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Music: Folk/Country

Phosphorescent

  • Phoswater_large

It may seem like an odd career move to follow up a breakout record with a collection of covers, as Phosphorescent (née Mathew Houck) did earlier this year with To Willie. But the end result, an ode to country legend and noted White-House-doobie-smoker Willie Nelson, was an instant discography highlight. Willie's spacious songs, crying out for idiosyncratic phrasing, are a natural fit for Houck's Gothic Americana and cracked, high lonesome delivery. Carla Bozulich made a similar move with her 2003 cover of Red Headed Stranger (and Willie himself paid hero tribute with To Lefty From Willie), but Phosphorescent's honeyed heartache never feels overly self-aware. Try the habit-kicking "Reasons to Quit" and wish him well for Farm Aid.

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