Flesh & Bone

Classy Canadiana from the wonderful True North Records who have a host of Beat Surrender favourites on their roster and have struck another chord with me with the release of Flesh & Bone from the Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Barney Bentall.

I’ll be straight I’d not heard the name before though this is Bentall’s third solo release and his career that kicked of back in 1978 has delivered three independent albums and seven studio albums, in the late eighties he formed The Legendary Hearts who’s self-titled debut album made it to Platinum status in his native Canada and delivered three hit singles and a Juno Award. In-between Bentall moved to British Columbia’s Cariboo region to a cattle ranch an experience that was in part responsible for his 2007 solo release Gift Horse.

Flesh & Bone features eleven original self produced Bentall songs which he recorded The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, a mainly acoustic affair Bentall recruited a host of supporting musicians to embellish his guitar and vocals including Kendal Carson who plays fiddle on five of the tracks.