Balthrop Alabama's Subway Cowboy Songs

In 2006 Alabama born songwriter siblings Pascal and Lauren Balthrop packed their bags and moved to New York City in an effort to start a band and live the rock and roll life. What they didn't expect to do was sort of found their own town of Balthrop, Alabama complete with a bustling population of eleven members of fellow musicians and like mind thinkers. Within two years, the band or should I say, town had already released one double album (Your Big Plans and Our Little Town) and a series of EP's. Now in their second year the band/town are preparing to release their latest double album opus, Subway Songs / Cowboy Songs.
Made up of two parts the music is divided betweenSubway Songs / Cowboy Songs as the title suggests. The tunes on the Cowboy Songs disc are a bit more country and folky with pedal steel, twanged out vocals, acoustic guitars all taking center stage. The songs as a result are rustic, humorous, countrified folk-pop charmers that yearn for the rural life while living in the city. Their simple nature harks back to the Balthrop's home state and lack the hustle and bustle of NYC and their own township. It's a fun listen that tugs at the heart while wooing your ears with a nearly traditional country like quality.

Subway Songs, on the other hand, is a bit more orchestral and uptown but still rooted in it's folk-pop roots. Somehow, the band manage to make things like banjos sound as if they're common things in the big city and that's good because it gives the songs a sense of wanting to escape the pace of the city while never actually leaving. Strangely, and despite the use of banjos, Subway Songs ends up sounding less folk-pop than it's predecessor and a bit more klezmer. Whether or not the Jewish influence on these songs was intentional or subtle is irrelevant, but that influence helps shape the songs into something that paints a picture of the urban cityscape.
Balthrop, Alabama are a not only a group but a city of musical gypsies that soak up the influences of wherever they roam in an effort to create intersting music. They succeed on Subway Songs / Cowboy Songs as the double album is a study in contrasts, influences, and instrumentation. And while they may only have a population of eleven, Balthrop, Alabama have songs bigger than their borders can contain...even if they are fictional.