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Two legends return: Ex-Flying Burrito Chris Ethridge and bluegrass fiddler Byron Berline (Dillard & Clark/Gram/Emmylou) guest on Texas duo Silver Shoes’ Old Friend MID EAR, an electro-acoustic feast of folk-country and glassy harmonies. Maureen Finlon and John Finnigan tackle everything from honky-tonk and western swing to roots versions of The Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping” and Traffics’ "Many A Mile To Freedom". Their covers of Jay Farrar’s “Tear Stained Eye” and instrumental “Gypsy Life” are stunning.

Insurgent Country, Germany www.insurgentcountry.com

Reviewed by Bert van Kessel, The Netherlands

Silver Shoes are a country rock duo from Texas, consisting of Maureen Finlon and John Finnigan. They are highly inspired by the duets of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, whose song Brass Buttons they took their name from. Both on their previous debut album and on this new one they have included a tributary Gram Parsons cover, this time How Much I’ve Lied from Gram’s solo debut, GP; it is treated with respect, and they also succeed in giving it their own warm and gentle feel. The Parson’s connection is even strengthened by contributions from former Flying Burrito Brothers Chris Ethridge and Byron Berline.

It is amazing how Silver Shoes manage to capture that typical ‘70s pleasurable country rock sound of California, the home of Buck Owens’ Bakersfield sound, characterized by gently strumming guitars and straightforward, suave melodies. This in turn proved very influential on the style that was taken to great heights by The Eagles, Burritos and Poco. The sound of Silver Shoes recreates that style, yet it is characterized by a particular freshness which both producers, Don Richmond and Jack Saunders, have managed to bring out. The pleasure with which experienced session musicians contribute their skills exudes from every groove, uhm . , bit? Just listen to those inspired guitar parts by Frank Reckard, most notably so on To See You Again or the wonderful, delicate interplay on the instrumental Gypsy Life. The voices of Maureen and John are perfectly matched, they take turns on lead vocals and although their harmonies may not reach the emotional depth of Gram and Emmylou, they are a treat to your Eustachian tubes. They are well able to touch, especially the delicate Straight From The Heart deserves to be included in your chapter of Chicken Skin Music! No fewer than sixteen tracks, 10 of which self-penned, provide an hour of gently flowing country-rock. The selection of covers points at solid insight in their brand of music: Lennon & McCartney’s I’m Only Sleeping and a fine and original delivery of James Taylor’s You Can Close Your Eyes blend seamlessly into their originals. The warmth of this duo’s music will no doubt get you comfortably through winter’s cold. Well done.

As Silver Shoes music feels comfortable and familiar as a reunion with a longtime comrade, Old Friend is an appropriate title for their most recent offering.

Silver Shoes is comprised of the duo of Maureen Finlon and John Finnigan. Their crisp vocals and clean sound are carried through on every track making for a pleasant listening journey. To help them along, Finlon and Finnigan assembled a band of ace musicians and friends from high places.

The record starts off in good fashion with the mid-tempo title track that features Finlon’s strong vocals. To See You Again follows and showcases Silver Shoe’s tight harmonies and crack musicianship. A nimble guitar lead is layered over the chug-a-lug of the rhythm section. One of the highlights is a clean cover of the Son Volt classic Tear Stained Eye. The album’s 16 tracks also include Silver Shoes renditions of songs by the Beatles, James Taylor and Traffic – not necessarily your traditional alt-country choices for remakes.

Silver Shoes “Old Friend” (Mid Ear Records 2003) “Old Friend” looks pretty unassuming at first glance and so it is in many ways, until you notice the covers of “Tear Stained Eye” by Son Volt, “I'm Only Sleeping” by Lennon and McCartney and “How Much I’ve Lied” by Gram Parsons. It turns out that Silver Shoes have some great songs of their own, a fantastic eye for a good cover, and some ex-Burritos and Hot Band personnel at hand. There’s some skilled fret work and some beautiful harmonizing going on here.

Maureen Finlon and John Finnigan better known as Silver Shoes, they have a brand new beautiful release entitled "Old Friend" in the tradition of folk-rock and alt-country music. This acoustic-electric album has influences from The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Band and GP.

Guest people are well known legendary musicians, Chris Ethridge and Byron Berline. "Old Friend" is not their first album. Fans of this band will remember their earlier work as, John Finnigan's "Way Up The Sky", “Crossing Time/Seasons Of Doubt", "FM" and "Silver Shoes".

Most of the new songs are written' by Maureen and John, some of the songs are from well known writers as Jay Farrar's beautiful song "Tear Stained Eye", James Taylor "You Can Close Your Eyes" and S. Winwood & J.Capaldi's "Many A Mile To Freedom".

It’s not the most perfect fit, but Silver Shoes belongs next to Nanci Griffith, just ahead of Shawn Colvin. Maureen Finlon’s voice is a beautiful fit with the country-lilt to the songs. John Finnigan adds a great counter croon. Both lay down great guitar. These are country songs that have all of the harmonies, lap steel, and other accompaniments to bring out that country-feel. However, like Nanci Griffith, these are country songs, which tap into American Folk and Rock. Like Shawn Colvin, there’s a wider range of sound than to simply label it as Country. (Perhaps I’m biased, since straight-up country is not my thing).

Silver Shoes’ new release, Old Friend, is a nice collection of songs for a spring drive. Crack the window, follow the flight of the sand hill cranes, stop to watch the canvasback ducks on a flooded cornfield, and take a nap as the sun comes through the windshield. Use Old Friend as a soundtrack for your wandering drive, for your wandering thoughts and emotions.

Within the American Roots tradition of music, some songs might get Silver Shoes into the Alt-Country category, especially considering their cover of Jay Farrar’s “Tear Stained Eye.” The comparisons to Nanci Griffith come through most on the ballad, “Straight from the Heart,” the country-rockabilly “Cowboy Angel,” and the title track.

Delicate and mournful fiddle from Byron Berline lets the cover of Lennon and McCartney’s “I’m Only Sleeping” emerge as something new in the hands of Silver Shoes. “Gypsy Life” is all rolling hills, rolling melody with the hints of a dance tune ready to wake up from a sleepy afternoon. “Big Shot” gets us into the Bluegrass Rock of certain Ricky Skaggs songs.

As I’ve said before in this space, when it gets a little bit too country, I’m too quick to turn it off. Yet, here, if you listen to what Silver Shoes is doing with these country-fried melodies, you’ll see how much these songs spin right out of the narrowly defined Country category. They spill out into the folk and bluegrass and rock pools. When you start bringing together all of those sounds, what emerges is more than you might first expect. The weather’s supposed to be nice this weekend here in Northeastern Wisconsin. Maybe I’ll put on Silver Shoes, walk out the door, and take a relaxing drive.

Silver Shoes (Maureen Finlon and John Finnigan) are a Texas duo, influenced by The Byrds tree of artists (particularly by the Emmylou Harris / Gram Parsons duets). The name SILVER SHOES is actually taken from Gram’s song Brass Buttons. Playing on their OLD FRIEND CD are Chris Ethridge (ex-member of The International Submarine Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers and co-writer of Hot Burrito #1, Hot Burrito #2 and She with Gram Parsons) and Byron Berline (also an ex-member of The Flying Burrito Brothers, and also playing on both Gram Parsons solo albums). Also participating are Frank Reckard (from Emmylou’s Hot Band), Rick Richards, The Kennedy’s, Rick Poss, Don Richmond and Emily Dugas.

Byrds Flyght strongly recommends this excellent Byrds-influenced CD to its visitors.