Morton Valence Morton Valence

Morton Valence’s eighth, and eponymously titled album, produced by the legendary BJ Cole. Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett and Anne Gilpin, who form the nucleus of Morton Valence, effortlessly take the country music genre, which is generally considered a uniquely American musical form, and create something uniquely English, without ever compromising their authenticity. The atmosphere that BJ Cole brings to the album is palpable, in both production values, and his unmistakable pedal steel guitar performances, on songs such as the plaintive ‘Together Through the Rain’, where an estranged Anne and Hacker reunite under the shelter of an umbrella, walking through the rain and trading verses along the way. Or the more upbeat country rock of ‘I’ve Been Watching You/You’ve Been Watching Me’, which is almost as if Richard and Linda Thompson had touched down in some Nashville backbar before heading for the bright lights. And of course, the scintillatingly down-beat opener, and instant urban-country classic; ‘Summertime in London’, where Hacker reflects on his home city from afar, through simultaneously tear-stained and rose-tinted glasses. 1. Summertime in London 2. I've Been Watching You / You've Been Watching Me 3. Jim 4. Like a Face That's Been Starved of a Kiss 5. It's a Brand New Morning 6. Me & My Old Guitar 7. A Town Called Home 8. Bob & Veronica's Big Move 9. It Isn't Easy Being an Angel 10. If I Make It Back To Mary's House 11. Together Through the Rain