It’s fair to say that Ronnie Lane’s post-Faces output is probably the least celebrated music of his career. Yet it marked a particularly fascinating time in his life, forsaking the rock star life for a rural existence on a Shropshire farm and putting together a travelling carnival of souls to bring his unique wash of gypsy folk and roots – what he called hobobilly – to showgrounds and small venues throughout the land.
This warm tribute to Lane was cooked up by two veterans of his ‘70s band Slim Chance – Charlie Hart and Steve Simpson – who tracked down other ex-colleagues to revive a bunch of songs from the era.
The vocals might be a bit thin (Lane was a terrific singer, after all), but the musicianship is top-rate, especially on an accordion-led version of Anymore For Anymore.
More importantly, the whole endeavour captures the indomitable spirit and sheer joie de vivre of Lane himself.
