John Byrne is a Dublin native who now lives in Philadelphia.
His fourth album was originally conceived with the title 'What if we don't die young?' and contains ten original songs which he identifies as cautionary tales dealing with addictions, prejudices, immigration and, of course, relationships. His resiliently upbeat message is that any negative fallout from personal traumas fades in time. "Our roots keep us strong" he maintains in Easy To Get Stuck Here.
Byrne's voice is neither identifiably Irish nor American and not distinctive enough to bring any special character to the tunes. Standard acoustic instrumentation by The John Byrne Band is supplemented by horns and strings to create a sound that falls in a no-man's land between commercial folk and mainstream Americana.
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Whether he is singing of two lovers being reserved a Special Place in Hell or reflecting that Time Ain't Changed a Thing In This Town there's a constant determination to accentuate the positive.
The result is a solid but ultimately superficial take on the ups and downs of love with vague hints of nostalgia for people or places from the past .
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