Album Details

• Artist: Scott Dunbar
• Album: Two Years To Live
• Label: http://scottdunbaronemanband.bandcamp.co
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2011-03-08

To call Scott Dunbar old school would be insulting. His brand of folk and blues-topical, concerned about the world, and tested and shared on many a street corner, is not nostalgic or a hymn to played-out 60s fantasies. This is what folk music ought to be-direct, immediate, and relevant, delivered with humor and fearlessness. The 2CD "Two Years To Live" is brimming with reasons to be relieved that such music is still out there.

Eclectic is a weak word to describe the guitarist/accordionist. His music is all over the place, from blues to children's sing-alongs to, on songs like "Bicycles," hummable pop. And while his more angry tunes do take on relatively easy targets ("I'm Dick Cheney") they are just as often full of compassion along with righteous anger ("Bullet Fee," "Ordinary Man"). What would a folk record be without personal songs too? They are here, and they are filled with self-deprecating honesty ("My Feathers") and  deadly wisdom ("The Girls of Montreal"). Like Bill Hicks did for his fellow comedians, Scott Dunbar shames other folk singers into asking themselves why they aren't delivering with as much honesty and truth.

It is idea as old as music itself: a man alone, busking from place to place, singing it out whether or not he get the desired reaction. To proclaim is the thing. Scott Dunbar is in step with the greats in that regard. Dizzying in the ease of ambition, word-play and topics, "Two Years To Live" is a staggering testament from a guy who is only beginning to record. Whether you hear it on your street corner or in your iPod, Dunbar's voice is a welcome addition to the list of music from the heart.

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