Henry’s Funeral Shoe: Donkey Jacket

As the plaintive acoustic closing track of debut album Everything’s For Sale suggested, there’s more to Welsh power duo Henry’s Funeral Shoe than early ’70s-inspired pedal-to-the-metal punk-blues rawk ‘n’ roll. With the follow-up Donkey Jacket, the Clifford brothers, Aled (vocals/guitars) and Brennig (drums/percussion), skillfully demonstrate this by crossing the borderline between electric-blues-powered rock-a-boogie and acoustic country-blues more than once during the varied course of the album’s 10 songs. While listening, you even get the sense that, as with LPs of yore, time was actually spent on putting together the track list. “Bottom to the Top”, with the help of John “Ned” Edwards on slide guitar and mandolin, travels a similar country-blues trail to Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, while other highlights include the brooding, electric southern gothic of “The Walking Crawl”, and the beautiful love song “Heart on Fire”. Like all great second albums, this builds upon the first and makes you long to hear the third.