STAN RIDGWAY Black Diamond

"One of the most unique singer/songwriters in American indie music, with an unforgettable adenoidal vocal delivery that makes him sound like a low-level wise guy in one of those old Warner Bros. gangster films of the ’30s and a lyrical obsession with the themes of pulp crime novels and film noir, Stan Ridgway is a true original. From his early days with quirky Los Angeles new wavers Wall of Voodoo to his even more intriguing solo career, Ridgway has created an impressive, if at times somewhat inscrutable and increasingly bleak, body of work."

Review of BLACK DIAMOND

“Black Diamond, Stan Ridgway’s fourth solo album, is the work of a mature artist willing to take surprising risks. I cannot recall an album on which Ridgway has appeared–and this would include the long ago Wall of Voodoo period–on which he reveals so much of himself.

...One of our best singer/songwriters, he possesses a poet’s eye for nuance and detail, and also sensitive and vivid emotional states. Like other American originals, Ridgway likes to make the ordinary extraordinary.

~ Prof. Sam Umland