"Prominent" Brooklyn, NY-based country musician "Dock Oscar" Stern has complained elsewhere in print, along with his buddy Alex Battles, that Nashville is ignoring Brooklyn's nascent, emerging country/folk music scene. However, unlike Battles, Dock Oscar at least is trying to make some decent Hank Williams-inspired country music, which some may find worth listening to. But judging from what I have heard elsewhere online on the internet from his band, Sweet William, his songs aren't nearly as interesting as those from two other Brooklyn-based country/folk bands, the Doc Marshalls and the M Shanghai String Band. Moreover, his songwriting pales in comparison with The Mollys' Nancy McCallion, who has been compared often by critics and fans alike with Lucinda Williams as yet another great female country songwriter (Lately she has been writing some brilliant Hank Williams-inspired country songs, in her recent solo debut album "Nancy McCallion", and the new debut album that's just been released by her new band, The Last Call Girls (For more information, please take a look at the relevant links posted at www.mollys.com.)).

Although I am willing to give Dock Oscar some credit for trying to write decent honky tonk country music, I would recommend instead to potential purchasers that they consider first, debut albums from the Doc Marshalls and the M Shanghai String Band if they wish to hear the best music from the country music minor league town of Brooklyn, NY. Sadly, the same can't be said for Alex Battles, whose online Google.com video, "Half of What I Need", really comes across more as a poor video - and audio - outtake from the recording session of Elton John's worst album, his disco album "Victim of Love", than as a decent example of Brooklyn, NY-based country music songwriting. I was fortunate to have as excellent teachers, two men who encouraged my literary and photographic talents; bestselling author - and former Stuyvesant High School creative writing teacher - Frank McCourt and University of Arizona professor emeritus of art Harold Jones, the founding director of both New York City's Light Gallery and the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography. I believe they would strongly condemn me for posting online inferior quality literary and photographic work; unfortunately, Battles' video is regrettably both a classic example of an abysmal, poorly produced, music video and of dismal country songwriting which I would find unacceptable as an emerging country songwriter hoping to impress Nashville favorably.

Instead of purchasing this album, I'd recommend buying all of The Mollys' superb albums - starting with "Moon Over the Interstate" which The Washington Post praised as one of its ten best albums of 1997 - or Nancy McCallion's two most recent albums if you want to hear some great country music inspired by Hank Williams. Or purchase either of the debut albums from the Doc Marshalls and M Shanghai String Band; these I would rank as worthy of three and a half stars each, if Amazon.com allowed me to bestow half-starred reviews. Otherwise if this album is truly an example of the best in Brooklyn's country music, then it will be a long time before Brooklyn catches up musically with Tucson, AZ - which is a cutting-edge center for contemporary country/folk music due to the popular and critical acclaim bestowed upon The Mollys, and now, Calexico - or receives any favorable attention from Nashville's country music industry.

(Editorial Note: "Dock Oscar" Stern's comment of my review of this album (see below) ignores the major points I have made which are well worth noting: 1) Brooklyn, NY-based bands need to create memorable country music of potential interest nationwide which they have not yet done, though there are two potential exceptions. 2) If you wish to impress Nashville favorably, then produce a memorable body of work, not some over-hyped mediocre material that is worthy of attention only because it was made in New York City. 3) There is better, far more interesting, music coming from the likes of Howie Gelb (Giant Sand) and Nancy McCallion (The Mollys) in Tucson, AZ; it will be years, if ever, before the Brooklyn, NY country/folk music community catches up artistically with Tucson's. 4) My Amazon.com customer review of this album was based on listening to several songs from it, as well as others which "Dock Oscar" Stern has posted online elsewhere. 5) "Dock Oscar" Stern hasn't identified himself as either a member of the band Sweet William - which he is - nor did he acknowledge it in his own customer review of this album; hence his own review of his album is misleading to say the least.)

If you read the liner notes, it sez that this album was recorded in an old fashioned way at a rickety firehouse. If you like mandolins stacked against feedback and banjos going clankety clank and purebred hillbilly harmony, then this is for you. Not easily digested but thoroughly enjoyed.