Like every promising Americana artist raised on a steady diet of classic country and Bob Dylan records, the New England native Charlie Treat eventually made his way to Nashville. It’s there that Treat hooked up with Jesse Thompson who helped shape Treat’s 2018 EP and The Comet, his latest, expansive LP.
The Comet manages to corral an eclectic mix of boogie woogie piano, Mickey Raphael-worthy harmonica, gospel harmonies and the occasional rock n roll punch. The album opens with the stellar bar room stomp “Ain’t Gonna Be The One To Do It,” sounding remarkably like Willie Nelson on his fierier songs. The next track, the slow tempo “Biggest Fool on Earth,” grows on you after a few listens, but lacks the immediate appeal of most of the other tracks that make The Comet such a satisfying record.
One of the hallmarks of Treat’s record is the level of experimentation throughout. You can’t throw a small batch bourbon bottle in East Nashville without hitting an acoustic toting Americana singer playing bad Jerry Jeff Walker covers, but Treat goes big on his songs, breaking away from the predictable by throwing in fiddles and organs, even pop synthesizers and classic rock guitars. The songs don’t always land perfectly, but when they do, like on the opening track, the funk-drenched “Dollar For Dollar” or the raucous “Rain Again,” Treat shows exactly what sets him apart from many of his scene mates. Lyrically, Treat is at his best on the sunning slow jam “The Two Best People.” The album closes with the surprisingly restrained but sweet “Tune As Pretty As You,” bookending the album with two disparate, but equally powerful songs.
While not flawless – there are a couple of weak tracks here and there– The Comet is certainly an impressively ambitious record that deserves to be heard far beyond the clubs of Nashville. An impressive start for Treat and hopefully a promise of what’s to come.
