The Lost Trailers - Welcome To The Woods

Willie Nelson once said: “If you build a house of quality in the woods, the world will beat a path to your doorstep.” The Lost Trailers founder Stokes Nielson took these words to heart, considering they were spoken directly to him while he was writing for a college publication. Welcome to the Woods is The Lost Trailers attempt to live up to this important advice. It’s important to note that this is The Lost Trailers third full-length album, which leads one to believe that this album title was held on reserve until a deserving album was finally crafted. When newbie alt-country fans are starting to discover the magazine No Depression because of Wilco’s popularity and the Jayhawks are selling more albums because The Thorns covered one of their songs, you’re sure to find Uncle Tupelo wannabes playing your local roadhouse. The Lost Trailers are not quite Uncle Tupelo, but they do possess shades of Son Volt, Jupiter Coyote and The Boss. They fit nicely into the void Uncle Tupelo left behind. The Lost Trailers' secret sauce isn’t anything radical, just high-energy, gritty rock n’ roll coupled with strong storytelling. Unfortunately, that recipe isn’t on the market too much anymore. As for the tracks: “Averly Jane” is reminiscent of Jupiter Coyote’s “Crazy Women.” “Love and War (In a Small Town)” is a rugged ballad about isolation and despair in rural America. “Longfall” could be an outtake from Son Volt’s Trace sessions. “Walking Blind,” perhaps the best track on the album, is a soulful tale of fading dreams and misdirection. “Sitting On Top of the World” is a beautiful composition punctuated with a four piece string section. The album intensely concludes with “Fire on the Pontchartrain,” an explosive track about a man who kills his wife and her lover. The Lost Trailers write songs about blue-collar America, a world unfamiliar to most of us reading this website. The themes are the same: love, murder, war, dreams and passion, but the characters are different. Welcome to the Woods resurrects characters often forgotten, especially in election years. But something tells me these characters have bigger problems to worry about. If you like The Lost Trailers, please check out Cast Iron Filter. A review of their album Live from the Highway can be found in the Silent Uproar archives. [www.thelosttrailers.com]