There are Americana bands that Blue Rose label head Edgar Heckmann had tried to sign to the label for years. This was also the case with the band BLUE WATER HIGHWAY from Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, the band’s management thwarted the plan, something the band themselves were probably unaware of. However, since they kept running into each other in the band’s hometown, a connection developed that at least allowed their albums to be available through the Blue Rose Records webshop, as there is still no European distribution for the CDs and vinyl. In addition to the albums „Paper Airplane“ and „Year Of The Dragon,“ their latest album, „Waiting on a Wonder,“ is now also available on CD and vinyl through Blue Rose’s mail order service!
Blue Water Highway is a long-established Texas band from the Austin scene, more precisely from San Marcos in the nearby Hill Country. For well over 10 years, they have thrilled their local fans with ambitious, sophisticated releases (after several EPs since 2015, they have released seven full albums at regular intervals!) and spirited, wildly popular live performances. During the pandemic, the band, which started as a quintet and soon expanded to a sextet, lost two members, but this has not detracted in the slightest from the complexity of their sound or their instrumental finesse. Unlike their first post-pandemic album, ‚Paper Airplanes‘ from 2021, which featured numerous additional studio musicians, recordings in Nashville, and outside producers, the band has now relied entirely on themselves. ‚Waiting on a Wonder,‘ like its 2023 predecessor ‚Year Of The Dragon,‘ was almost exclusively arranged, performed, recorded, and produced by the four main members: Undisputed bandleader Zack Kibodeaux contributed nine of the ten songs and primarily sang on them, along with playing acoustic guitar. Lead guitarist Greg Essington, in addition to his usual array of guitars, can be heard playing keyboards, mandolin, banjo, and piano, and, together with Catherine Clarke, delivers consistently stunning harmony vocals of the highest caliber. The fourth member, bassist Kyle James Smith, focuses primarily on bass on the new album, supplementing his playing with glockenspiel. The band is supported by Brian Douglas Phillips on electric bass, pedal steel, acoustic guitar, and B3 organ; Fred Mandujano on drums and percussion; and Jacob Hildebrand, known in Germany for his work with the band Deadman. Americana purists can rest assured that the numerous keyboard parts remain largely in the background, serving only the song’s purpose. On the other hand, this overall very personal, almost intimate new BWH album is once again an extremely varied and multifaceted musical tour de force, in which familiar Texan roots/country stereotypes are virtually absent, replaced by fresh, modern structures and contemporary arrangements.