During the early months of the pandemic, many artists accepted temporary defeat, choosing to go on hiatus and wait it out, but not Canadian County-Roots-Americana artist Ron A McNeill. He had his plane ticket booked for Nashville, ready to record with some of the industries best, and like so many other unfortunate artists he received news that his flight would be canceled, and he would most certainly have to wait for the pandemic to pass before he could record his debut album ‘Waiting On The Day’, but when it comes to his music, this long-time singer-songwriter currently living in Calgary, Alberta, decided to use the current technology at his disposal to record his long-awaited album and ignore the idea of wasting the time he has been given. Not at all shocking when considering how early playing music was introduced into Ron’s life (on the album cover, that kid on the right in the front of the band playing mandolin, yep, that’s Ron).
Now, here we are a year later with a stunning debut album that has an incredible amount of high points to talk about.
I have listened to this album many times already and the one thing that keeps surprising me is how many times my favorite song choice changes. It is no surprise that a professional songwriter could fill his album with single-worthy track after single-worthy track, and as you would expect, the high-quality production of this debut album is second-to-none in the industry.
Opening the album with ‘Prayin’ The Hell Out Of Me, Ron’s outlaw edge and appreciation for gospel shine brightly throughout the song. ‘Prayin’ the Hell Out Of Me sounds like an instant classic and begs to be played live. It captures everything great about Roots-Americana, it is story-driven, well-produced, warm, and a lot of fun to listen to. The gospel singers are top-notch and pair beautifully with Ron’s deep growl of a voice.
The second track off ‘Waiting On The Day’ is going to gain a large audience for the title alone, ‘Hey Bob Dylan’ asks the question ‘Is Bob Dylan still willing to sell his soul for Rock and Roll? Very much capturing the road-worn style of Tom petty, ‘Hey Bob Dylan’ is a wonderful song that feels like an instant classic and gets stuck in your head for days.
Moving on further down the album we come to one of my current personal favorites, and also the album’s title track ‘Waiting On The Day’, and this song is just straight-up beautifully crafted. It has all the hallmarks of a true hit song, a catchy beat, flawless playing, mixed to those perfect Nashville levels, layers of sonic depth, and meaningful lyrics that anyone could connect with, it is something quite special and if you choose one song to listen to, I would ask that you choose this one.
Closing out this gem of an album is a revisited version of ‘Prayin’ The Hell Out Of Me at a far different tempo, and it works so well in this song that it is difficult to choose which version I like the most, and once again Ron McNeill has challenged me to change which song is my current favorite song from his impressively crafted debut album.
If you are a fan of Country-Americana and great songwriting in general then you must get yourself a copy of this album as it is an absolute stunner of an album.
Find out more about Ron A McNeill on his official website at www.ronamcneill.com