Southside Sessions is a raw, loose, seven-cut EP that places two of Austin's finest talents in collaboration. Charlie Sexton has been on the scene for decades as a songwriter, guitar hero, and producer. He spent three years with Bob Dylan's band on the Endless Tour before returning to Austin to be a family man and work on his own music. Shannon McNally is a talented singer/songwriter who has issued a couple of brilliant solo albums and who has been kicking around Austin for a while now, making a well-deserved name for herself as a performer as well as a singer/songwriter. Of the seven cuts here, Sexton wrote or co-wrote (the latter with enigmatic songwriter Tonio K.) four and McNally one, and there are also covers of Townes Van Zandt's No Place to Fall and Jesse Winchester's Biloxi. Sexton produced the set, and his take on what this is supposed to be is spot-on. The relaxed feel of these performances is attributable at least in part to the fact that, other than the opening Nothing Mysterious and Biloxi, there are no drums. The first cut, with its blend of acoustic guitars and muffled, shuffling drums, feels like an outtake from the Band's Music from Big Pink with Delaney Bonnie on vocals. That doesn't mean it's derivative. Not at all. Instead, its impassioned, in-the-pocket singing, strolling along with the instruments and covering the beat with the right accents, is remarkable. McNally's Old Cypress Tree is a devastatingly beautiful desert country love song. There is passion, conviction, and acceptance in its verses and the revelation of truth as it slowly exposes itself to the singer and the listener. Sexton's spare backing vocals only serve to underscore the meaning in the words.

1		Nothing Mysterious
2		Old Cypress Tree
3		When We Were Younger
4		No Place to Fall
5		Biloxi
6		Burn
7		I'd Do the Same for You

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