Album Review: Dying Star by Ruston Kelly

Ruston Kelly doesn't stick in any one spot on Dying Star, his debut album. Perhaps Ryan Adams is his lodestar -- "Mockingbird" doesn't merely sound like something straight off of Heartbreaker, it contains a knowing nod to former Adams paramour Parker Posey -- but Kelly isn't a po-faced Americana singer/songwriter who is consumed with authenticity. "Son of a Highway Daughter" finds him harmonizing with a vocoder-ized version of himself, "Anchors" is accentuated with keyboards and steel guitar that veer toward the psychedelic, and "Dying Star" borrows from classic soul rhythms.

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