(4 stars out 5) "Pattengale's seventh album could glibly be described as “Elliott Smith meets spaghetti Western-era Ennio Morricone,” but that doesn’t give full props to the detailed, often alluring texture of his offbeat narratives and kitchen-sink instrumentation. His brooding atmospheres are lightened by mariachi horns weaving subtle background harmony with acoustic guitar (“Laredo”) and accordion (“Westward Wind”), trippy sonic effects (“Trouble in These Parts”) and a duet with Joe Henry on the Dylanesque “Big Time.”

"Kenneth Pattengale celebrates the release of his seventh LP, Speak!, [December 2.] Highlight album tracks like "Westward Wind" and "Rock & Roll 'Er" alongside a duet with cult hero, Joe Henry, showcase Pattengale's ability to put a modern stamp on American folk and country traditions. Sweetening the deal this evening, Pattengale throws in a free copy of Speak! with the price of Hotel Café admission."

"Pattengale's songs are done with a subtle but significant wink of the eye, as if to tacitly acknowledge the passage of time ... and the resulting challenge in dealing with them in anything but ironic terms. Pattengale tosses the songs into a big grab bag of musical history, and delivers each with a wise eye, yet -- crucially -- a sincere, simple affection... "

Kenneth Pattengale’s new album Speak! is a tightly-knit collection of ten songs that exhibits the songwriter and film composer’s ability to combine unique lyrical narrative and anachronistic voices to create a sound that is at once modern and referential. As Pattengale’s seventh full-length studio record, Speak! is fuelled by a maturity of the performer hinted at previously but not fully revealed. More than ever, Pattengale puts on display a fondness for American rural music. Country & Western, American folk, and Mexican folk elements are combined to create a musical soundscape befitting an American West that is very much personal, imagined and precise, but rooted firmly in the folklore that informs all three traditions. With traces reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, John Prine, Tom Waits, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan, Speak! stands as a breakthrough in the young performer's career.