Landfill Poetry [CD], Riley Downing, CD

For years, singer-songwriter Riley Downing has collected stories about life's overlooked moments and underappreciated people. He's unearthed these tales of castaway truths and once-faded recollections for Landfill Poetry, a sophomore solo album and Oh Boy Records debut.A native of small-town Missouri who once worked as a backroad trashman before becoming one of music's weathered journeymen, the husky-voiced Downing may be best known as a member of noisemaking Americana outfit The Deslondes, a New Orleans-born band that he co-founded after a clandestine meeting with likeminded musicians at a folk festival in Oklahoma.On Landfill Poetry, his six-string worldbuilding takes listeners to the back of the trash truck (""Landfill Poetry""), inside the lonely hours of the graveyard paycheck (""Night Shift"") and to the quiet moments after a hard day of work (""Porch Song"").He sings for the restless ones who stay up way too late (""Hay Hay Hay"") and the grandchildren who admire a hard-working compassion once shared between late loved ones (""Helen & Gene""). With each song, Downing uncovers sketches of life that once might've been lost to the landfill but instead are shared anew.