Comments for Ralston, Carwreck Conversations

I absolutely LOVE this man's voice!! Talk about mellow. He sounds good whether he's singing a cappella (voice only) or with instruments playing with him. He sounds like he'd be a great act in true folk singer style, on stage alone, with just his guitar and harmonica, like the old songs of Bob Dylan's early days, only with a better voice. Wish I lived near his hometown of Grand Rapids so I could catch a few performances, but I'll just have to make due with the cd. Ralston has written 9 of the 10 tracks on this album and he has written some really fine lyrics. Some of his lines could be great titles for books too! One of the ones I loved is from the song "James Dean," where he sings about "Southern California, where truth and dreams collide." Think of all the great themes you could write about around a title like "Where Truth & Dreams Collide"!! I thought it was so neat that I just had to put up two different clips from that song. Same thing with the song "Draper." It's a great song with some very thought provoking lyrics. That's one thing I would have to say I noted in all of the songs on this album. He doesn't just write words that rhyme, but rather he writes poetry that makes you think, and makes you feel. I would pick "James Dean", "Draper", "What About Me", and "Fragile" as the best on the album, with "Everybody But You", "Being Young", "One More Holiday", and "Grace" running very close seconds. Overall, I think this album would be an excellent buy for anyone who likes really good, mellow, kind-of-folksy music. Thank you Ralston, for some excellent music!

Every so often I get someone asking me for my postal address to send me a CD. I'm not sure whether they're thanking me for something they like about one of my websites or whether they're expecting me to proclaim nice things about the album or what. If I was a journalist for some big music mag maybe I could understand it, but I'm not so I don't. Anyway, I think Ralston Bowles opened for Hothouse Flowers at one (or more?) of their shows in the US last year. A couple of weeks ago Ralston emailed me for my postal address and this week his CD "Carwreck Conversations" turned up. He didn't explain why he was sending it to me but at this point I'm not complaining - it's a pretty good album. The songs are smart, the vocals relaxed and the arrangements are interesting and occasionally intriguing. From the cool photos on the artwork through to the sparkling sound of the mix, this is a pretty classy album. If you like intelligent singer/songwriters like David Gray or James Taylor you might like this one. I was surprised when I just found his website and discovered this is his first album. So, yeah, call this a blatant plug if you like. If you like Hothouse Flowers I can't *guarantee* you'll like this (maybe you will, maybe you won't) but if you're already familiar with Ralston from somewhere and you're wondering whether his first album is any good, I'd have to say it is. This one won't wind up in my odd-albums-someone-sent-me-for-some-reason pile...

Ralston’s debut disc has been a long time coming; he’s a singer/songwriter from Grand Rapids, MI, who after many years of concentrating on live shows has finally put a studio album together - excellent news for those new to his music, but it must have been a frustrating wait for those seeing him live. There’s a relaxed and confident feel to the disc that reflects how comfortable and familiar he is with the songs – he opens with ‘What Kind of Friend’ which is a very simple but powerful song and a wonderful (if unusual) choice for an opener, it’s a reflective and mature track that’s sets the standard and tone that is carried throughout the disc. The two songs that follow this show the musical diversity of this album, ‘You Already Knew That’ is an excellent track, it’s basically a strong melody with an acoustic guitar backing, but the track is made by the electric guitar that punctuates and accentuates everything around it, and gives the song a real swagger – folk-rock at its best. This is followed by ‘What About Me’ which is a gentle and tender song of youth that demands an empathetic nod every time you hear it. This range of styles is continued throughout with excellent songs across the 10 tracks; two other standouts are ‘Grace’ which is a great song with a wonderful mandolin backing, and the album’s final track ‘Draper’ is a well crafted song with a strong lyric and an elegant backing. Despite the range of styles the instrumentation is deceptively simple – guitars, mandolin, bass & percussion make up the majority of the songs, but the excellent arrangements make every song distinct. The production is equally strong, the disc is well balanced and has a warm and natural feel throughout, it’s also full of little details that really add to songs, the stereo mixing on ‘You Already Knew That’ being a perfect example. ‘Carwreck Conversations’ is a mature and subtle piece of work, it’s intelligent, understated and thoughtful, but it never preaches to the listener, and is full of accessible and enjoyable melodies – add these together and you have an album delivers in every area. An excellent and distinct singer/songwriter disc – highly recommended.