In the current country music world things can certainly get a tad over-earnest at times. A surefire antidote is Jonny Fritz. On Sweet Creep he’s recorded his finest record to date and found the perfect balance between heartache, humour, pathos and musicality.

Produced my My Morning Jacket’s and with Joshua Hedley and Dawes’ Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith playing on it, the album takes strange experiences and everyday occurrences and bathes them in country music hooks and infectious melodies. He’s certainly a unique character and the genius of this album is the way the humour never overshadows Fritz’s ability as a songwriter and singer. He shifts perspectives and uses both observation and first-hand events to paint stories from the macabre to the melancholic.

From passenger vans, tales from an iconic motel, chili dogs and an honest assessment of quitting drinking – Sweet Creep is one of the most original and clever Americana/country albums this year.

Chris Familton