After having delighted fans all over the US and beyond with his highly acclaimed band The Nadas, Jason Walsmith has now opened a solo parenthesis and offers up his debut solo album “Overlander”. In a epoch in which road movies are once again hip with Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” winning the award for Best Picture, this album could be an ideal soundtrack to this picture. In every track, the travelling soul that is Jason Walsmith is highly palpable from the dust coated and gravel paved “Camper Van” to “Follow The Land Line”, this album just screams “hop into your vehicle and play me”. With the honed skill of the great singer songwriter he is, the Iowa native paints mental pictures so vivid with his melodic and at times bittersweet numbers that you don’t know how you could have done without them before. Add with this some incredibly rich lyrical content which tell the stories of the human condition, going back to simpler times and just all round relatable themes. If there ever was an album to listen to while out there on the road, this is the one. We shall be watching Jason’s career with great interest and will like those children of old we will be scooching closer to the fire to hear our bearded story teller spin yarns till the ashes die down. ( Nik Bernitz Pizzigoni)
