GC015 – Cris Mantello ‘Thirteen’

Cris Mantello takes us on a musical journey, an allegory of a deep inner journey. ‘Thirteen’ is not just a record, a collection of songs born from his undisputed talent as a songwriter, but above all a new page of his recording career.
After the transition represented by ‘Keep On Rollin’, a record where rockabilly influences are still strong and which somehow quickly investigates the possible paths to follow, Cris Mantello chooses the less obvious and certainly more bumpy one. The musical style which, in the context of the American tradition, represents the most direct but also the most uncomfortable consequence, but which is able to adapt better to its artistic maturity. ‘Thirteen’ is a true Honky Tonk album in which Cris Mantello preserves the authenticity of his style by dressing his songs in a new and fresh guise.

<< Starting west from Nashville, Tennessee, the road to Bakersfield is long and lonely. 2,020 miles through Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and after about 30 hours of travel, you are in California! The radios will offer you a wide choice of excellent music to keep you company, but, alas, the reception is not always good along this desolate path. Thirteen is an excellent travel companion, between sunsets in the desert and sunrises in the plains of Indian reserves. This is the soul of this album: a little rough and lonely, a little sad and gloomy, as in the best Honky Tonk tradition.Thirteen is a journey into the deep, between what has been and is no longer and what perhaps will never be. A pure American sound will accompany you through times and places, suspended between a beautiful dream and an arid reality. Thirteen is a cocktail with Bourbon and broken dreams that sometimes tear you a smile and often a tear and will give you emotions that you will keep with you for a lifetime >>

Cris Mantello is used to dress his music, to live it deeply, and he puts all of himself in this album: << … I am a smile with a tear, I am this music in your ear. >>

Tracklist

  1. 10 Bucks
  2. Don’t Use Your Heart
  3. I’m a Smile with a Tear
  4. That Gal
  5. Fat Chick Boogie
  6. Crazy Arms
  7. Honky Tonk Gals
  8. Yodelin’ with Me
  9. I Forgot How to Sip
  10. Fake Smile
  11. Lovesick Blues
  12. Up and Down
  13. Broken

GC015 Go Country Records, available in digital (download and streaming) and physical (CD and 12” 180g vinyl LP) formats.

Reviews

[IT] Musicalmind, Feb-24-2020

Cris Mantello’s ‘Thirteen’ on Spotify