From A Room: Volume 2 (LP)

Like its predecessor from earlier this year, volume two of Chris Stapleton's From A Room is a brew of country, folk, blues and Southern rock and soul, recorded at Nashville's vintage RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb. The band's the same but leaner, stripped to guitars, bass, drums and Stapleton's mighty voice, with harmonies by his wife, Morgane, smartly moved up in the mix. Again, the songs feel like unearthed classics. "Midnight Train to Memphis" is a lockdown rocker recalling "Folsom Prison Blues," and "A Simple Song" might be vintage James Taylor if JT had kept to his Southern roots.