Shannon Lyon - November/December 2000
by Jim Kelly
Who: Shannon Lyon
What: fresh, acoustic country-folk
Where: Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
Website: www.shannonlyon.net
To Contact: Square Dog Records, Box 98033, 970 Queen St. E., Toronto, ON M4M 1J0 (416) 462-2560, FAX (416) 462-9158, alex@squaredog.com, summerblonde@squaredog.com
![[Shannon Lyon]](http://www.canadianmusician.com/images/showcase/shannonlyon.jpg "[Shannon Lyon]")
Sometimes it takes a few trips around the block for an artist to find the right path. For Shannon Lyon and his most recent album, Summer Blonde, that road leads to where the pavement turns to clay. Having released a string of solo albums since 1995’s Buffalo White, all of which Lyon says have ended up “in limbo” and can’t be found anywhere, the Kitchener-Waterloo singer-songwriter took some time to get various aspects of his personal life together. Then he returned to the studio refreshed and with a clean slate. In fact, he’s been saying that Summer Blonde feels like his “first record.” “I was really finally focused,” Lyon explains. “The songs I was writing at that point, it felt like I jumped on a really good tack, emotionally. It just felt right.” And it sounds right, too. With acoustic instrumentation and sparse arrangements creating a sound as open and spacious as a prairie afternoon, Summer Blonde evokes the lyrical country-folk of Neil Young’s classic Harvest album. With Lyon contributing crisp, straightforward acoustic guitar, hickory-flavoured vocals and the occasional harmonica, the album also features the soft weep of pedal steel guitar courtesy of Kim Deschamps, and beautifully blended vocal harmonies by the lovely, honest voice of Lisa Winn. From the breezy, carefree opening track “The Hobo Song”, to the rustic fatalism of “Right Time Of The Year”, and the heart-rending, breakin’-us-up title track, the songs are sometimes pure and easy-going, sometimes bleak and introspective, but always satisfying and always real. Highly recommended.
