Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We live in a world where loyalty is questioned and where fidelity is routinely interrogated as if it were part of a plot to overthrow a balance in nature where the suspicious and sceptical are the main players to be concerned of; everyone wants to be feel as if they are the only ones capable of showing such trust, that their word is not just a bond, but is the only one others can trust.

You can be a good person and still fail, you can still fall and count yourself on the side of the angels, perhaps ones with the occasional slightly crooked intentions, but none the less ones to whom words are binding and fair, for who is counting one moment of fallen steadfastness in a million righteous moves, a momentary plunge into the realm of the misplaced promise in otherwise sincerely and bound place where The Troth Sessions exist.

Rich Krueger is a man for all seasons, a pure example of the idea of being a renaissance man, nothing is off limits in the pursuit of learning and being a teacher to those who want to follow in the path of music, science and the art of conversing without judging. It is in this pursuit, this questioning mind has moulded his latest release, The Troth Sessions into an album of extraordinary beauty; one that is also unafraid to be seen urging others to examine themselves in the hope that it sparks the one loyalty that money cannot buy and in which the soul is the true beneficiary; that of the spirit of the whole.

These are not so much as tracks, songs in which the chorus is lined up behind the action adding a sense of drama to the occasion, for in truth, The Troth Sessions is its own majesty, a loyalty shown to the audience’s emotions and the performer’s soul in equal measure. Through the measure of honesty and faithful interpretation, Charlie Guitar, Love Is Gonna Break The Fall, the exceptional The Ballad Of Mary O’ Connor, The Uncertainty Principle (After Heisenberg) and the beguiling There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy (Red Book #493), Rich Krueger hands the understanding of truth to the listener, and knows that he can only guide, never demand, a legitimacy in itself that many misunderstand when they ask of others to declare fealty where it is undeserved.

An album of grace, delivered by a voice that catches the heart, performed with clemency in its arms; The Troth Sessions is understanding of the ability to fall but also rise again with honour.

Rich Krueger’s The Troth Sessions is out now.

Ian D. Hall