Artist:     Phil Cody

Album:     Featherbed

Label:     Back & Belly Recordings

Release Date:     08/07/2015

79

BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

Phil Cody took a bit of a detour his last time around with last year’s Cody Sings Zevon, a tribute to his mentor of sorts, Warren Zevon. This time around, he returns with a new EP that includes a take on the traditional blues hymn “St. James Infirmary,” four outstanding self-penned originals and a cover of Mark Kozelek’s “Moorestown,” done up, appropriately, like a torch song lament. Nevertheless, there’s a freewheeling feel to the album overall, thanks in no small part to the tipsy title track, a tune fashioned like an old-fashioned sprightly sing-along. Though it’s only seven songs long (including the rousing reprise of the title track), Featherbed is a breeze, a record that makes repeat listens as joyous an experience as it was the first time around. Nevertheless, “Wild Bunch (Rides Again)” makes for an unusual offering, a south of the border instrumental that leads nicely the rugged ramble of “No Long Goodbyes,” an appropriate way to end the album just prior to that final reprise. As always, Cody enlists an able support crew in Eric Heywood, Rami Jaffee and the others involved, but here again, it’s that sense of folk finesse which makes Featherbed feel as comfortable as it does.

– Lee Zimmerman