I am in a philosophical mood so I therefore got to thinking that, in a world without end, there must surely be an infinite selection of acoustic singer songwriters determined to show due reverence to the past masters of folk and Americana. An over simplification perhaps, but Serious Sam Barrett would nonetheless, with his album “Where The White Roses Grow”, make a fine example of these honest and true practitioners that ply their trade throughout the clubs and pubs of this sceptred isle.
To his credit, Serious Sam Barrett does not allow the transatlantic influences that seem to entrance today’s roots festival bookers to dominate all his musical statements. Instead, he portrays an honesty that keeps him forever close to his Yorkshire roots and duly, and unusually for these computer regulated days, attains a notable degree of temporal stability that allows the man and his music to seem as much of yesterday as of today.
“Where The White Roses Grow” is a straightforward album that delivers a simple, and honestmessage and that isn’t as common an occurrence as it should be in these troubled times.