Search - Slaid Cleaves :: No Angel Knows

Old Folkies -- Read This

B. Holder | Cedar Crest, NM United States | 07/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Slaid Cleaves , according to the photos in the liners of his two CDs (this one & "Broke Down"), might have had a brilliant career as a golf pro, a magazine editor or could have been gobbled up and spit out by corporate Nashville, but noooo! Instead, he became a FOLK SINGER and I'm sure there were winter nights up in Maine when his parents -- Craiger & Jenny (really, check his website) -- must have sat at their kitchen table consoling each other, that, well, they acknowledge that their son has high intelligence, COULD be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist...but he really DOES have talent, yes?, and it seems to make him happy...He has talent, yes, and he makes me, a listener unknown to him or his family, happy. This is the "boy" (OK, he's 35) whom we old country-folkies, old enough to be his folks, had hoped would come along to lead the next generation of musical storytellers.Now a resident of Austin, and a professional drug-taken for a pharmacy company there, Slaid's way of writing and singing a song is a Godsend to those of us who can't quite get behind urban folk in the way we wish we could. His voice is direct, gentle and a little country, sincere and clear. The production on his CDs is wonderful. His songs are honest and descriptive. He reminds me a bit of Tom Dundee and a bit of Greg Brown but he's not like either of them. He's bright and sensitive and not particularly angst-ridden, as far as I can tell, and that's _OK_, and I recommend him very, very hightly to you."

Classy guy, classy album

Michael Fitzgerald | Needham, MA USA | 12/01/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just recently met Slaid Cleaves, at the Blackthorne Tavern in MA, where he played for an audience of about twenty people. About one year prior to this, exactly one year actually I had gotten this very album. In due time this heartfelt work took up near constant rotation in my CD player. The songs he writes are not the happiest things, but they're very deep, and beautifully crafted. If you have a somber side, or have ever lost someone you cared about, these songs echo those feelings. Highly recommended."

One of my all-time faves!

Amanda Hillyer | VT United States | 09/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was in college, my parents saw Slaid in concert in Ripton, VT and they bought this album. If a CD could turn white from overplay, my family's copy would long ago. It took me two years to be able to see him myself, upon his return to Ripton and it was well worth it. Now, nothing beats seeing Slaid live, but his albums are great. I still cry at "Lyddie" (on "Broke Down") and "Don't Tell Me" is one of my top ten favorite songs of all time. If I had to be stranded on a desert island with only ten CDs, this would be one of them."