Latest CD releases reviewed

DUST POETS
World at Large Progressive Apathy ***

This self-styled eclectic chamber folk ensemble hail from Manitoba. In Canada their engaging if overly soft blend of folk, country and pop has had three outings prior to the release of this collection, timed to coincide with a series of British appearances. Judging by their pictures and their knowing left- leaning worldview, Dust Poets have been around for some time.

But we are certainly not ageist, and the five-piece band convey an agreeable, tuneful and thoughtful aesthetic without ever shaking the rafters or leaving a trail of awe. Main songwriter Murray D Evans (vocals, guitars) is the leading light, well supported by multi-instrumentalists Karla Ferguson (vocals, accordion, piano), whose solo vocal on All in Your Mind is among the most impressive tracks. www.dustpoets. com

Download tracks: All in Your Mind, Big World, Deceived by Gasoline

JOHN RICH
Son of a Preacher Man Humphead Records *

American writer Dorothy Parker once quipped that Katharine Hepburn ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. I wonder what she would have made of John Rich's slickly produced, cliché-ridden redneck reactionary rhetoric?: "He's got a Smith and Wesson in his glove box/and Mother Mary on the dashboard/He's a red-blooded blue-collar man/American right to the core" ( Trucker Man). There is another equally tasteless couple of couplets regarding the second World War on T he Good Lord and the Man; the German and Japan markets must be very flat. And Rich should know better – he's one half of Big and Rich, the successful country duo (now on sabbatical) who can turn a smile or two as well as a dollar or three. But when this album is not trying to exploit the emotions of its blue-collar base, it is self-regarding ( Everybody Wants to Be Me, Preacher Man), puerile ( Turn a Country Boy On) or maudlin ( Why Does Somebody Always Have to Die). www.johnrich.com