Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
(Ninth Street Opus)
Careers can mimic long automobile trips, full of jogs, turns and detours until you hit just the right road, the one you know that you were meant to travel. That seems the case with Johnny Irion and his wife and musical partner Sarah Lee Guthrie when you listen to Bright Examples. There's no doubt that Irion, formerly of Queen Sarah Saturday, and Guthrie-folk royalty as the daughter of Arlo and granddaughter of Woody-have always literally made beautiful music together. But the duo's sophomore album seems to be the sound the two rock fans were meant to create. The sound is a delicious swirl around country/pop/rock with plenty of flavorings. "Butterflies" leans toward pop ala Enya while "Speed of Light" turns the tempo way up to rockin' before the blues rush in on "Ahead of Myself." The bottom line is that these folks put you on a lovely sonic path.
DOWNLOAD: "Ahead of Myself," "Speed of Light" NANCY DUNHAM
