MICHAEL J. DWYER: Midnight Train

Last heard a year ago with the country-rock combo Desert Crossing and their album Divergency, Michael J. Dwyer is back with a new release under his own name. This outing is more rock than country, although there remains a bit of country influence, giving it a roots kind of feel.

But where Desert Crossing is built around the vocal harmonies of Dwyer and Rose Darrough, here Dwyer handles all the lead vocals—and it’s a very different sound. Dwyer’s voice is rough, bordering on fraying at the edges. At times, the vocals are more spoken than sung—recalling Martin Jack Rosenblum, the Milwaukee-area folk singer and troubadour who often performed as the Holy Ranger.

And the similarities to Rosenblum, who passed in 2014, extend to Dwyer’s poetic lyrics about folks on the periphery of polite society, those struggling to get by. These two stanzas from the closing track, “Truth Ain’t What It Seems” are a nice encapsulation of Dwyer’s approach:

It took a while but I came into my own
Thought I put my memories to rest
You loved me hard but you would not stay
I was hurt I must confess

Now I sit alone waiting for someone
To come and shake the rain from my eyes
I might be the one you’ve been looking for
But I’ve been hidden in a disguise

The instrumentation includes the basics of a rock band—guitar, bass, drums—and what sounds like an accordion (or maybe harmonium), organ, strings, percussion, harmonica, and who knows what else. It all fits together into a seamless whole; the arrangements are always grounded and in service to the song. Even on the Latin-tinged “Danger in a Cuban Jail,” with a touch of the son, the Latin percussive figures only add to the atmosphere and don’t call direct attention to themselves. It’s all about the mood on every song.

The dozen songs here (11 of which are from Dwyer’s pen) are all tales of loss, hope, acceptance, and redemption. There are no neat, happy endings, and yet, hope, love and forgiveness abound in the lyrics. Even those music fans who are not particularly attuned to lyrics (such as your loyal correspondent) may find themselves paying attention on these songs.