A decade ago country musician
Howe Gelb, who also records as Giant Sand, traveled from his southern Arizona home to Ottawa, Canada to record a project called Sno Angel. Sno Angel was comprised of Gelb singing his loose-jointed country compositions with backing vocals by a Canadian Gospel Choir called Voices Of Praise. The recording included seven songs composed for the Sno Angel project, three covers of Giant Sand songs, and three songs by the late slide guitarist Rainer Ptacek. The album was slyly titled
Sno Angel Like You. The combination of Gelb's earthy sandpaper-soaked-in-Drambuie lead vocals, the evocative stories embodied in the songs, and the Gospel stylings of the backing vocals make for a transcendent listening experience. The performances are bursting with life, with the performers playing off each other's contributions with building energy. The production is amazingly clean, with the vocals high in the mix, as they should be.
For Gelb fans, I think this collection is a 'must have'. But I submit that this is pretty close to a 'must have' for the collection of any music fan who isn't wedded to one narrow genre. I've included streams of several album tracks below, and you can stream the entire album at the Bandcamp link
Sno Angel Like You is available now in a deluxe reissue on 3 CDs or 2 LPs.
Bandcamp for Sno Angel Like You
Facebook for Howe Gelb
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Website
Fire Records page for Howe Gelb
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