The Pilgrim | |
Type: | studio |
Artist: | Owen Campbell |
Cover: | The Pilgrim (Owen Campbell album).webp |
Studio: | 30 Mill Studios, Brunswick |
Genre: | Blues |
Producer: | Mark Opitz |
Prev Title: | Sunshine Road |
Prev Year: | 2011 |
Next Title: | Breathing Blues |
Next Year: | 2016 |
The Pilgrim is the second studio album by Australian blues singer-guitarist, Owen Campbell. It was released locally on 7 June 2013 via MGM Distribution and in the United States on Reckless Grace Music on 18 June 2013. It peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums chart.
Owen Campbell was a finalist in the sixth season of the reality TV quest, Australia's Got Talent, broadcast from April to July 2012.[1] [2] He followed with his second studio album, The Pilgrim (7 June 2013), which was recorded in Brunswick with Mark Opitz producing.[3] Campbell, on electric, slide and acoustic guitars, banjo and lead vocals, was joined in the studio by Jeff Lang on guitar and mandolin, and the Wolfgramm Sisters on vocals.[3] The Pilgrim peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums chart.[4]
Richard MacDougall of Blues Rock Review rated it at seven-out-of-ten and explained, "If you're familiar with Campbell's brand of folk-infused blues played with a shot-glass slide on an old acoustic guitar, don't attach yourself too much to the image – on Sunshine Roads follow-up and Campbell's stateside debut [album], things are a little bit grittier, dirtier, and less acoustic."[5] Workin' Man's Blues Ross Carlson felt, "[its] downright nasty electric tones that sound like a sputtering dimed out 50's fender combo. Sure it's a little muddy, but after all this is the blues, and it fits the genera well. While the album touches on a variety of genres, tunes like 'Remember to Breathe', 'Wreckin' Ball', 'Leave It Alone' are big full band mid-tempo blues rockers with huge drums, and screaming organ, and Campbell's nearly shouted vocals."[6] Rob Dickens of Listening Through the Lens observed, "[He] combines a moving, gutsy, old-time sound that combines a bluesy drawl with a stomping, soulful slide guitar. His no-frills music reveals influences from The Band, Van Morrison, Townes Van Zandt and the raspy emotion of Ray Lamontagne."[3]
MGM Distribution (ROCCD0002) Reckless Grace Music (RGM1-120)