Urban Ghosts by Willow Springs.

I have cheered myself up on this dull rainy afternoon by listening to an album by Willow Springs. It is called Urban Ghosts and I must say that I have enjoyed listening to it just as much as their other album Night-Time Radio which I wrote about a couple of months ago. Basically, Mark Crockard is Willow Springs. He writes all the songs, sings, and plays a plethora of instruments, acoustic and electric guitars, upright and electric bass, keyboards, mandolin, and harmonica. He is ably assisted by other musicians including Mandy Bingham and Lisa Brady on vocals, Marcus McCauley on acoustic guitar and mandolin, Keith Ward on piano and keyboards, Rik Gay on drums and percussion and Chris Haigh on fiddle. The album is produced by Mark and Vic Bronzini Fulton. Mark duets with Mandy on the haunting opening track I’m All Over You which features excellent acoustic guitar by Marcus. There is a strong country flavour to A Room For Two. I particularly like the dobro playing of Colin Henry on this song. The likes of Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings would have enjoyed The End Of The Pier Show with its driving beat, great harmonica playing and acoustic guitar by Rueben Agnew. By contrast It Still Hurts is a much sadder song with a nice piano introduction. I love the fiddle playing of Chris Haigh on Gone Southbound. Tender Lovin’ Feelin’ is a great ballad sung by Mark and shows the talents of Keith Ward to full effect. Heart And Soul has Rik Gay’s percussion to the fore and the guitar playing is wonderful.

It will be Valentine’s Day soon, so you could do worse than buy this album for a loved one because there is a nice ballad called On Valentine’s Night on this album. A New Blue Horizon is another nice slow ballad, and Autumn Blues has Lisa helping out on vocals. The fiddle playing gives the song an eerie ghost like quality. Maybe that’s why the album is called Urban Ghosts, it’s a great title anyway. You Saved A Drowning Man is one of my favourite tracks. It gets quite funky in places and where they sing ‘whoo whoo, whoo whoo’ reminds me slightly of Sympathy For The Devil by The Stones. The album ends with Together We’ll Walk In Beauty another great number which makes you click your fingers and clap your hands.

I have really enjoyed listening to this album today. Musicians have been hit really hard during this pandemic and lock down, so they need our support. Let’s hope it isn’t too long until the likes of Mark Crockard and all the other musicians around the world can start playing live again and bringing the music to the people.