It’s been awhile since I’ve heard a newer CD that’s over 40 minutes long so with Tin Shed Tales being just a little over an hour and half I was a little unprepared. This is a long CD to listen to, especially when trying to listen to the whole thing without stopping it. Then again this is a concert so it being long really isn’t new or surprising, but it still don’t make it not a long listen. Being a concert though does add a more personal feel to the songs, even more so when John Butler is talking to the audience about his reasons for the next song he is about to sing or about his Grandfathers guitar.
Listening to Tin Shed Tales feels more like a personal insight into John Butler’s life where he gives some political views or family history. All his songs have an emotional feel and meaning to them. Their not sad in the normal sense where they can make you weep, but there’s really not a happy tone to the songs. It could be that the songs sound sad because they have soul to them that give the words that John Butler is singing weight and power. It’s also his vocals that allow the songs to have the soul that they do. His vocals are smooth, easy to listen to, clear, concise, and was always in key without breaking a note.
Though as much as I liked listening to the vocals, the lyrics, and having the feeling of being part of some personal moment in John Butler’s life, I enjoyed the guitar playing the most. I can’t say that the notes being played where riffs but the speed at which some where being played would give some heavy metal guitarist a run for their money. John Butler is a good singer, his vocals are enjoyable to listen to, the lyrics are powerful, but it’s listening to the guitar that I enjoyed the most. With every song that had just the guitar being played I went into the jam trance where my world melted away leaving me with being in the moment of the song. Tin Shed Tales is one of the best names for an album that I know of because after listening to John Butler it really felt like I was out with some friends hanging out by a shed in the back yard on a summer night just talking and listening as he played us the songs.