While I mostly think of Fargo Records (Andrew Bird, Richard Buckner, Jesse Sykes) as the great French offshoot of successful American labels, solely responsible for importing and spreading the Americana sound to all of Europe, they are also responsible for some pretty great releases of their own. Ironically these “Americana” releases that originate from Fargo are now imports in this country (same story with Germany’s Glitterhouse label)
Their recent homegrown release is by Danny George Wilson who is one half of the beloved English group Grand Drive. While all of Danny’s contemporaries were releasing standard britpop or lackluster shoegazing music he and his brother were creating Americana flavored rock. Rather than just copy what they’d heard they used Americana as a template for their own ideas, substituting English people and places and creating their own sound
This is what Danny George Wilson also brings to his debut solo record The Famous Mad Mile (Fargo). It’s great to hear the gentle folk/american twang of this recording yet also hear the lyrics about Big Ben and other UK locations. Guests include Jess Klein and members of Willard Grant Conspiracy. Buy it now through Fargo.
