Setting up Camp at the Local Watering Hole
4 Out of 5 Stars
Brett Every is an out Australian singer songwriter who came to my attention via an act of his own shameless self promotion. He came across my column about gay muicians where I lamented the lack of a Gay Springsteen. He joked that he might be that person in an e-mail to me, so of course I had to check out his CD. Intrigued, I took the bait.
Featuring eight originals and two covers, Brett Every's "Camping Out" drops down at the piano bench and sets up a bottle of whiskey for his album of smokey, jazz inflected tunes. Brett covers the ground of wounded literate lovers (think Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Mark Eitzel) and lets his rough hewn voice convey the world weary delights that are so easy to relate to. At the same time, his ballad about New York ("Swaying") is a great straight ahead love song, and it's nice to see an out artist sing without fuzzing up the gender concerns.
The tone to the album is pretty forward and low-key at the same time, with hints of cabaret jazz and pop; covering Cyndi Lauper's "Dear John" as a harmonica driven blues number kind of speaks to Brett's eclectic nature. (Great harmonica solo!) The title song tells the story of a pair of cowboys under the night sky ("hadn't seen stars that bright since 1999...") as they find ways to protect each other from the frost. It's as intimate as the smoke from their campfire, and then Brett turns as campy as the Golden Girls namedropping of "Devereaux" (with fellow Australian Justin J Bear) without losing his footing. Solid from beginning to end, Brett Every's "Camping Out" is a first rate artist's coming out.
Also recommended: Mark Wiegle's Soul Sex: Wrestling the Angel/Versatile
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