Black Sheep

Martin Sexton's second album Black Sheep comes out of the gate with a title track both confident and moving, and it's evident before the second chorus that Sexton bypassed a sophomore slump. He sounds more concerned with showing his fans the better parts of his life's record collection as transmitted through his own songs. The opener reveals a man with an undying love for vintage Motown, while the blue-eyed, soul-tinged "Glory Bound" boasts an incredible soaring falsetto not heard since Mick Hucknall's outstanding vocals on Simply Red's 1985 hit "Holding Back the Years." The peppy "Diner" moves with the sunny locomotion of a Woody Guthrie boxcar-hopping ditty, and "Freedom of the Road" segues into a smoky Memphis-flavored ballad with rich singing reminiscent of Eddie Hinton or Otis Redding. The aptly titled "Over My Head" is a heady acoustic song with sublimely beautiful guitar work in the British folk vein of John Martyn's epic 1973 album Solid Air and "Gypsy Woman" bounces playfully on Eastern European influences. And closing with a Stevie Wonder-inspired take on "America the Beautiful" is a truly awesome way to end an album this good.