The brag & cuss, Votolato’s fifth, marks a major turning point in his career. Unlike the minimal acoustic guitar and vocals of makers (his previous release), the brag and cuss is very much a band record. Featuring James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens) on drums, Bill Herzog (Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter) on bass, Casey Foubert (Pedro the Lion) on electric guitar, banjo, mandolin and percussion, and Rick Steff (Catpower, Hank Williams, Jr.) on Hammond b3, piano, and accordion, there’s a cohesion and thickness to this record that can only come from a group of exceptionally talented musicians playing off each other. The bare emotion that made makers great is still present in spades, but this time Votolato has ventured further in to the classic country territory of lovers, drinkers, and the distant oasis of a truck stop on a stretch of dark highway. Votolato can paint broad pictures with a simple turn of phrase, and on this record he pulls you into a world of reminiscences and feelings that are truly timeless and eminently human.
