My Darling Clementine - Country Darkness, Vol. 1 (feat. Steve Nieve) (2019)

Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish, the two-halves of My Darling Clementine, have a long-standing relationship with the music of Elvis Costello, he a fan since he bought Almost Blue as a 19-year-old and co-writer and performer of her hugely successful show, They Call Her Natasha, based around his life and music. Their duo live sets also regularly feature Costello songs, notably Good Year For The Roses. None of this escaped the attention of Nieve, keyboard player with The Attractions and The Imposters, the result of which is this four-song collaborative EP reworking of four lesser-known country numbers from the songbook.

Along with Nieve, the project also reunites Michael and Lou with Colin Elliot, Shez Sherdfian and Dean Beresford with whom they made their second album, The Reconciliation. As such, it naturally doesn’t sound too far removed from the established My Darling Clementine sound, opening with Lou on lead, accompanied by Nieve’s piano before Michael’s vocals take over on Heart Shaped Bruise from 2004’s The Delivery Man, Beresford’s drums carrying it to a crescendo and Lou picks up the baton for the final line.

Probably the best known of the set is Stranger In The House, originally written for and recorded as a duet with George Jones for his 1979 album My Very Special Guests, although it actually first appeared as a Costello version on a free 7” with 1978’s This Year’s Model. It’s a perfect fit for the duo’s trading lines and verses style, jangling and twangy guitars backing the vocals with Nieve on piano and organ and, while there have been numerous covers, including a fine version by Rachel Sweet, this is hands down the best.

Clocking in at nearly six minutes, written about his grandmother’s funeral, That Day Is Done was a Costello slow waltz gospel collaboration with Paul McCartney for the latter’s 1989 album Flowers In The Dirt and which Elvis only ever sang on as part of the Fairfield Four’s 1997 release Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray. Nieve’s churchy piano accompanying the traded verses and harmonies it comes with a full-blooded horn arrangement by Elliot, Lou showing why she’s one of the finest female voices in the UK.

The final choice, break-up waltz-time number I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came, is another co-write, this time with Loretta Lynn for 2009’s Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, here with Tom Wright on pedal steel.

It remains a mystery why My Darling Clementine haven’t stormed the America country radio and charts or indeed the UK’s, but they have amassed a solid loyal following for whom this (and the tantalising promise of Vol 2 or more) as well as news that they’re readying their follow-up to Still Testifying, is like all their Christmases have come at once.