{"id":323,"date":"2011-08-24T00:02:18","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T00:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=323"},"modified":"2011-08-24T00:02:55","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T00:02:55","slug":"mark-sinnis-the-undertaker-in-my-rearview-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=323","title":{"rendered":"Mark Sinnis &#8211; The Undertaker In My Rearview Mirror"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The following review was published in the paper edition as well as the online edition of <strong>The Aquarian<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/undertaker-cover.jpg\"><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mark Sinnis &#8211; The Undertaker In My Rearview Mirror<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Frontman for Cemetery &#038; Western band <strong>Ninth House<\/strong>, <strong>Mark Sinnis<\/strong> has released a new album that contains some updated, acoustic and mellow  versions of previously recorded <strong>Ninth House<\/strong> favorites, countrified even further with honkey tonk piano and acoustic and slide guitars.<strong> Sinnis<\/strong> continues expounding obsession with the many ways that the concept of death informs and shapes our viewpoints and our lives.<\/p>\n<p>The title track is new, melodious narrative, partly spoken, partly sung in old-school country style, relates the morbid ruminations  of someone who spends a lot of time behind the wheel and features a slide guitar that creates an eerie feeling to accompany his thoughts. Included are covers like &#8220;<em>Ghost Riders in the Sky<\/em>&#8221; and re-interpretations of other artists&#8217; works as well as of his own previously recorded songs.  A fabulous example is &#8220;<em>Fifty Odd Hours<\/em>,&#8221; which is a re-write of the great antique &#8220;Sixteen Tons,&#8221;  a 50s classic by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Both &#8220;<em>Death Song<\/em>&#8221; &#8212;borrowed from the repertoire of <strong>Sinnis&#8217;<\/strong> first band, the <strong>Apostates<\/strong>&#8212;- and the newly composed sequel, &#8220;<em>Departed<\/em>&#8221; are performed as  duets featuring the exquisitely sweet voice of frequent collaborator <strong>Randi Russo<\/strong> who has the effect of emotionally charging <strong>Sinnis&#8217;s<\/strong> rich, deep vocals to previously unattained heights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sinnis<\/strong> never fails to bring up the traditional theme of the ill consequences as well as the consolations derived from booze, so the thirteenth track closes the album with &#8220;<em>I&#8217;ll Have Another Drink of Whiskey<\/em>,&#8221; a bar-room style sing-along.<br \/>\n<strong>Mark Sinnis<\/strong> has once again released an polished and highly  listenable collection of new, old and re-interpreted folk rock featuring his polished dark baritone, fine arrangements, delicious melodies  and thoughtful lyrics reflecting his profound love of American roots music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following review was published in the paper edition as well as the online edition of The Aquarian Mark Sinnis &#8211; The Undertaker In My Rearview Mirror Frontman for Cemetery &#038; Western band Ninth House, Mark Sinnis has released a new album that contains some updated, acoustic and mellow versions of previously recorded Ninth House [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}