From football under Friday night lights via dirt roads to tales of lost faith and lousy fathers, Blitzen Trapper’s eighth studio album finds the band earnestly ticking every box on the checklist marked ‘Americana clichés’, and then some.
This might not sound like a whole bunch of fun, but the songs are performed with such obvious glee that it’s almost impossible not to be swept away by all the flag-waving.
Nights Were Made For Love is the kind of rollicking tribute to youthful innocence that Bruce Springsteen built a career on, while there are nods elsewhere to Tom Petty (on the racing road movie of the title track and on Rock And Roll), the Eagles and Bob Dylan.
The ballad Love Grow Cold has a hazy, 80s sheen and the rest of the album has its feet planted firmly in the 70s, but this is nevertheless a slick and timeless collection of songs.
