Blitzen Trapper: American Goldwing

The band's sixth album is a satisfying and lush trip through another place and time.

American Goldwing
Sub Pop
****

It's a rare treat when an album can transport the listener to a different place and time. In an instant you are shuttled from a walk in the hot desert sun to a motorcycle trip through the mountains of the American north-west.

It's 1979 now and all you see are towering pine trees and open road. It's gritty and fresh and it's blaring through your AM radio. Any talented musician can pick up a genre and make it sound nice, but it takes a great band to resurrect so beautifully the legendary country/folk sound of the 1970s and early 1980s.

It is the band's sixth album in eight years, but the album doesn't seem to have much in terms of filler. Each song is a separate tribute to a facet of the genre; you'll hear influences from Joe Walsh, The Who, early Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and maybe a little bit of Raconteurs.

And yet, with the range of influences, the album comes together well as a satisfying and lush trip through a genre that holds up through time.