Candid Coyote
Blessed Be Those Who Weep
Self-Released
Street: 04.14
Candid Coyote = Townes Van Zandt + Gram Parsons

One of the great challenges a solo musician faces is to engage the ears of their listener, and, once they do, to elicit some kind of emotive response or make them feel a certain way. However, when you choose to use only a guitar and your voice to do so, achieving that milestone becomes exponentially more difficult. This album from local band Candid Coyote, aka singer/songwriter Chris Cullen, features a ton of country-folk ballads, with simple chords behind Cullen’s expansive lyrics. Due to the lack of depth of sound and unique melodies, the main problem on this album is that the songs tend to sound quite similar to one another, aside from the lyrics. With 14 tracks total, the bare sound of Cullen and his guitar can be a little tedious and monotonous. However, Cullen does show he can put together well-crafted tunes, and has a nice voice to back it up. –Jory Carroll