IndiePulse Magazine Reviews: Villains, Victims and Visionaries, the new album by The County Well

The album, almost seeming to go all over the place, is a well planed trip into the human mind, the organ of the human body that is both strong and incredibly fragile, a couple pounds of flesh that defines a life – The irrational rationalization machine, that is man.

By Joseph Timmons, IndiePulse Music Magazine Music Journalist.

The County Well

Villains, Victims and Visionaries

Available through Sun Valley Records and Floating Records

When we interviewed Musician/Producer Don Zimmer a few months ago, it was just as this album was being released, Don Zimmer said “The title is due to the nature of the content.   The previous County Well album was called Drink More, and those songs seemed to have a lighter feel.  As those musical pieces were coming together, others were emerging that were heavier and did not fit.  As one album finished and the next was under way, I decided to follow this thread of weightier tunes that fell under the category of Villains, Victims or Visionaries and chose to connect them with recurring themes and voices.” Now that we have reviewed the album, listening to it intently, not once, not twice, but several times, we found it exhilarating, hypnotic and completely unexpected.

“County Well is all about spatial dissociation, genre cross fertilization, melodic heresy, and perpetual Friday nights. Their fourth album Villains, Victims and Visionaries is a contemporary operetta that satisfies visionaries first, quells villains second, and eliminates victims third. “

This album is more like an audio documentary mixed with a spaghetti western soundtrack and a folk music on acid, it swirls and swims in an ocean of audio experimentation, mixed in segments that don’t seem to fit together, yet cannot be pulled apart.

The album opens up with a cacophony of sounds, like several conversations going on at once, trying to make themselves heard, moving into track “I Am the Grey Sky” a bluesy, jazzy piece that sets a mood, this track sets the groove for the album’s transcendence in to Tones and synthesis of varied song assemblies, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Funk / Groove, Bop…

The album, almost seeming to go all over the place, is a well planed trip into the human mind, the organ of the human body that is both strong and incredibly fragile, a couple pounds of flesh that defines a life – The irrational rationalization machine, that is man.

A track that sparkles in this album for me is “Tequila and the River”, in all the tracks, it has a sense of sanity to it that cuts like a knife in the dark, the Appalachian sound is so calming, and vocalist’s voice is so, well… Healing. The ending track “Theme for a Horse Thief” just makes me visualize the scene from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the Standoff…

There are 13 powerful tracks that invoke emotional reverence, to try to break the album down would lessen the brilliance of its creation, its genius, its purity, it has to be heard, Listen Here

Purchase Villains Victims Visionaries at www.sunvalleyrecords.com. Also visit www.facebook.com/floatingrecords for all the latest news from Floating Records and Sun Valley Records. 

Read Our Interview –

5 Quick Questions with Musician/Producer Don Zimmer (Villains Victims Visionaries)