Herald rating: **
No one should be held to the claims others make for them, but Gray Bartlett likening local rough diamond Johnson to Bob Dylan is hardly helpful. Dylan hasn't ever done anything like this local country-styled singer-songwriter.
Johnson's backstory as an itinerant, adventurer and hard livin' man is
interesting, but he has a sentimental streak and is prone to earnestly baritone, spoken word passages, the most cloying in the title track: "Oh Lord I beg you, don't let her die, she's but a child, far too young for goodbyes ... "
Elsewhere he sort of speak-sings about love for a lady of the night, of a man imprisoned for something he didn't do, mum leaving the family, a man grieving for his late wife and so on. All good cornerstone experiences delivered in a straight-ahead, mid-range ballad style with musical accompaniment reinforcing the lyrics.
Johnson's sleeve-worn emotions are undeniably genuine - the title track and Avalanche of Tears are written for the deaths of people he knew - and his best songs are the slightly more upbeat, bar-room pleasers like She Don't Love Me Anymore, Wicked Woman and Texas Water. But Dylan he isn't. Graham Reid
Label: Imagine You
