2005

Rootstime, February 2005

In November 2004 we were enthusiastic about Markus Rill's album "Hobo Dream" which proved that this German artist has every right to claim a place among his American singer/songwriter colleagues in the world of Americana/alt.country/roots. At the beginning of 2005 he played some shows in Nashville and the Seattle area and surprised us with the release of the appropriately titled "The Hobo Companion".

This albums contains covers of such classics as "Waiting Around To Die" (Townes Van Zandt) and "Folsom Prison Blues" (J.Cash) in a steaming rootsrock version with his band The Gunslingers on full throttle, and a superb version of "If I Needed You/Ft. Worth Blues" by Townes van Zandt and Steve Earle, respectively. The last one being a duet with Seattle-ite Rachel Harrington (see review Sept.04) which once again proves that she's got the goods to develop into one of the leading ladies in the singer/songwriter world. Markus also gets Rachel's much appreciated support on some of his own numbers like "Hobo Dream", "Where Do We Go From Here" and "Run Run Run". Their partnership also resulted in a successful duo tour of Germany. With his versions of "One More Dollar" (Gillian Welch) and "So I Can Take My rest" (Robert Earl Keen) Markus Rill completes the list of his favorite songs with two more skilfully arranged covers.

For those of you who do not yet own anything by Markus Rill, "The Hobo Companion" is a good place to start because it shows Markus Rill's vast possibilities. Some songs are a little quieter, others bluesier than the material on his other records, and the live stuff has plenty of rough edges. With new versions of previously released songs, new originals, and covers, Markus Rill proves once again that he belongs in the gallery of the greats. (SWA)

Original review: Rootstime