Stepping into Barna Howard‘s world is akin to travelling back in time to the days when John Hartford was writing hit pop songs and Bob Dylan was mellowing his mind thinking of Nashville skylines. There’s an unabashed late sixties/early seventies patina throughout his second album, Quite a Feelin‘ which in addition to the above also recalls John Prine, Kris Kristofferson and a host of other denim clad troubadours who straddled the worlds of folk and country back then. The music is laid back, acoustic guitars, mandolin, Dobro, banjo and occasional pedal steel predominate over a sturdy but unobtrusive bass line. Howard’s voice is excellent, a slight honeyed twang that marks his Missouri origins, it pours smoothly over the songs giving the album a nice warm ring. To cap it all…
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…the songs are, for the most part, miniature gems, melodically surefooted with lyrics that capture small town and country life with a gimlet eye.
There are several songs here that can stand tall next to those of Prine or Kristofferson’s prime years. “Rooster Still Crows” is a litany of sorrowful vignettes, a suicide note that still hurts, a heart attack victim and a widow’s decline, delivered with a melancholic beauty while “Hands Like Gloves” is a bruised portrait of a victim of domestic violence hiding behind a door with her pills and alcohol. “Notches On a Frame” is an excellent meditation on the fleetingness of childhood and nostalgia for youthful days also features in “Then and There,” a wistful series of recollections of growing up ranging from the kid running around backyards to the teenager’s first kiss. “Indiana Rose,” which opens the album, is another tale stuffed with memories as the singer recalls happier times with the aid of a song from a jukebox.
The music here is Nashville pop as on Gentle On My Mind, breezy and rippling, joyous and infectious. Finally, the title song is a fine mix of Hartford like melody and earlier sixties songwriters. It’s more sinewy than the other songs and the guitar breaks are reminiscent of those provided by Bruce Langhorne for Dylan. Overall Howard easily overcomes his undoubted indebtedness to his forebears as his songs all shine with their own lustre. Quite A Feelin’ has the feel of a classic album which deserves to be heard far and wide.