review of Jeffrey Foucault's new album of John Prine songs

Recorded in the old, wood-paneled president's office of a defunct bank in a series of late night sessions over the course of a year, Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes: Jeffrey Foucault Sings the Songs of John Prine offers compelling new interpretations of thirteen John Prine originals. In solo and duet arrangements with friends and touring companions including Eric Heywood (Ray LaMontagne, Richard Buckner, Son Volt) on pedal steel, Mark Erelli on electric and lap steel guitars, David Goodrich (Chris Smither) on electric guitar, Peter Mulvey on acoustic lap slide, Kris Delmhorst and Annelies Howell on backing vocals, and Zak Trojano on drums, Foucault conjures a terrain both spare and atmospheric.
Raw and intimate, Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes covers both familiar and lesser-known songs spanning twenty years of Prine's career. You can hear the amplifiers pop, the heater tick on, and the chairs creak as Foucault settles down to capture Prine's timeless simplicity and depth while leaving his own indelible stamp on songs like 'The Late John Garfield Blues', 'Storm Windows', and 'He Was in Heaven Before He Died'.

Says Jeffrey, "When I was seventeen my Dad brought home John Prine's first album and it became my private religion for a while. I learned to play the guitar by learning his songs, and my Dad and I still play them around the table after supper when I'm home. They've kept me company for years in hotel rooms and foreign countries, on stage and away from it, telling the truth in beautiful and unexpected ways. This is a record I always wanted to make".