Rob Adams 

It's a measure of the reputation for good quality presentations David Mundell has established within reasonable driving distance that, even on a mucky Monday night and with the local folk club in opposition, he can attract a decent attendance for two Nashville singer-songwriters who, as yet, aren't household names in Nashville, let alone Perthshire. 

To Mundell's intimate Bein Inn music room - so intimate that when a guitar jack plug escaped, your reviewer almost bent down to reinstall it - Jeff Finlin and Will Kimbrough brought their story-songs of varying hues. 

Working as both solo performer and back-up guitarist for Finlin, Kimbrough emerged as a resourceful fellow indeed.   As his recent debut CD - This - promised, his songs run a gamut from the dark and bluesy to airy 1960s Beatles and Byrds-style pop, with the requisite Americana cast of shady characters, prematurely aged youths, and manic lovers. Kimbrough presents all these in a cordial and highly listenable style, with a voice and acoustic guitar technique that speak of experience without world weariness. 

For that we had to wait for Finlin, who, although jovially personable, distils untold bad breaks, set-backs, and general dissatisfaction with the world into a pained whine reminiscent of Desire-era Dylan,  Randy Newman, and the great lost Paul Siebel. It's an acquired taste, for sure, but when he howled The Perfect Mark of Cain's "isn't it a wonder" refrain for the first time, I knew I'd acquired it, and, despite his acknowledged limitations, between his terse but highly descriptive poetry and Kimbrough's electric slide and rocking commentaries, I left feeling that I hadn't so much witnessed a gig as a film festival. 

Oct 31 2001
The Herald, Glasgow
 

Reproduced with the permission of The Herald (Glasgow)  www.theherald.co.uk