Patrick Dethlefs

Steeped in the sorrowful tradition of country-folk legends and other sad bastards — and blessed with a wizened, earnest voice that seems older than its bearer — Patrick Dethlefs pens and performs his songs of loss and loneliness with disarming clarity and simplicity. His second full-length album, “Fall and Rise,” is filled with tightly arranged, passionately performed and hauntingly melodic tunes that build on the quiet power of his 2010 debut album and last year’s split EP with the Eye & the Arrow. Dethlefs is backed by a crack team of players, including Aaron Youngberg (Hit and Run Bluegrass Band, Finnders and Youngberg), Paul DeHaven (the Eye & the Arrow, Paper Bird), Macon Terry (Paper Bird), Jason Hass Hecker (the Eye & the Arrow), Mark Anderson (the Eye & the Arrow) and fiddler Justin Hoffenberg. Steal the album’s title track below, then get down to Swallow Hill this Friday night to hear Dethlefs work his magic live, sharing the stage with Esme Collins of Paper Bird. - The Denver Post

Fall & Rise
Self-Released
By Jon Solomon
Thursday, Aug 9 2012

Patrick Dethlefs started penning tunes at the age of fifteen, and while the songwriting on his debut, 2010's Stays the Same, showed a great deal of depth, his sophomore release, Fall & Rise, makes it even more apparent that he has talent beyond his years. Dethlefs has a warm delivery that recalls a young Jackson Browne filtered through Ray LaMontagne, and here his songs rise eloquently with the help of some friends — including, most notably, Paper Bird guitarist Paul Dehaven; one of that outfit's singers, Sarah Anderson; and Sarah's brother Mark, who primarily lays down mallets-on-tom beats throughout about half of the ten-song album while adding a country shuffle on songs like "Will I Ever Find Way" and "We Keep Going." Dethlefs is most definitely worth keeping a keen eye on, as his star is likely to continue rising. - Denver Westword

4 out of 5 stars

Patrick Dethlefs’ parents couldn’t have had any idea what the impact would be when in the late 1990s they bought their then 12-year-old son a guitar.

The young Dethlefs soon started writing songs on his own and several years later he took home Best Teen Songwriter award from Swallow Hill Music. Now, just a few years after that, Dethlefs is on his second full-length album, which again features songwriting that is more mature than most artists twice his age.

Much of the album — songs like “Far Away,” “As For The Songs,” “I’ll Be Gone,”— is on the more indie side of folk and would sit well alongside Cary Brothers or Ray LaMontagne tracks. But other songs, like “Fall & Rise” and “For A Change,” tend to bring forth a more traditional folk sound. But whichever side of the spectrum that Dethlefs is tapping, he does it with wonderful results. His writing is strong and the record flows amazingly well between songs - Marquee Magazine