I am not sure how much traction (The) Sam Chase elicits in his home state of California, but over here in Blighty, courtesy a magnificent little festival called Maverick, he is always guaranteed a welcome. He, and his band, The Untraditional, cut quite the rug with his hoarse holler, belting out songs of a country hue, a punk attitude and a sometimes chamber-folk setting. This all makes for a beguiling combination, a rich mix of sandpaper and silk. Over the years he has worked solo, as a trio and now with his a 7 piece band behind him. That’s a lot, but, with cello, violin and trumpet, augmenting the more familiar guitar, keys, bass and drums, flickering remembrances of Van Morrison’s Caledonia Soul Orchestra wouldn’t be that far off point. And, yes, all seem present for Covered:, endeavoring to both compete with and comfort his foghorn fusillade.
To be fair, Chase’s voice gets dialed down a tad across most the selections here, culled from a bevy of the usual suspects: a Dylan, a Prine, a couple of Waits, balanced with CCR, Nirvana and one from the pirate cabaret of The Crux. The overall effect is strangely chameleonic, as he affects to occupy the persona of each individual singer, in character if not always sound. The difference comes largely from the arrangements, which tend toward the dusty roadhouse of amplified acoustica with drums. This renders a fluency to the flow of Covered:, a congruency that makes for a set that is all his own, however familiar the songs may or may not be.
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