{"product_id":"alasdair-roberts-amber-gatherers-0781484032625","title":"Amber Gatherers","description":"On 2005's No Earthly Man, Scottish singer\/songwriter Alasdair Roberts offered up eight traditional ballads with minimal accompaniment. That he pulled it off without nailing the listeners eyes shut within the first two minutes is a testament to both his gift as an interpreter, and his reedy, yet impossibly fluid and melodious voice. On the Amber Gatherers, Roberts balances regional folk songs with his own self-penned odes to heartache, death and drink, successfully blurring the line between the two like a young Nic Jones or Martin Carthy. A full band is employed this time around, and their lightly brushed drums, fingerpicked guitars, accordions, and backing vocals wrap themselves around Roberts' careful phrasing like a winter coat. Standout tracks such as \"I Had a Kiss of the King's Hand,\" \"Cruel War\" and \"Old Men of the Shells\" sound like lost cuts from the late-'60s and early-'70s British folk heydays, and a hand-drawn map of the U.K. with songtitles for cities, as well as a handy tuning chart that explains where to capo your guitar for each song, gives the whole affair a rustic, communal vibe that manages to avoid feeling contrived. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi","brand":"Drag City \/ Indigo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53444663673174,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0925\/5829\/5382\/files\/product_image_0781484032625_1_013a03d9-0203-43ed-af4b-25fdbc3ae413.jpg?v=1777992061","url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/alasdair-roberts-amber-gatherers-0781484032625","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}