Like
Songs of the Plains before it,
Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs bears a title that's a plain description of the content within. Call it
Colter Wall's predilection for literalism: he's not comfortable with shades of grey, he likes things direct, since that's the way they did it in the old days. The old days he conjures on
Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs go further back than the ones on
Songs of the Plains. He covers such cowboy classics as "Big Iron" and "I Ride an Old Paint" then writes Western tunes and taking blues to match, creating a dusty fantasia conjuring a time and place before either the Nashville sound or its outlaw backlash. Conceptually, it's clean and tight.
Wall doesn't deviate from his stated description at all, so cheers for truth in advertising. Sticking to the straight and narrow has its pitfalls, such as the fact that
Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs winds up being a bit monochromatic. The songs stick to their chosen path,
Wall doesn't deviate from his plaintive croon, and the stark setting starts to sound a little dull as the album lopes from one song to another.