Duke Oursler is a Kansas native singer and songwriter, who now lives in Macomb, Western Illinois. His new studio album, “He Shot More Than Birds“, released on January 19th, via the Farm Way Records, that he coproduced with Mike Himebaugh, is a country rock LP with excellent storytelling about the life in midwestern little towns and rural areas.
There are some outstanding songs on this album, starting with “The Mill“, an impressive 6′ blue-collar song about struggle in the forgotten rural parts of the Midwest. Both songwriting and music are really excellent, with amazing guitars in its last part, mostly instrumental.
Another brilliant song is “West Kansas Plains“, an amazing country tune about a barrel racing girl, in Southern Finney county, Kansas (the native county of Duke Oursler), with amazing fiddle and keyboards.
“Bootstraps“, another great blue-collar song, and “Blame It All On Me“, an excellent rock song about being pulled up by cops, are also excellent tunes.
I gotta pick myself up
Bootsraps
I gotta get back on track
I gotta pull so damn hard
That I bust my bootstraps
All along the album, you’ll find excellent production and instrumentation, with great guitars, drums, fiddle (“Pushing Mud“, “Wapiti“, “Promised Land“), keyboards (“Time To Grow Old”) and accordion (“Set Me Free“).
Duke Oursler is a brilliant storyteller who writes and sings with a lot of authenticity. It’s raw, it’s about struggle and rugged life in the Midwest, but it’s great songwriting and excellent country rock music. Check out this album, you’ll won’t be disappointed.
Nicolas Davelu
Country Music France 