SHANNON MCNALLY

Western Ballad

shannonmcnally.com

On “High,” the second song on her 11th album, Shannon McNally recalls watching a red prairie sunrise. Amid shimmering, ghostly guitars, she admits, “I was just a little bit high.” That confession could account for about half of Western Ballad, which finds her and collaborator Mark Bingham cranking up the reverb and creating a cool, spooky sound they call “psychedelic Americana.” “Toast,” on the other hand, characterizes the album’s less moody side. As with “High,” the sun is low in the sky—but this time the workday is ending, and McNally is game for raising a glass and singing a big, cathartic country-rock chorus. She’s mysterious one minute, sweet the next—and utterly convincing either way.