The Whiskey Charmers “S/T”

The Whiskey Charmers are a Detroit-based roots band led by Carrie Shepard and Lawrence Daversa. They describe their songs as being ‘filled with haunting melodies that tell stories of the open road, whisky, and chasing a cure for incurable heartache’. It’s a style that has been described as ‘country noir’, which is a new genre to us.

Opening song, “Elevator” immediately shows us what that genre means in practice. It has that almost ‘homely’ country feel to it, but is much darker and miles away from any kind of barn dance! A point that is nailed home by the brilliant “Vampires” which, as the title suggests, is a song with a dark heart and would have been perfect on the soundtrack to True Blood.

Many of the songs have a sound that could easily transcend genres and bring The Whisky Charmers wider success. “Straight & Narrow” is a delightful song which has a real laid back, Americana feel to it. It’s a similar story with the more upbeat sounding “Can’t Leave”.

Songs like “Sidewinder” and “Parlor lights” have a wider landscape feel to them. They’re brooding, dark songs with a more epic feel to them. They have you imagining being in a late night bar, probably drinking away your sorrows.

The real strength that all these song have, is the beautiful vocals of lead singer Carrie. They perfectly combine being extremely strong whilst still portraying a sense of fragility. Again, these take the band away from a more straightforward ‘country’ sound. They actually have a blusier feel which you could see delivering seductive, rockabilly type songs

It will be interesting to see how The Whiskey Charmers and this album are pitched. Whilst they could certainly pick up a big interest within the country or folk/Americana scenes, there is also potential for wider appeal. A band like Shovels and Ropes have already shown that with the right push and level of exposure, it can lead to great success.