Search - Big Ditch Road :: Ring

City Pages

04/13/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's a shame Big Ditch Road didn't release Ring back in November. The band's debut album would be the perfect companion for a cold, lonesome January night in Minnesota. Darin Wald's bleak tales of failed romances and dashed hopes, set against sparse country melodies accented with pedal steel and fiddle, burn like whiskey going down. Wald has a gorgeous, fragile baritone that at times evokes Richard Buckner. At the the albums quieter moments it feels like he's whispering the darkest secrets of his heart directly into your ear. This is Wald's first collection of tunes. Hopefully it won't be his last. -Paul Demko, City Pages"