Western Sky Music

Bay Area bred singer songwriter Logan Ledger sets most of his songs in lightless or shadowy spaces, the bottom of the ocean, the abandoned cells of Alcatraz, dreamless bedrooms, desolate streets in the dead of night. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the Nashville based artist's self titled debut matches his moody noir lyricism with a darkly toned take on country music, a sound that's stylistically wayward, yet deeply grounded in classic songmanship. With Burnett playing guitar on more than half the tracks, the album finds Ledger backed by guitarist and pedal steel player Russ Pahl, guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Jay Bellerose, and bassist Dennis Crouch, threading in elements of acid rock, surf music and baroque 60's pop to forge a decidedly Californian sound. But as the sonic antithesis of the sunshiney folk that Jimi Hendrix called 'western sky music', the album is nearly subterranean in its mystique, indelibly informed by what Ledger refers to as 'that gloomy, nocturnal, San Francisco and Ocean Beach vibe. Rounder Records, April 3rd, 2020.