The Heartbroken Rejoice Over Arlo McKinley’s Lonesome Sound
About the time it’s ready to take the turkey out of deep thaw is the time to start checking back to see what we may have missed in the year of music as the steady roll of new releases begins to slow down to a trickle and allows us to catch up. 2013 was such a bumper crop year for earnest, melancholic songwriters like Jason Isbell and John Moreland, our music stomachs were stretched in a way 2014 seemed it would never be able to fill. But some important projects have tried, and given us some new names to draw from when the mood is one where we enjoy drowning in sorrow.
I don’t expect you to recognize the name Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound. There’s no major effort underway at the moment to promote his music to the masses. Unless you’re clued into the right sectors of the Cincinnati music scene, his name is likely one of a stranger. But just as music worth hearing tends to do, it has slowly been bubbling up from word of mouth until some of those mouths have begun to speak about this record as one of the best music offerings all year.
A heartbreaker of an album, Saving Country Music headquarters has been spinning Arlo McKinley for a while now, but concerns for just how distressing and slow it was kept delaying any copy on it. It’s also a bit of a creeper, as slower albums can be. You aren’t going to spy its magic simply by skimming through iTunes previews. There’s no catchy hooks or sick beats to grab you by the scruff and make you listen. It has its way of sticking to your bones however, to where you find yourself favoring it over more upbeat fare, and craving it when awash in certain dour moods.
Arlo McKinley has a little bit of Sam Quinn (formerly of the Everybodyfields) in his voice, and a style that is not all too foreign to that region between old-school inspired country, and new-school infused folk rock. It’s the appreciation for the honesty of country songwriting without all the fluff and circumstance, fiddle and steel guitar of the discipline. This album is ten slow and deliberate gut punches with little mercy or sunny interludes. McKinley isn’t dabbling in anything here, he’s lowering his head, swinging away, and hoping you feel as miserable as the moments that inspired these songs, with minimal and tasteful musical hues shading his tear-soaked sketches.
Coming to this album with a country mindset, “Time In Bars” jumps off the track list as one of the takeaways, and so does “Sad Country Song,” even though its methodology of making a country song from other country songs has been done a few times before. When you think Arlo can’t get more depressing, he doubles down with a song like “This Damn Town” with its purposely harsh guitar, or the unbearable emptiness at the beginning of “Waiting For Wild Horses.”
McKinley’s ear for matching emotion with sound is quite skilled, even if his approach isn’t wholly original. Even the more upbeat-sounding numbers like “Don’t Need to Know” or the pounding final track “Dark Side of the Street” deliver a bravely vulnerable and depressing account of the life and times of this adept Ohio songwriter.
It takes courage to unburden your soul and air your personal frailties in the way Arlo McKinley has done in this album, and it takes insight and study to do it in a way that sounds so so good.
1 3/4 of 2 Guns Up.
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November 27, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
Just bought a couple tracks… Very cool.
November 27, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
This one’s been on a loop in my player since I met Arlo a couple months ago. It’s a hard call, but this might be my favorite album this year. Glad you gave it a sniff, Trigger.
*Worth noting, this album was recorded in the Southgate House in Newport, KY, one of the most beautiful venues in the country.
November 27, 2014 @ 5:55 pm
If you pay any attention to ninebullets.net or Ninebullets Radio you been hearing Arlo for the better part of this year….
November 27, 2014 @ 10:38 pm
I really like this guy. Thanks for reviewing.
November 28, 2014 @ 8:49 am
It’s discoveries like this that are why I love this site. Wicked album!
November 28, 2014 @ 10:59 am
I second that, love this place for the same reason. This album is on repeat, simply great.
November 28, 2014 @ 12:16 pm
Great album.. it’s good to know the amount of talent, and awesome music that is out there if you do a little digging!
November 28, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
Great article, I’ve never heard of him till now. Thanks for turning me on to some good music.
November 28, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Damn! There goes the one album that will be included in my end-of-the-year list that Trig didn’t review. This album is perfectly awesome!
November 29, 2014 @ 10:06 am
Your post reminds me he still hasn’t reviewed “The Hanging Road”. Must be waiting for album of year review…?
November 29, 2014 @ 12:15 pm
Not saying I’m ruling out still posting a dedicated review for the album, but I did post the album premier for Joseph Huber’s “The Hanging Road.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-stream-joseph-hubers-the-hanging-road
With so many albums out there to review, sometimes I will cover certain albums in different ways, like doing the premier for “The Hanging Road” or doing interviews instead of reviews with people like Leroy Virgil, Bob Wayne, or J.P Harris if I feel this is a better way to cover an album than giving my opinion on it.
November 29, 2014 @ 12:46 pm
I appreciate where you are coming from man, just trying to promote it a little more myself cause I think so highly of it.
December 1, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
Great Stuff Trig… Just picked it up on eMusic and been enjoying all day!
December 9, 2014 @ 2:59 pm
Just listened to this for the first time today, reminds me a little of Ryan Dillaha & the Miracle Men from metro Detroit.
December 9, 2014 @ 8:25 pm
Arlo McKinley and the lonesome sound has touched my soul since the first time I heard their album. Their music stirs something inside of my heart,my mind and my soul. Their music speaks to everyone. Their songs mean different thing to each of us. Their songs bubble up deep seated feelings and make you feel like you are not alone. That you’ve gone along with him on his journey and at the same time he’s gone along with you on yours. Arlo McKinley and the lonesome sound is more than music it is story telling like nothing I’ve heard, but more importantly felt.
December 12, 2014 @ 8:13 am
Trigger. Trigger, Trigger, Trigger… This. This right here is why this is the only Country Music site I visit every single day. I don’t know how I missed this post, but I saw the link in the “Essential Albums” article, and as has become my custom, I went down the list and listened to each artist. Arlo is the standout. From the opening note of the first song, I felt myself being drawn in. This is truly great music. Real. Emotional. Powerful. I’m blown away. This is, indeed, an ESSENTIAL album. Thank you for once again introducing me to great music.
March 8, 2015 @ 6:19 pm
Blown away by this CD and hope to see it climbing the charts to the top. Hope to be hearing so much more from this band. Keep the sound true. BTW, if you read this Brain (drummer), your Grandma Niece would be tickled to death. Keep up the great work. <3
June 20, 2016 @ 9:43 pm
I call it soul touching music. Ive never heard anything else that stirred my soul or brought out such raw emotion in me. He literally brought tears to my eyes the first time I ever saw them live at a little bar called three kings years ago. I’ve been hooked ever since. This is music you cant help but feel when you listen! Love it!!!