From The Record.com (Waterloo, ON)

(Nov 9, 2006)

FRED EAGLESMITH MILLY'S CAFE (A MAJOR LABEL)

After releasing a series of acclaimed albums on American labels,
Fred Eaglesmith is back on his own label with Milly's Cafe.

Recorded at the shack in Port Dover, where he hangs his hat when he
isn't on the road, the album features musical sidekicks Willie P.
Bennett, Dan Walsh, Roger Marin and Scott Merritt, among others.
Nobody writes sad and lonesome better than Eaglesmith. Kansas is so
sad, so lonely, so tender, it defies analysis. "It's always Kansas
where I always break down. . . that's where I fall apart," he
laments.

Eaglesmith digs deep into the dark corners of the heart. If his
words don't break your heart, his voice will. Rocky, a poignant
elegy to an old cowboy worthy of Guy Clark, leaves a lump in your
throat. Milly's Cafe is available at sawdust@...

DAN WALSH DIESEL & SMOKES (BUSTED FLAT RECORDS)

Excuse Dan Walsh if his acoustic debut sounds like a Fred Eaglesmith
song. Walsh was a member of Eaglesmith's Flying Squirrels for a
number of years. He's also accompanied Willie P. Bennett and is
touring with Winnipeg alt-country diva Romi Mayes.

Closer to home, he co-produced Kitchener singer/songwriter Lynn
Jackson's sophomore release, which makes his first outing on Busted
Flat Records all the more meaningful.

Diesel & Dust features eight atmospheric instrumentals composed by
Walsh, who plays guitar, lap steel, dobro, piano, organ, bass, drums.

Three of the tracks are solo, with the remainder in a band setting.

The album spans acoustic blues, alt-country, folk, folk-rock and
bluegrass. Walsh's talents as a multi-instrumentalist are well known
in Canadian roots music circles, so the surprise comes with his
genre-bending compositions.

ROMI MAYES SWEET SOMETHIN' STEADY (INDIE)

Look out Kathleen Edwards. There's a hot, new, alt-country chick on
the block and she has the goods.

Winnipeg's Romi Mayes' first full-length album is produced by
legendary alt-country artist Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Mary
Gauthier, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves). It features 11
brooding, non-nonsense, romantic dirges written or co-written by
Mayes. Such titles as Desperately, The Other Dame and Smoke More
Than I Drink convey a sense of the album's songs. With a voice that
can cut wrists, Mayes is joined by Chris Carmichael, Scott Nolan and
Dan Walsh, in addition to Morlix. Mayes is attracting a strong local
following. She was a hit at Hillside a couple of years ago and she
raised eyebrows at The Boathouse more recently. Expect Sweet
Somethin' Steady to make annual roots music award lists.