ALLRED, JOSEPH - Branches & Leaves

"Don't hold me to it, but by my count this the sixth LP we have done with the splendid Brighton-based musician named Joseph Allred. Initially known as a master of stringed instruments, Joseph has continuously expanded his musical arsenal. When asked about basics regarding Branches & Leaves, he wrote, 'I played harmonium, piano, guitars, glockenspiel, banjo, tambourine, bass drum, and clarinet on this album and did all the vocals myself. I'm glad I got to collaborate with some friends and would like to have done so more, but the pandemic made that impossible. Recorded at the end of 2019 and in the first few months of 2020 in Overton County, Tennessee and Boston.' The ten songs on Branches & Leaves are originals, apart from two traditional tunes, 'When the World's on Fire,' and 'Can't Feel at Home,' which Allred first heard performed by the Carter Family. And while it if difficult to attach too specific a tag to this wonderfully varied LP, words like 'Southern,' 'gnostic,' 'rural