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Album Details

• Artist: Mark Thomas Stockert
• Album: Chatelaine Saloon
• Label: Eclectone
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-01-31

First off, I've never heard of Mark Thomas Stockert before but the awesome felt/velvet packaging grabbed my attention and I threw it on right away. This is how you get someone to pay attention. Sure, it costs money but it makes critics such as myself think that they or their label are really behind the music contained within. Chatelaine Saloon is the debut album for Mark and it is a showcase of fine Americana music. Showcase in the fact that Chatelaine Saloon is one of the most diverse collection of country related songs in quite some time. I hear a little similarity to Sixteen Horsepower but believe it or not Stockert manages to pull off an even more diverse collection of slow trodden country songs. Don't take the first track "Cowboy Song" as an example of what to come. While this song is awesome it really doesn't give you an idea of what to expect. It's much brighter and more hopeful than a a lot of the songs on Saloon. Some of the songs even take on a very spookey life of their own. Take "Oh Daddy" as an example, the banjo and guitar play off of each other as well as the bells (chimes, xylophone or something) and Mark's quiet baritone voice slinking along. Then he moves into "Light Me Up" which puts the recording of My Morning Jacket to shame. Then there's the really dark and slow "Devil". Seems the slower the song the better the creativity. Oh, did I mention diverse? What about honest and clever? Maybe even passionate? Yeah, Mark Thomas Stockert really has created a fantastic debut album that will gain him attention in the No Depression crowd, and even outside of that crowd as well.

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