Music Review // Paul Bergmann "Connecticut Cowboy"

 https://paulbergmann.bandcamp.com/album/connecticut-cowboy

"Connecticut Cowboy" is such a great representation of Connecticut because I feel like most people who have never been here don't know what to think of the state.   People who don't even think Connecticut is real might wonder whether or not there are cowboys here and I can assure you that there are.   But that is just the way in which CT is diverse, as there are all sorts of different people and places here.

Since it is near where I live, I often times like to use Middletown, CT as an example for the state.  There are towns you can go to that feel like they're straight out of the 1950's, places that are city-cities and even places with farm land.  But Middletown feels like a lot of these things combined.  With Wesleyan University it has that are (like Yale in New Haven) that seems hip, modern and students just blindly cross the road.   But drive down the right road and you'll eventually find a farm.

The sound of Paul Bergmann is one that once it hits you, it hits you.  There are unique, deep vocals which make me think about Lou Reed and singers along those lines.  Granted, the way that most of these songs sound just feel like the scene in "Trainspotting" when "Perfect Day" plays, so to have that moment in film expanded upon is great if you're as big a fan of the film as I am.  But it's not all mellow, soothing sounds like you'd expect from someone who could probably absolutely nail a cover of "Hallelujah".

"West Rock" stands out as a song that has heavy psych vibes with a lot of distortion.  And as I think about this, and the album in general, I think about how people might see that word "Cowboy" in the title and that sets the tone for them.  On one hand, if you're going into this hoping it's going to have that country twang- it does not.  But maybe the idea of it possibly being country music scares people away.  I don't know.  The closest it gets to that is by having a harmonica at times, which makes it feel closer- musically- to Tom Petty.

I love Paul Bergmann and I love "Connecticut Cowboy".  I wish everyone knew how amazing of an album this truly is.   But as much as this feels like it would represent the very complicated state that is known as Connecticut, it also kind of feels like it's for Connecticut residents only.   People who use CT as a means to get from NY to MA might be the very same people who don't think there is anything to hear in this music, but it just shows that if you stop, look around and give both Paul Bergmann and this state a chance, you'll never be the same again.