The
American singer-songwriter’s expertly honed country-rock is as frank and fresh as it is warm and familiar
![One to watch: Margo Cilker](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9dbb98bd2181471845ba3fb5841503f13b00da0f/0_400_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=f01f0193bd724becaa2a860e401b388e)
California-born, Oregon-based Margo Cilker has honed her story-songs on the road for years, travelling across the US and the Basque country of
Spain, where she formed a covers band playing the likes of Creedence, Dylan and Neil Young. “You need to challenge what you’re afraid of,” she’s said, “and I’m scared of a 9-5”.
That training, along with her love of Woody Guthrie, (“a true compadre”), Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, tells on her debut album, Pohorylle, out last week: the classic construction of the likes of the ambling Kevin Johnson, with its rinky-dink piano, or the grandly weary Chester’s, a not-drinking song in which she observes the cautionary tales at the bar, feels instantly familiar.
Pohorylle is out now on Loose