More Miles Than Money: the Soundtrack to Garth Cartwright's Book

Garth Cartwright is fast becoming one of the most intriguing and readable music writers in the UK, his upbringing in New Zealand lending him a fresh perspective on the music of the planet. His first book, Princes Among Men (reviewed in #31), captivatingly introduced a wider public to the music and the musicians of the Balkans, while his most recent, More Miles than Money (reviewed in #65), is a gonzo journalism road-trip in search of American music's mojo – a guidebook to the musical DNA of the US. Like the book, this CD is a backward glance down a million dead-end streets at honky-tonks, barrios, motels and disappearing recording studios, and a salute to those artists who inspired his odyssey. It's a rip-roaring, rapidly changing sonic journey, recommended for epic car journeys, taking you through the blues, Tex Mex, and country, with all manner of leftfield pop and soul nuggets. It's a pleasure to bump into some old friends like Alejandro Escovedo, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Curtis Mayfield singing some unexpected tunes along the way, but there's also a lot of artists that you may well have not yet have let into your life, such as Dale Watson, Junior Kimbrough and Hound Dog Taylor. And when you get to the end, you just want to start all over again. One wonders where he'll take us next.