Album Review : Eric Brace and Peter Cooper : The Master Sessions

Oct 4, 2010 Album Reviews
Posted by Adam

This is the third article in three days featuring Artist of the Month, Peter Cooper. This time paired with Last Train Home’s Eric Brace and backed by a band that features Lloyd Green and Mike Auldridge.

Let me start off by saying that this album is as close to the perfect country album as you can get. It is an absolute shame that country music radio is in the state that it is because had this record been released in say 1972 there would have been two or three number one hits on it and a couple of guys who deserve it would be reaching star status. Alas it is 2010 and instead of mainstream accolades they will have to live just having produced a damn fine record.

Everything about this album is spot on, the harmonies between the two and guests, the instrumentation, and the song selection. The vocals are superb, Brace may have my favorite country voice out there today and Cooper’s lead vocals perfectly compliment the songs where Brace handles the leads. Even more impressive is the sound the two create when singing harmonies together, hopefully this collaboration continues because they were made to sing with one another. As for the backing music, Lloyd Green once again stars on the pedal steel but shares the spotlight with former Seldom Scene dobro player, Mike Auldridge. Throughout the album these two go back and forth with extremely tasty lead breaks always adding to the songs and never overpowering them. Another standout on the record instrumentally is Jen Gunderman who plays keyboards throughout but, on a few songs breaks out the accordion pushing the sound even further.

The song selection really sticks out on this one as once again they drew from both of their catalogs as well as a few perfect covers. As was the case with their first effort there are only a couple co-writes but every song sounds as though they the were meant for this arrangement.

The album kicks off right, with a version of Herb Peterson’s “Wait a Minute”. A staple song the guys learned from going to countless Seldom Scene shows in the ’70′s. On this version the two alternate lead vocals on the first two verses before singing together on the last. Special guest, Kenny Chesney (yes I was surprised too) adds to the vocal flavor during the harmonies on this one as well. As far as I’m concerned this is now a Brace/ Cooper song from now on.

The next song on the record is the first of two Cooper co-writes with Don Schlitz (writer of the “The Gambler”). “Suffer a Fool” is an ode to a very patient wife who manages to keep her husband pointing in the right direction despite is best efforts to do the opposite.

The first Brace-penned number is “It Won’t Be Me”, written with Karl Straub, it is a good old train song, that tells of a man watching for a train to roll in so he can take the next one leaving town.

The second Cooper/ Schlitz contribution to the record is “Big Steve”, the story of a famous door man in Nashville who loves his job and has always stood up for the musicians. Although I’m not from Nashville I feel like I’ve met Big Steve in countless numbers of clubs across the country. You know the guy who works there not so much for the money, but rather because he loves the music. An interesting note on this one is that Eric handles the lead vocals on it.

“Circus” is one of the few co-writes between the two on this one. While lyrically this song is somewhat silly it really works and it gave Auldridge and Green an opportunity to play around a bit. Overall the feel of the song with the harmonies throughout and the instruments weaving in and out ends up really being nice.

The last song that I will go into is their version of Tom T. Hall’s “I Flew Over Our House Last Night”. Not one of Hall’s most famous songs, this has become one of my favorite country songs since the first time I heard Cooper and Brace sing it live.  Last Train Home included it on their live record as well and that version is insanely good, but the version on this album is what hit songs are made of. Cooper’s harmony vocals really add to the amazing job Brace does handling this tune. Once you listen to this version of the song you will be singing it in your head for days on end. I would imagine that Tom T. himself would agree that this song finally found its rightful place with Peter Cooper and Eric Brace.

If you haven’t figured out already I absolutely love this record, it is easily one of my favorite records to be released thus far this year and will have a regular place in my listening rotation for years to come. It is not very often that pieces come together in this manner forming some kind of perfect storm. If you are interested  you can order it from Red Beet Records.

Tags: don schlitz, eric brace, Lloyd Green, Mike Auldridge, peter cooper, tom t. hall