13 March 2022
From the opening piano chords – with shades of Christi McVie and Fleetwood Mac - Luanne Hunt’s single “Midnight Rain & Roses” offers up an emotionally deep and affecting song about losing a partner to death. Lyrically, Hunt’s sings about a flawed 39-year-old man who died of cancer just days before Valentine’s Day, and his grieving partner who is brought right back to confronting his absence as flowers he ordered before his death arrive for the narrator. The track, with a clean, powerful electric guitar line snaking throughout, is a solid mix of classic rock with hints of Americana. It’s a remarkably touching song from Florida-based Hunt’s latest record, Portraits in Song, her 21st studio album.
Hunt, a 2016 inductee to the Independent Superstars Hall of Fame, has six American Songwriting Awards and three CD of the Year awards from the National Traditional Country Music Association.
“Midnight Rain & Roses” is just the latest example of Hunt’s deft knack for writing about very specific characters and plots that still manage to have universal familiarity. While musically the Fleetwood Mac influence is strong throughout the song, lyrically there are traces of everyone from Willie Nelson to Kris Kristofferson.
John B. Moore has been covering the seemingly disparate, but surprisingly complimentary genres of Americana and punk rock for the past 20 years.
Blurt/New Noise Magazine/InSite Atlanta/NeuFutur Magazine
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