Signature Records
2008
Delivered
About This Album
Mark Erelli has never been a groundbreaking or terribly original artist, but when it comes to providing thoughtful, compelling folk-rock and Americana, he is a masterful expert -- and those who have admired the East Coast singer/songwriter's previous work will find that his excellence continues to hold up on Delivered. This 2008 release contains a few amplified rockers, including "Shadowland" and the somewhat Bruce Springsteen-ish "Baltimore." But much of the time, Erelli favors an unplugged and decidedly minimalist approach -- which works well for him because using fewer instruments makes his lyrics stand out more. Delivered is highly contemplative, and one of the things Erelli contemplates is politics. He gets very political on songs like "Volunteers," "Shadowland," and "Hope Dies Last," all of which are on the melancholy side. Erelli takes a look at political topics -- the Iraq War, George W. Bush's disastrous presidency, turmoil in the Middle East -- and he doesn't give the listener a lot of reason to feel optimistic about the state of the world. Not that Delivered is an exclusively political album; actually, only about one-third of the songs are political in nature.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.