Around the Horn (album)

Critical reception

The Chicago Tribune observed that Souled American's music draws from folk, country, and old-time acoustic blues but presents these forms in odd, warped, slow, and quavery ways. The Washington Post suggested the album resembles a recording of Neil Young's tenor played at the wrong speed, with amateurish guitars, occasional trombone, and muted bass and drums. Entertainment Weekly described the music as irresistibly deadpan and homemade, possibly reflecting a decline in traditional country life.

Mark Guarino wrote in Country & Midwestern that the album served as a brief pivot point foreshadowing trance-root artists like Richard Buckner, Sun Kil Moon, and Will Oldham, even as the band itself faded. AllMusic noted that the band had become fully master of a unique Americana, more melancholy and downbeat, with guitars ringing softly or solitarily, and that the album compensates for lost breadth with atmosphere.

Did You Know?

• The album title refers to the band's desire to use guitars to reproduce the feel of marching band horn lines.
• "I Keep Holding Back the Tears" was written by bassist Joe Adducci's mother.
• "Durante's Hornpipe" is a version of a traditional instrumental.