Musical Musings - Great Stuff, Near and Far
(Sept 13th 2006)
by Steve Tennant

I want to thank Factory Grind for bringing in Romi Mayes a few weeks
ago. Those there experienced a quality performance by this young singer
/ songwriter from Winnipeg. She was accompanied by Dan Walsh on dobro
and Chris Carmichael on guitar and backing vocals. They were premiering
to Perth Romi's new cd "Sweet Somethin' Steady" that was released the
end of July. Their arrangements are tasty and effective, always
wrapping her lyrics in an understated way to allow us to catch her gist.
Romi's writing style tends to be effectively minimalistic , painting
clear scenes and emotion within the confines of few crafty words.

Dan Walsh played with Fred Eaglesmith since 2001 and has recently left
to back Romi full time. His dobro work is great to watch and even more
fun to watch him create. Filling holes with pleasing riffs or providing
background rhythm, his efforts help create their lovely sound.

This latest cd is produced by none other than Gurf Morlix, an in demand
magician from Texas who spent @ 10 years as guitarist for Lucinda
Williams before going on to produce a virtual who's who of roots music
including Buddy Miller, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Mary Gauthier and Eliza
Gilkyson. He also does some guitar soundscaping that works nicely.
It's tighter than her last cd "Livingroom Sessions Volume One" though
both have that relaxed sound that encourages repeated listening.

It was a pleasant surprise to see our own Dawson Willsey sit in for a
few tunes on stand up bass. Just when I thought the sweet sounds
couldn't get better, in comes Dawson providing that bottom end to fully
complete the experience. I hope Dawson gets that big rig of his out
playing more often in town. I look forward to her next visit here.