Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore, 'Dear Companion'

Release date: Feb. 16, 2010
Record label: Sub Pop
Official Web site: http://www.dearcompanion.com/

The buzz: Singer-songwriters Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore both released widely acclaimed debut albums in 2008: Sollee’s “Learning to Bend” earned the cellist favorable comparisons to Amos Lee for its offbeat mix of folk, jazz and soul, while Moore’s spare, rootsy “Stray Age” garnered glowing praise from the Americana blogs. The Kentucky natives decided to join forces on “Dear Companion” to help raise awareness of the coal mining practice called mountaintop removal, which is devastating the landscape and poisoning streams all over Appalachia. Fellow Kentuckian Jim James (or “Yim Yames,” as he’s credited here) of My Morning Jacket fame signed on to produce.

The verdict: Mountaintop removal is so staggeringly destructive that it’s hard not to feel a little frustrated by Sollee and Moore’s low-key approach. Instead of outrage, “Dear Companion” gives us charmingly understated tunes like Sollee’s “Only a Song,” whose title sentiment (“But this is only a song/It can’t change the world”) seems to sum up the duo’s modest ambitions. That said, there are many quiet pleasures to be found here, especially on Sollee-penned tracks like the Avett Brothers-ish “Try” and bluegrass-tinged “My Wealth Comes to Me,” with Sollee’s mournful cello standing in for the more traditional fiddle. Moore’s approach is starker and ultimately less engaging, though he does strike a nerve on “Flyrock Blues,” the closest the album comes to directly confronting the mining industry’s avarice.

Did you know? For more about mountaintop removal—and a grimly comic take on the subject by Stephen Colbert—visit iLoveMountains.org. Sales of “Dear Companion” will help fund the organization behind the site, Appalachian Voices.