Cornmeal: Slow Street

Sam D’Arcangelo on September 3, 2015

Cornmeal have returned to the world of recorded music with Slow Street, their first studio album since 2006. The record, which is also the band’s only release since longtime fiddler Allie Kral parted ways with them in 2013, finds the group showcasing their harmony-filled roots sound, while also delivering more extended jams than your average studio effort. Slow Streets opens nicely with “Goodnight, My Darling,” an enjoyable tune that sets the tone for what lies ahead. The first of the album’s three 9-minute-plus tracks—“Coming Back Home”— arrives next, complete with some lengthy fiddle and electric-guitar interplay, and a trio of background vocalists. A pair of foot-stompers, “Oh Leah Lea” and “Long Hard Road,” follows “Lay Me Down” before the band jams out once more on the slow-building “All Things Must Change.” The back half of the LP strays into unremarkable territory before finding its footing once more with “Rise Above,” a monstrous track that goes full-on classic rock with killer fiddle and electric-guitar soloing. Slow Streets then wraps up with some traditional bluegrass in “Trouble Gonna Find Me.”

Artist: Cornmeal
Album: Slow Street
Label: Self-Released