Calico Jim

North Georgia-based singer-songwriter Pony Bradshaw certainly has a fitting name for an Americana artist, plus the musical chops to back it up. *Calico Jim* draws from the long-standing tradition of Southern storytelling, with characters that would fit right into narratives by Flannery O\'Connor or William Faulkner. The title track engages with the relationship between man and nature, a theme that features prominently in much of Bradshaw\'s work. \"Dope Mountain\" is a mournful ballad about the realities—good and bad—of rural life, with the powerful opening line \"We took to stealin\' copper wire/Stashed in a laurel slick down by the old mine.\" \"Sawtoothed Jericho\" is a fiddle-driven romp built on vignettes about finding a fictional plant with healing properties. Bradshaw\'s vocal, which falls somewhere between Charlie Worsham and Tyler Childers, is as fine as his songwriting, making for a standout new contribution to the crowded Americana canon.