Hugely impressive debut from an Appalachian raised songwriter who has mixed his strong roots with an emotional and affecting modern style.

Listening ... is like looking into the flames of a fire. As your eyes go deeper and deeper, images appear and so all-consuming is the experience that everything around fades into nothingness.

Roach took the audience packed into the backroom that serves as home to the estimable Fallen Angels club, on a backwoods travelogue that was virtually a masterclass in illustrating how much sophistication goes into creating so-called primitive music.

In the corners of his voice, storms gather and break over asphalt in December, over buildings that rise above the tallest mountains, hearts that do whatever they want to, miners with Black Lung.

A. J.Roach's performance was riveting. With fine original songs, and a unique vocal style, he will be with us for many seasons to come, not just here and now, in this West London 'Dogwood Winter' of ours.

"A J Roach’s strong and distinctive voice embodied that archetypal ‘high lonesome sound,’ and the songs sounded both traditional and timeless at the same time. One of my colleagues remarked that he looked like he’d just stepped through a time warp from a Depression-era Kentucky mining town; another thought he sounded like a ‘hundred year old Richard Buckner.’"

Roach is the real deal, in contrast to those neo-Oh Brother Where Art Thou pretenders who cover their middle-class origins in 'yee-haw' pastiche.

"‘Dogwood Winter’ is a stunning collection of songs that are lyrically excellent as well as being musically engaging and authentic."

"Roach, whose debut CD, “Dogwood Winter,” is drawing enthusiastic reviews, is the real deal – both in terms of his music and his heritage."

A.J. Roach's Dogwood Winter album is one that gets better with every listen and soon you'll find yourself contemplating the lyrics, humming the tunes and wondering when that crazy cat is going to wander his way back to Seattle again. . . . Each song is as weathered as the cowboy boots he wears on his feet and each vocal intonation is as detailed and painstakingly placed as the elaborate floral stitching on his snappy cowboy shirt.