Album Review: Ashton Lane 'Nashville Heart'

Ashton Lane was formed after singer-songwriter Esther Duffin met her now husband Tim O’Connor at one of her solo shows down a street in Glasgow (also called Ashton Lane). In addition to touring the UK and playing in Nashville and around Europe, the duo have had over 1.5 million views of their You Tube “Kitchen Session” series.  

Now, the husband and wife team have released their newest record, Nashville Heart. Produced by Graeme Duffin (of Wet Wet Wet), the project’s story songs are all originals, mostly having been written in collaboration with the fans. Esther explains, "We have a loyal and enthusiastic online fan base and so we reached out to our supporters for them to share their stories with us - the result is Nashville Heart featuring lyrics that we would otherwise probably have never written. The process has been genuinely collaborative and we are grateful to our fans for helping us create something very special."

The fifteen track collection encompass a range of emotions in story songs that give a nod to California, American holidays (on the nostalgic “4th of July”) and Music City (in the title track). Esther’s ethereal voice adapts to successfully convey the overall feel of a song, whether it is confidence (“Looking Out for Number One”), thoughtfulness (“Breathe You In”) or something sweetly romantic (on the pop-tinged “One Kiss Later”). The couple duet on the wistful “When We Were Young” and harmonize on “Picture Perfect” while the instrumentation (think acoustic guitar and fiddle) throughout merges the more traditional (the folky “Seventeen”) with the contemporary, including the gothic feel of “Coastline.”

Although the duo are from the UK, their style - a mix of Folk, Country, Americana and some Pop - would be a welcome addition to the musical landscape here in the US.

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