WYLIE & THE WILD WEST
Paradise (Rounder)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

Paradise. That's a pretty good description of the mental space a new Wylie Gustafson record can put me in. Equally talented as a songwriter, singer or yodeler, Gustafson is the absolutely real deal. A cowboy singer who just happens to be a working rancher, a spread outside of Dusty, Washington, in the Palouse country. His music has the same easy roll and simple beauty as the hills his spread is laid among.

Along with nine new Wylie originals, there's an old one learned from Hank Snow records, "The Gal Who Invented Kissin';" "Lonely Yukon Stars," a nugget from the songbook of "Ranger" Doug Green; and Bob Dylan's "Girl From The North Country," on which Wylie & the Wild West prove that a real cowboy can make a real cowboy song out of most anything.

Just the name on the cover of a Wylie & the Wild West album is enough to get me excited. This one never disappoints.

Track List:

Saddle Bum * Swinging On A Star * Whoop-Up Trail * To Her * When I'm Ridin' I'm Right * Without You * Hooked On Honky Tonk * Paradise * Lonely Yukon Stars * The Gal Who Invented Kissin' * Girl From The North Country * Yodel Boogie

© 2002 - Shaun Dale