Wilkinson Blades are a Northwest band on the Shiftone Records label. The group features former Gravelpit member Steve Wilkinson, along with excellent players with whom he chooses to work. In this case that means Rob Stroup, Grant Cumpston, Rich Lander, Jonathan Buyer, Sara Jean Zito, Rachael Taylor Brown, Drew Norman, Professor Gall, Sean Flora, Anthony Lambright, and Pete Vercelotti. That is a lot of great first class musicians in one line-up. It is surely one of the reasons these songs and their sound together is so great. The way they blend is magical as they flow and swirl around together like butter churning in a mixer. The genres combined here are pretty widely assorted as well, but the music is essentially Americana. Still,  inflections of everything from folk and psychedelic rock, to country, bluegrass and even pop can be heard clearly. Most of the tracks are penned by Wilkinson himself, with the exception of a few co-written and one cover of a great classic “Some Velvet Morning.” Shiftone are on the rise, and they're taking this band with them, and this comes much recommended. The title centers around the time of morning where Wilkinson’s best ideas come to light in his head, when things really start cooking for him. There were many friends involved in getting a band sound without the confinements of a band, including some co-wrting from the excellent Nick Peets, and also Rob Barteletti. They both put in such fine contributions that they deserve mentioning as part of the recording.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.