Thin Blue Line – Matt Westin (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Matt Westin has always been great at spinning tales and subtle narratives about the world around him, about the places that he walks through and the people that he meets on those streets. Thin Blue Line, as the name suggests, is a song with so much importance and gravitas, and a tribute to and a depiction of the country’s police forces and the job that they do.

Having quit his day job for the less secure pastures of the jobbing musician, Westin dedicated his debut album, Legacy, to his father and used music as “part of the healing process” following his death. But so, having got into music for what he calls “deeply personal reasons,” he now finds himself with a successful career within the country music community and a platform from which he can make himself heard on issues which matter to him.

And Thin Blue Line is his dedication to those who put their life on the line every day to keep the world a safer place. It blends patriotic ideas and accessibility in ways that only American music in general and country music in particular, seems able to and still feel honest and natural whilst does. And with the Derek Chauvin trial having just concluded and a year of high-profile incidents bringing some aspects of the police’s conduct into the spotlight, it is also the sound of an artist speaking from their own heart rather than checking social fad or political fashion to see which way the wind of public oppinion is blowing.

A blend of rousing, triumphant rock and roll and country flavours, it is a song that builds on the sound of Legacy and which should propel him on to great things, not only within the country scene but in more mainstream quarters as well.