You’ll be forgiven if your initial impression of Brian Seymour’s American Courage is that it’s a folkie singer/songwriter album. The opener “Always Leaving” depends on solid, never flashy, acoustic guitar, Seymour’s weathered yet soulful voice, and a judicious dollop of organ for its success. It’s musical sleight of hand, however. Seymour can turn out excellent songs in this vein, without a doubt, but the remaining nine tracks prove he is much, much more than a folk singer.
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“So Much Love” is full of desire, realized and thwarted, but never defeated. Many of the songs, if not all, included on American Courage acknowledge life’s difficulties in one fashion or another, but they equally recognize the possibilities of existence, even by virtue of their existence alone. “So Much Love” practically throbs with enduring hope. In the face of life’s obstacles, Seymour’s love remains an abiding strength that he can and does draw upon. It informs his art in a multitude of ways.
The album’s title song is its big moment. Piano plays an enormous role in the musical makeup of Seymour’s songs and it’s the crucial element underpinning “American Courage”. Classical touches such as strings bring extra grandeur to bear for this song without ever pushing the song into ham-fisted pseudo significance. He especially highlights his lyrical skills here but, once again, Seymour’s artistry is in full view and he’s careful to never cross the line into overbearing territory.
“Everyday Girl” has some of the same pomp and circumstance, but it’s much more in a pop mold than the title song. Seymour has a genuine gift for composing material that has widespread appeal without ever compromising the artistic aesthetic at the heart of each performance. This is a song that virtually anyone will enjoy without feeling like it’s some sort of guilty pleasure. “Slowing Down” is one of the album’s most mature and fully-developed pieces. It’s an invigorating look at life from a middle-aged perspective but free from the usual dead weight of cliches that would drag down lesser tunes in the same vein. His lyrics are again a high point of this specific song.
“Jigsawed” is an outstanding late entry on the release. The slow evolution of this tune and its deliberate pace has a lulling effect, but it is never dull. It affords Seymour the right sonic environment to relax his delivery, as well, and Seymour treats us to a gentler side of his vocal abilities as a result. “Man of My Dreams” is another gorgeous piano-laden composition that eschews the pop influences of earlier tunes in favor of a much more spartan musical landscape. It’s nonetheless satisfying in every way and Seymour’s singing, in particular, pierces the heart.
Brian Seymour is a lifer. He’s one of those selected musicians who you know would never stop playing music, singing, and writing songs even if he never recorded another note. His continued willingness, even after ten years, to put himself on the line as he does with American Courage testifies to many things, but his faith in life’s promise burns as bright as ever.
Heather Savage