Illinois-based duo The Lone Canary craft a resonating Americana and folk entrancement on their third full-length album, Dime Store Horses. Comprising Jesse Fox and Heather Camacho, the project excels in pairing melodic songwriting with themes that span from retrospective, inherited regrets to heartbreak, fleeting moments, and the search for personal meaning. Across the album, the duo balances intimate storytelling with expansive arrangements, featuring soaring strings, warming piano, sturdy guitars, and layered vocal harmonies.
“Dime Store Horses is the sound of two people choosing honesty over autopilot: songs born from late-night drives, near-burnout, and the stubborn hope that there are still open fields ahead,” the band explains. “It’s us trading polish for presence, letting the hard days make room for better ones, and handing the reins back to something real.”
An impactful sound opens the album with “Kingdom Come.” Sturdy acoustics and a warming backing organ meld with heartfelt strings, as lyrics prove enjoyably reflective. “Back when we were younger, we were always told, walk the straight and narrow, you’ll reap what you sow,” the vocals let out, beckoning thereafter to “say a prayer for wayward sons, marching onward to kingdom come” as gorgeous piano infusions take hold alongside slight percussive thumps. The song traces a journey from youthful instruction (“walk the straight and narrow”) to straying from that path (“wayward sons”), portraying a tension between expectation and imperfection — and also the inevitability of moving forward. It’s an immediate display of The Lone Canary’s knack for powerful songwriting.
The ensuing “Sins of Our Fathers” is an introspective gem — grappling with a cycle of inherited mistakes and recurring human flaws. It reflects a sense of frustration and futility, questioning the point of change when it’s easier to shift blame to previous generations. “Why even bother, when we can blame it on our fathers,” forlorn vocals emit amidst steady acoustic strums, exuding a balance between things that are “out of our hands” — and ripe for blaming others, as a result — and those that we have the power to change.
“13” is another standout, commencing with a string-laden vibrancy that traverses into a more solemn piano/acoustic Americana pairing. “I never did expect for you to leave, with that black dress on,” the melancholic retrospections move into the “singing funeral songs” duetting passion. From the re-emerging strings to a lovely guitar solo past the two-minute turn, “13” enamors with a myriad of replay-inducing moments alongside a dual-vocal immersion. The reflections, on how it’s been “13 years since that white dress slid down,” continues to captivate within the album’s overarching themes of vulnerability and hope post-heartbreak — capturing the process of growing older, and accepting certain heydays being in the past.
“Something Real” succeeds in the more spacious folk-set realm, where beautiful vocals ruminate on grasping “fleeting moments” that “vanish in the blue” — feeling like an artful continuation of the contemplations within “13,” which also explores the passage of time in the context of one yearning for a previous feeling. “Take me to the time where our hearts are on the line,” the vocals send chills as layers of spine-tingling strings intermingle with the dreamy acoustic trickling. “It’s the urge to feel, grasping for something real,” the dual vocal layers consume, representing yet another enthralling moment of heartrending sincerity on Dime Store Horses, an album that consistently dazzles in its moving songwriting and tonal variety, from the title track’s twangy rock heights to the ardent folk mystique within “Wildfire.”
