IMAGINARY APPALACIA - COLTER WALL

Colter Wall and the stories of Imaginary Appalachia find the bleakness of life that first gave rise to country music in its primitive, early forms. A song like “Caroline” is both sweet and tragic, while the unrepentant tone of “Ballad of a Law Abiding Sophisticate” has all the blood of “Folsom Prison,” without an ounce of the regret, making the result that much sinister. Colter Wall is a master of mood, and his voice and image fits the part with eerie perfection. The coldness of “Living on the Sand” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Nothin'” is bone penetrating.

But it does still feel a little early for Mr. Wall. Does he want to be another Lincoln Durham or Shakey Graves with his bass drum rig sitting behind his boot heel and songs intended to haunt? Because that could make him just one of many. Or does he choose to hone in more on his singing, which could hold a career on its own? Or does he choose to try and take his songwriting to the transcendental level? Perhaps he can choose all three, and that’s what he tries to do in Imaginary Appalachia, but it’s rare that you can be all things to all people, especially when the appeal of those things can be quite niche. Right now his style precedes his songs. And though the style is great, the songs are better.