Album Review of
Lonesome, Heavy and Lonesome

Written by Duane Verh
October 1, 2017 - 12:00am EDT
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When playing it straight (pretty much), Ron “Petunia” Fortugno is a legit Western swingster.  At other times, as a tour guide through regions sometimes enchanting (“Blindly Wander”), sometimes nightmarish (“Urban Landscape”) or just flat-out peculiar (“I Don’t Have To Go To High School”) , the Quebec-born, Vancouver-based singer/guitarist comes off as a sort of engaging, eccentric Jimmy Dale Gilmore doppelganger, part cowboy crooner, part prankster, part shaman. The band- in which a sassy muted trumpet cheerfully cohabitates with a lap steel guitar- matches him toe-to-toe in roots sense, sly humor and sophistication. Other notable tracks include “Blues In My Heart”, “Too Long” and “Lonesome”.