Pharis and Jason Romero - Long Gone Out West Blues (Lula Records) Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Husband and wife duo Pharis and Jason Romero, from Horsefly, B.C., have put together a stellar set of old timey roots music on their latest album, Long Gone Out West, seamlessly mixing original compositions with covers of traditional material such as "Wild Bill Jones" and "Waiting for the Evening Mail."
The CD released in February on their own Lula Records could have come out anytime in the last century with their aesthetic treatment having more in common with the Carter Family or Dock Boggs than anything coming out today.
The organic nature of their acoustic music is built from the ground up with Pharis composing most of the tunes and Jason handcrafting the banjos and wood-bodied resophonic guitars they use to perform their sublime material.
