Jeff's Best of 2022 - #8: Ash and Eric - Sure

I fully admit to having a bit of hometown bias here, because I've gotten to know Ash and Eric through mutual friends over the last 18 months or so and "Church of the Concrete Wave" is about a location in my hometown of Millbury, but put my biases aside for a moment and consider that Ash and Eric should be one of the more massive folk acts in the country, and Sure is as good a demonstration of that as anything.

Sure finds the duo navigating being professional musicians, seeking and recalling inspirational moments and ideals, considering humanity in all its forms. It's expert folk-driven storytelling, to be sure (no pun intended), but it's just as much gorgeous songwriting and hook-laden melodies that win you over from the first notes. Whether somber and serious like "Autumn Hymn," or the faux Carter-Cash rockabilly feel of "Never Walking Out," it all works in unexpected and beautiful ways.

In a year with a lot of really solid folk albums, and when we're still trying to get back to some sense of post-COVID normalcy, it's great when albums like Sure come along to keep us grounded.

Songs of note: "Autumn Hymn," "Simon, Taylor, Denver, Cash," "Never Walking Out," "Church of the Concrete Wave"