band” and captivates in a worn and weary sense of experience paired with a passion for storytelling. From the rolling self-titled opening, which calls to the experience, through a slapped, sliding acoustic rolls on through the landscape with “Sands Motel,” to the reflective, mesmerizing “Weary Travelers,” and all points in between, Freeman naturally, and unintentionally, creates a wonderful pairing to Ride and establishes the Western United States’ answer to Marc Berger.
Greg is a co-founder and regular contributor of Nanobot.
