Lots of people are doing singer/songwriter indie-folk, and there are good reasons why. The style manages to be popular both with hipsters & the mainstream, and it hasn’t been crowded out by hip-hop or EDM. It’s relatively easy (and cheap) to do, just you & your guitar, other stuff added later, if at all. The Mumfords & more are selling out stadiums, yet there’s still room for rising newbies.
But it’s also a hard style to do well, to stand out in a crowded field – Nashville’s been chewing up aspiring musicians for decades. Yet Christopher Paul Stelling has been doing it well for years now, and still does it beautifully on Best of Luck.
After his last record took more of a political turn, 2017’s Itinerant Arias (QRO review), Best of Luck goes for the soul-baring intimacy, but also the hepstepping good time. There are heartfelt pieces like the relaxed “Lucky Stars” and closing “Goodnight Sweet Dreams”, but also the saloon rollick “Trouble Don’t Follow Me”, “Until I Die”, and “Hear Me Calling”. There’s even powerful resign in opener “Have To Do For Now” and plucking heartbreak “Made Up Your Mind”.
QRO has followed Christopher Paul Stelling for a long time now, as he’s managed to keep going far longer than most singer/songwriters, and kept up the quality. That continues with the moving Best of Luck.
