For his first UK tour this month to promote his self-titled debut album just released on the new Indiscreet label, Pat Buchanan, one of the most in-demand session players in Nashville, is teaming up with Jeff Finlin.

The album, though produced in Nashville under the guidance of Brad Jones, who in the past has worked with Dolly Varden, The Shazam, Swandive and Cotton Mather, has little to do with the country mainstream.

This set of well-constructed originals veers more to pop leanings with a kind of contemporary 1960s pop feel on such tunes as Smile On My Face (would have made a great Small Faces hit) or Insects & Angels (an inventive mix of the Turtles and Zombies).

Buchanan, an ace guitar picker and soulful vocalist, has had more than his share of success in the session stakes on big-selling albums by Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Dixie Chicks, Travis Tritt and Jo Dee Messina.  He was also one of the lucky session players who received a $1,000 bonus for playiing on Kenny Chesney's million-selling 'No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems' album this year.

Alongside those, he has also played on more rootsy, singer-songwriter recordings by Bruce Robison, Beth Nielsen Chapman, John Cowan, Sally Barris and Rodney Crowell, as well as the final album recorded by the late Amie Comeaux and soul acts such as Bobby Brown and Peabo Bryson.

He has also made his mark as a songwriter with songs recorded by such diverse performers as asleep at the wheel, Bill Lloyd, Tammy Rogers, South 65 and Lynyrd Skynyrd.   This debut album shows that his years in Nashville have fashioned Pat Buchanan into a slick new model rather than just a 1960s throwback with a contemporary slant on infectious and well-written classic pop melodies with a rootsy vibe running through the musical arrangements.

Alan Cackett
Maverick magazine
October 2002