Articles & Reviews
"It's hard enough for me to go out on a Saturday night these days, let alone a Tuesday. I'm glad I dragged my ass out last Tuesday, though. The show at Pawn Shop was, in a word, epic. Jeff Stuart has seriously got something special going on. An all-star band and really, really great songs"
-Vue Weekly, November, 2009-
"Alt-country might be the starting point for the Hearts, but only in an allusive way, almost as if they decided to reconstruct the genre after hearing about it rather than actually hearing it. They're baroque rather than barroom, enamoured of tricky musical arrangements and elliptical lyrics ( Wrong I Guess), shoegazers that sometimes like to stomp. Brian Wilson would appreciate the vocal harmonies, Charlie Rich would nod appreciatively at Stuart's existential weariness; call them what you will, I'm calling them for the year-end Top 10 list (4.5/5 stars)."
-Edmonton Journal, November, 2009-
"A general sense of rampant creativity lends these heartfelt, plaintive songs a dreamy, unpredictable quality that keeps the listener engaged from the disc's beginning to its end... the ambitious arrangements highlight Stuart's songwriting and vocal performances to great effect, burnishing the lustrous melodies with layer upon layer of musical dynamism. It's elegant, sophisticated, daring, and brilliantly creative, but more than anything, just as the band's name suggests, this music is indeed from the heart.
-CKUA Presents: Alberta Disc-overies, September, 2009-
"...basically tantric sex in a bottle. Stuart begins singing —his voice about a third of the way between The Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. As these warm, epic lyrics wash over you, what's going on in the background is even more amazing, a slow-moving merry-go-round where every new horse catches the light in its own unique way... Total win-win, taking the corpse of alt-country and turning it unrecognizably beautiful (5/5 stars)."
-See Magazine, September , 2009-
"Holy shit, am ever I sick of awesome music. Just kidding - more like vibrating still...mostly thanks to the WCMA machine...as hoped Jeff Stuart ripped the faces off his Teddy's audience"
-See Magazine, October 23, 2008 -
"Edmonton's Jeff Stuart, kind of a fist-raising Jim Belushi was backed by one of those musician's musicians bands-technically stunning, and layered with organs, violin and keyboard-to-mouth melodica by Dwayne Martineau."
-Exclaim Magazine-August 2008 -
"Man, is it something in the water, or just the great music scene here? Alberta in general and Edmonton in particular just seems to keep producing top-notch alt-country musicians these days. The Middle Drift is another in the line up to add to the likes of Old Reliable, Corb Lund, The Swiftys, and many others. Music From The Middle Drift is a seven song EP from the duo of Jeff Stuart and Brian Duffy. Stuart writes the lyrics, sings, and plays guitar and harmonica. Duffy co-writes the music and plays guitar. They're backed by Shaun Maguire on traps and Ivan Gayton on electric bass and bull fiddle. Maguire and Gayton also produced and engineered the disc at Canadian Discoveries Studio in Richmond, BC. Stuart, a veteran of several folk and rock groups, has a strong, plaintive voice and writes damn good lyrics, particularly in Dirty Looks and Talkin' Me Down. Duffy is a strong guitar player with a background in jazz. There are a few other backing musicians on the disc, notably Aaron Grant on pedal steel, and backing vocalist Ian Kinsella, who also contributes a fine song, Sometimes I Get Scared. Great stuff. Keep it coming."
-Penguin Eggs, Issue No. 24, Winter 2004 -
"It is the relaxed music of a hungover but sunny Saturday afternoon, / Pure Canadiana, but without any grant requirements - Blue Rodeo without the grey hair, maybe."
-The Edmonton Sun, January 16, 2004 -
"Full of country sounds, sure, but with a lot of folk harmonica and tactically repressed sorrow."
-The Edmonton Sun, January 16, 2004 -
"a rootsy blend of country, folk and rock influences that could be likened to Bob Dylan or Neil Young's acoustic work/ Music from the Middle Drift is seven tracks of heartbreaking melodies about cheatin' and hurtin' and plays out like a breakup record of "Cry Me a River" proportions."
-Vue Weekly, Issue # 430, January 15, 2004 -