Buddies, the duo offering from songwriters
Frank Turner and
Jon Snodgrass, contains ten songs, nine of which were written in one evening on the latter's back porch in Colorado. Its brief 24-minute length makes it more an EP than an album. The entire set was recorded direct to four-track over four hours the following day. To say that this offering sounds informal is an understatement. It's downright ragged; depending on your opinion, that may be part of its charm. There is plenty of between-song banter by the pair, and some of it is actually entertaining. "Styx: The Man, The Band" is little more than a title with some quickly tossed-off chords, while "Susannah" is a song about the key of "C," because
Turner refused to play a love song in any but that one. The opening title track, co-written back in 2009, intentionally paraphrases the lyrics from "Luckenbach, Texas" in its first verse in homage to their musician friends, and is easily the best thing here. "Ballad of Steve" features some of
Turner's quickest, turn-on-a-dime freestyle rhyme schemes.
Snodgrass' convincing country and blues influences are felt prominently on "New Orleansy." More than likely,
Buddies will appeal primarily to the most ardent of
Turner and
Snodgrass fans.