While the major labels are still excited about "The Greatest Hits" and make Christmas releases, independent artists take advantage of the opportunity to conquer their space at the top. While Dave Sheehan, Ron LaSalle and Robert Bobby have already been included in the year end list of 2007, the Maeflies from Minnesota (the land of Dylan, Koerner Ray, Glover and the Jayhawks) succeed to impress us like a cherry on a pie with their debut album "Goodbye Sometimes." Front lady Mae Rukavina, Jeff Killion (drums, vocals), Eric "Spike" Stich (electric guitar, slide guitar, pedal steel, mandolin), Eric Simso (vocals, acoustic guitar) and Biff Robillard (bass, vocals, harmonica) are with their "songs about love, dreams lost, dreams found and the long, twisted trail of a real life" in the same musical area as Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, Neil Young, Gram Parsons, etc. Trusted themes and names and as always it is likely that everyone of us will recognize ourselves in one of the nine stories that Biff Robillard was able to shake out of his pen. If you get lost, let your heart guide you and it is undoubtedly an album that you will start to embrace. Maybe the Maeflies make a small nostalgic trip to the 1960's with "Goodbye Sometimes", the above mentioned titles and the extensive but wonderful use of pedal steel, electric 12 string and mandolin will remind you of that; it is however undoubtedly an album that will please a lot of people in 2007. The beautiful tearjerkers "So Long Lisa", "Goodbye Sometimes" and "I Hate this Place" get time to dry up with up-tempo songs such as "Wam", "Vertigo", "Why Does Love Go", "Ain't It a Shame", "Cirkus" and "Deep in Louisiana". Mae Rukavina, who makes a strong vocal impression, and the vocal harmony of the other band members remind us of long gone times on the one hand, but on the other hand "Goodbye Sometimes" warms us up again to a pleasant musical revival of a very successful period in musical history. This is New Millennium Country-politan. Sort of a country cousin with a hankering for good sushi and staying up late.
