Towards the end of the first quarter of 2025, Sean Whalen & The Benson Highway Band released ‘The Retirement Age’, an Americana track with a knowing lyric and a strong musical hook. Their follow up, ‘Carriage Park Blues’ is even better.

The track opens with an unexpected melody that evokes the sounds of a pianola in a bar room in a half forgotten town, but this is just a ruse. The rinky dink sound never reappears, and halfway through the first verse, actually becomes a distant memory. Bringing in the guitars and drums, the track makes no secret of its Americana/roots influences, making a huge feature of a rather maudlin sounding riff, delivered at a mid tempo. However, there’s more at stake here than just “barstool pity”. The marriage of sombre music and huge vocal – complete with southern twang – is perfect, but the way the band inject a few rockier passages into the piece, particularly to drive a great chorus – shows off a band who can really cut loose. During the faster moments, the drums break into a great shuffle, and when the instrumental break rolls around, the heftier rhythm sounds great under a crying guitar.

The best moments here, though, are undoubtedly heard during the moody verses, when Whalen’s voice, often sounding like a natural successor to Jay Farrar, curls above a warm bass and gentle steel guitar. In alternative country terms, everything actually plays surprisingly traditionally, but if you’re willing to accept that the ghosts of Uncle Tupelo’s pioneering sound still hover with intent over certain quarters of the Americana world, and some absorb the influence really strongly, you’ll absolutely love the sound that’s shared here.

On the basis of this track and ‘The Retirement Age’, Sean and his band are going from strength to strength, and releasing some of the best music of their career to date. ‘Carriage Park Blues’ sounds like a step forward from the material on 2024’s ‘East Side Blues’ long player, and certainly deserves to bring The Benson Highway Band new fans.