John Moreland - High On Tulsa Heat (2015)

'Twenty-nine-year-old Oklahoma-born singer and songwriter John Moreland opens this gorgeous set of 10 songs with "Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars," a stunning acoustic guitar tune that balances images of a hanging man at the end of his rope with an unshakable faith in the place where he’ll land. Moreland’s raspy baritone cries all night (though he’s almost grown) on the anthemic "Heart’s Too Heavy" then prays all day with the sparse fingerpicking of "Cleveland County Blues." The conflict that lives behind true surrender is the theme of "White Flag," and there’s a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor on the youthful twang of the groovy "Sad Baptist Rain."

“I guess I got a taste for poison. I’ve given up on ever being well. I keep mining the horizon, digging for lies I’ve yet to tell,” he sings on the positively heartbreaking song of loss and longing and crushing addiction called "Cherokee." "American Flags in Black & White" is an easy rocker with a poignant message of true struggle that comes from putting down the “sharp blade of the past.” The happy countenance of "High on Tulsa Heat" closes the record with a wry nod to the desires expressed within: love and loss in the heat of youth.

All these descriptions are just impressions, of course: Moreland’s poetry runs deep and wide, with different meanings waiting for every listener and something new to hear with every listen. The names Young, Earle, Van Zandt, and Springsteen all come to mind when listening to this record -- not as influences but as those who should count this gifted singer/songwriter among their ranks.'