Aaron Winters

by Ryan Shoemaker


Man, there is nothing like putting on a cd for the first time and having it literally stop you in your tracks with its beauty and power right out of the gate. The new release from Aaron Winters, Nightingale, did the trick. Armed with just an acoustic guitar, a great voice, and a strong sense of song, Aaron delivers 12 tracks of singer-songwriter bliss.

From the opening song "Hot and Cold" a mid-tempo piece, Aaron captures your ear with a style merging the smooth, airy voice of a John Mayer with a delivery reminiscent of Jack Johnson or G. Love. It's an intriguing and powerful mix that balances the hot and cold perfectly. He rarely misses, only seeming to strain the outer limits of his voice on a couple of tracks. And he sings with palpable emotion throughout. His lyrics and his performance will take you into sometimes familiar places, like the strange mix of anguish and humor found in a relationship going wrong when he sings on "Hot and Cold", "Take those pictures of us off of the bed, Fix my heart now you're hurting my head, Bring my dog yes I'm taking him back, Please don't laugh man you're cute when you're mad." It's spot on and it's achingly beautiful to listen to.

The cd flows along, nice and smooth from there, and then you reach its heart. The 4 middle tracks, "Nightingale", "She Don't Listen", "Estrella" and "The Victim" may be among the strongest 4 consecutive pieces on an album in this genre, independent or otherwise, I've heard in years. Truly a remarkable quartet of songs.

The discs final 2 cuts are solid, though probably a cut below the high standard set by the first 10, but all in all this is a masterful debut release.

Aaron cites influences ranging form the aforementioned Jack Johnson, to alt-country boy wonder Ryan Adams, to even his own family. Aaron's aunt Jonie Mosbie was an active country artist, performing with Willie Nelson, and even winning a CMA award in the late '60s. While country has its influence on Aaron, this is most definitely not a country record. Aaron says of his lyrics that, "I spill out my guts into stories and sometimes just sentence fragments of however I'm feeling when I sit down. It's a blend of a bunch of love songs and fictional scenarios. I really should stop writing about girls and start writing about something I'm more familiar with though. My words definitely flow from a sort of emotional diversity."

The cd was recorded and engineered by John Curley at Ultrasuede Studios, and is bright, full, and clean. The guitar sound is rich, and Aaron's voice carries nearly every song to perfection. The balance is flawless, melding his playing and vocal at the right level to highlight what you should be listening to…these wonderful songs.


  - www.cincymusic.com