Sean Walshe - American Son (2024)

Sean Walshe has a new album, American Son, which was produced by the legendary Rob Fraboni (The Rolling Stones, Beach Boys) and features some serious rock n rollers in the band. This album is rootsy, spacious, and a paradigm for what a good roots rock album should be, covering relatable topics for actual everyday folks. Rob Fraboni clearly infused his years of know-how into this expert production.

The title track launches the album with the work week daily grind: “go to work each day and pray each day that I might change my scene…” and a plea for resolution and solution throughout the nation. This has nice roots rock guitar buildup and a great “The Band”- style organ sound and breezy harmony vocals too. Then “Winds of Change” starts off with a snare and a bit of a march, and then adds touches of pedal steel and the reflective: “it’s time to make some plans… getting back to matters of the soul, like family and hope and rock ‘n roll.”

“Fortune Favors the Brave” rocks with a Southern style, horns, organs, and “desperate times call for desperate measures.” “Epiphany #4” absolutely nails down the heartland rock groove, with a relationship struggle, and then it’s “The Vibe” where the optimism washes back over us. “Like No Other” is more of a groove, catchy, with tambourine, pedal steel and a song of sweetness: “there’s just something about the way that she shines…. she’s got a smile like no other…”

‘I’ll Believe In You‘ is probably the most folk/Americana type track of the lot, even giving a cheeky nod to The Beatles‘ ‘Come Together‘ at the last line of its chorus, before the glorious pedal steel of ‘Like No Other‘ shows us that Walshe is as adept at writing heartwarming love songs as he is with his socially aware observations: “I walk tall when she’s with me, our love is like no other, we live each day as a grateful victory.” So this is the more romantic, reflective part of the album, and then, when you think you’ve got a handle on everything, Walshe goes full reggae on you with ‘Price To Pay‘! Thankfully, he pulls it off, and how.