Jeff Kanzler

This Seattle-born, Alaska-based singer-songwriter debuts with a jaw-dropping set of beautifully crafted country-folk. Kanzler has a fine, expressive voice with a touch of gravel and his melodies are often sublime, reminiscent at times of early Dylan. The warm, rich production is also flat-out gorgeous, with trumpets, mandolin, dobro, pedal steel and harmonica adding lots of rootsy color to a variety of stunning, fully-realized songs. Incredibly, Kanzler has been living in the woods of the Alaskan interior for the past few years in a cabin with no running water and recorded this album up there with locals – it’s just mind-blowing, considering how great it sounds. 5/1/2007 - Don Yates, Program Director

Classic album from the Alaskan Wilderness

Sometimes, an album arrives in the post for review with little or no fanfare, and zero PR blurb. Often these albums turn out to be absolute stormers and this is certainly the case with "Black Top Road".

Kanzler writes beautifully understated tunes that straddle almost every genre of American roots music. His vocals compliment the songs beautifully, sounding like a cross between a more grizzled Ryan Adams and Johnny Hickman.

Kanzler utilises a wide variety of instruments to flesh out the arrangements of his songs. The trumpet on 'Dreams of Days That Ain't So Stormy' is particularly effective. The band is equally as comfortable playing country waltzes ('Cracked Country Living') as he is playing jazz inflected tunes ('I Will This Time').

"Black Top Road" is an essential album in a year of very few essential albums. Catch the live show when Kanzler comes to the Uk and Ireland in the Autumn. - Dan Wilkinson

Jeff Kanzler’s rough-edged voice only makes his songs that much more believable. This CD kicks off with the upbeat bluegrass of “Angelina,” although the trumpets that enter “Dreams Of Days That Ain’t So Stormy” help show off Kanzler’s spontaneous musical instincts.

Much like Ryan Adams and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Kanzler uses a natural world-weariness to his advantage. His songs are generally sad, but rarely downright depressing. Even the crying pedal steel of “Cracked Country Living” isn’t total bring-down.

Kanzler is from Alaska, not traditionally a country music hotbed. But then again, that state has far more open spaces than many other U.S. spots. The important thing is that he comes off authentic from start to finish. If you’re looking for the next big alt.country thing, Jeff Kanzler might just be the one. - Dan MacIntosh

“This CD is SO good... a real pleasure...Great songs, catching melodies, perfect vocals and subtle arrangements. It made my day!” - Mike Penard

"I get a load of CDs through every day but these songs, singing, playing and production really stand out." - Tom Fahey