You'll Never Get to Heaven

Like Night Train before it, You’ll Never Get to Heaven finds New England folksinger Bill Morrissey going electric without much fuss from the masses. This lone folkie has no trouble leading a band and the added rhythm section and horns gives a classic blues twist to the title track and a playful bounce to “Married for Money,” where Morrissey’s lyrical nods and winks state the truth without casting judgment. “As Long As the Sun” is a brilliant Morrissey ballad, for anyone wondering where the man who wrote such bare essentials as “Small Town On the River” and “Ice Fishing” has gone. There’s just such a stunning ease to “Ashes, Grain and Sand,” an almost cosmopolitan shine that it’s almost as if the man has ceded to indoor plumbing and aluminum siding. However, nothing will ever polish up the beauty of his rough-hewn voice. The groove of “Winter Laundry” may give him a spirited challenge but it doesn’t remove the splinters from his sentiments. The album, however, did lead to a five-year break from new material.