Wayne Berry - Home At Last (Japan Remastered) (1974/2016)

Home at Last is the solo debut album by Wayne Berry, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter and former member of the folk-rock group Timber. This is arguably one of the greatest "lost" singer-songwriter albums of the 1970s, featuring guest appearances by Johnny Gimble, Charlie McCoy, Ned Doheny, and Jackson Browne. The style of this album can be described as laid-back southern country rock in the vein of bands like Cowboy or The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Berry is backed up by an amazing all-star band of session musicians including, among others, Steely Dan's Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Jesse Ed Davis, Jim Gordon, David Briggs, Shane Keister, David Paich, Reggie Young, and most of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. These musicians have played for the likes of Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Elvis Presley. As a result, this record can sound nothing but stellar, and it does indeed. On top of that, Wayne Berry's songwriting is top-notch and includes themes reminiscent of Jackson Browne, Bob Seger or Willie Nelson. Although quite heavily promoted, the album did not sell very well, and conseqently, Wayne Berry's completely finished second solo album remained unreleased. In 1976, Berry recorded another album with a band named Volunteers and worked as a songwriter for a while but he quickly faded into obscurity. Why this gifted singer-songwriter didn't make it big is a complete mystery that will be up to music historians to figure out. The fact that quite a number of songs from this album have been covered by renowned artists like Tom Rush ("Indian Woman from Wichita" and "Black Magic Gun" on Ladies Love Outlaws) and Steppenwolf ("Another's Lifetime" on Hour of the Wolf) is proof enough that Wayne Berry had a lot of potential. This album was never released on CD, except in Japan.