Rainy Eyes - Lonesome Highway (2024) Hi-Res (468.9 MB) music download

Quality: FLAC 24 bit / 44.1 kHz (Tracks)
Artist: Rainy Eyes
Album: Lonesome Highway
Genre: Country
Released: 2024

Tracklisting:
1. Misty Mama (3:42)
2. Lonesome Highway (3:58)
3. You Just Want What You Can't Have (4:10)
4. Idaho (3:04)
5. A Little Dream (3:24)
6. To Take His Life (4:19)
7. Faded Away (5:57)
8. Set Me Free (2:28)
9. Just A Little Rain (4:44)
10. I Thought About You (4:23)
11. Monday's Gonna Come Around (3:59)

Raised in Norway splitting her time between a rural sheep farm and Bergen, the country's second-largest city, Irena Eide, who performs as Rainy Eyes, has since bounced around from Denmark to the Bay Area before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana. On Lonesome Highway, Eide has wisely surrounded herself with a talented group of friends and collaborators including singer/fiddle player Phoebe Hunt, bassist Sam Grisman (son of bluegrass legend Dave Grisman), and utility player Dirk Powell (banjo, fiddle, guitar), who produced the album with Eide. The album opens with the moody, midtempo "Misty Mama," which leans on fiddle and Eide's winsome vocals, before shifting into high gear with the title track which more than holds its own with scores of other wreck and ruin road songs. Its melody hits all the right notes and Eide's slightly weary, matter-of-fact delivery—raised an octave in the last chorus—effectively sells the song: "Mama she liked drinking/ Pins and needles, too/ Strung out on the couch with/ The cocaine blues/ Baby girl on the kitchen counter/ Cooking a can of beans/ While mama's on the corner/ To make a little green." In the slow, emphatic "Idaho," she yearns for something more than company on her journey as fiddles saw in the background. "Come and lay your weary bones/ I'll feed your hungry soul/ We can make our own dimension/ But two halves don't make/ A whole." Mixing gospel tambourines with jumpy southern blues 'n' boogie, "Set Me Free" is a short and sweet change of pace. "Just a Little Rain" tells the story of her travels with an effective refrain of "Just a little, just a little/ Just a little, just a little rain"—which switches to "pain" in the last verse. Autobiography also colors the toxic tale behind "I Thought About You," where Eide's voice multiplies and echoes to add emphasis. With smarter original tunes, sharper vocals, and varied arrangements, Rainey Eyes has taken a giant step forward from her 2019 debut, Moon in the Mirror. Another strong singer/songwriter currently imbuing Americana with rich promise.