RED JUNE, BEAUTY WILL COME

RED JUNE
BEAUTY WILL COME

Red June Records
RJR02

Red June is the latest in the current trend of acoustic bands melding Appalachian music such as bluegrass and old-time with modern sensibilities. Having met at a jam in Asheville, N.C., (which is the beginning sentence of many a group’s biography page), this trio of Will Straughan, John Cloyd Miller, and Natalya Weinstein soon figured out that their individual musical strengths complimented each other. And, like more and more bands these days, the group raised the funds to record this new album via house concerts and donations through the Kickstarter website.

All but one of the songs on Beauty Will Come are originals including the two opening cuts, “These Old Chains” and “Every Hard Mile.” But to keep things real, the third track is a rollicking new fiddle tune called “Piney Branch Breakdown.” Straughan also brings a new reel to the table with “Connor’s/Scott’s Reel.” The rest of the project features an array of down-home feeling creations with the highlights being “All That The Fall Leaves,” a warm-sounding song with Weinstein on lead vocals called “Bittersweet,” and the nature-as-a-metaphor theme of “Soul’s Repair.” The trio also includes some harmony a cappella work on “I’m Willing To Try.”

There is a slight influence of country music on here, as in old school and not the current Nashville Pop kind, and the members of Red June keep the instrumentation to acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and resonator guitar along with guest Jeff Hersky on upright bass.  This is a good changing-of-the-leaves-in-Autumn type of album that will compliment any road trip or an early morning sit in the shade. (www.redjunemusic.com.)DH