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The Whiskey Charmers

Whiskeycharmers

The Whiskey Charmers

By Brian Rock

If Eilen Jewell met The Far West on Some Velvet Evening, I’m pretty sure the result would be The Whiskey Charmers.  The Whiskey Charmers cleverly titled debut, The Whiskey Charmers, combines the best of all three artists to create a sound they aptly describe as Country Noir.

The band sucks you in literally and figuratively with the first track, “Vampire.” Almost as hypnotic as Dracula’s gaze, Carrie Shepard’s sultry vocals completely captivate and mesmerize. Against the jazzy, atmospheric (dare I say “noir”) rhythms, Carrie sings, “All the signs, they say beware. I guess I knew that he was a vampire. But that night I didn’t care.” Just as she is seduced by her undead lover, you can’t help but give in to the siren–like beckoning of this band.

The seduction continues with “Can’t Leave.” You can almost see Bogart and Bacall playing their cat and mouse games in a smoke-filled cabaret as Shepard sings, “I know I should be on that flight. But how can I go when you’re so deep down in my soul? How can I leave you tonight?”

The rest of the album (especially on songs like “Neon Motel Room,” “Sidewinder” and “Parlor Lights”) plays like an after-hours tour of Tinsletown’s back alleys and speakeasies. You can see the smoke and shadows, and you feel a sense of danger around every corner. But you feel compelled to move on, driven by the allure of some forbidden fruit.

Carrie Shepard’s torch singer voice is absolutely enchanting, and the rest of the Charmers create a brilliant Country-Jazz fusion that evokes another time and place where the men wear dark suits and femme fatales pack more heat than a loaded gun. The overall effect of The Whiskey Charmers is, well, intoxicating.

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