On his terrific sophomore record, Wall paints a portrait of a mythic Canadiana, a western region of lonesome plains and grizzled frontiersmen, of rodeos and gunfighters, of hardscrabble existences and unlucky bounces.

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Pitchfork

With his husky, sensitive baritone, this son of Canada’s Prairie Provinces mixes the tales of modern and historic wanderers on his second sterling album of traditional folk and country.

Songs of the Plains is an impressive, lean and mean follow-up to Wall’s self-titled breakthrough, building on the promise contained in the latter and unapologetically following his influences into the sunset, prevailing trends be damned.

The set walks a fine line with its retro-fetishism, but it manages to dodge hokey-ness thanks to Wall’s great voice, a low-key delivery, and invitingly haunted backdrops.

Colter Wall captures a long-forgotten time and place, keeping the cowboy folklore alive by reminding us that poignant songs sung by a superb singer will never sound outdated.

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dearsongs

Sounding like a cowboy from the late 19th century who's been smoking cigarettes since his youth. With these 11 songs it's easy to see why some have been raving about this 23 yo for awhile now...

Bleak songs, stark arrangements. This is timeless music. As we all take part in the general absurdity of life in 2018, its really something else that a Canadian dude who moved down to Nashville is making music like this. It would be easy to dismiss this, but I can't do that when the man sounds so ... read more

3y*

jordymusic

This is nothing new stylistically but the way the smooth western compositions give shine to Colter Wall's broody vocal and sweet picturesque lyricism is something I can always get behind if the quality is there. On Songs of the Plains it certainly is.

Chris Coltrane

Wall has crafted a rattling rendition of what's considered classic country. Vast dustiness is elevated with a gruff edge with the range that Wall is able to hit with his vocals. We are reminded constantly of the country classics of old Nelson's Red Headed Stranger and Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads, both of which show exactly what country is and should be, envoirmental tails of Western culture.

Colter's use of brisk wide palette of saloon esque instrumentation makes room for a background breeze ... read more

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