Music Review - `Weathervane` by Rob Splatt Appelblatt (bm)
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Rob Splatt Appelblatt - Weathervane (click on image to watch video)
28 July 2019
With all due respect, Rob “Splatt” Appelblatt sounds more like the name and nickname of an old-time baseball player than one of the newest torchbearers for his songwriter heroes Bruce Springsteen, John Prine and Steve Earle.
After checking out the blend of folk storytelling, country honesty and Heartland rock realism on new album Weathervane, Appelblatt’s friends and family could call him “Snickerdoodle” and it wouldn’t take away from his potential as a fast-rising singer-songwriter.
Galloping country song “Caroline” casts Appelblatt as a student of Earle and a devotee of Bob Dylan. There’s also the character-driven narrative “Thunder Mountain,” country-rock confessional “Better Man” and “Leaving It All Behind,” a better homage to John Mellencamp than the usual country radio act’s Jack and Diane namedrops. Best of all, the title track could easily be likened to the whip-smart wordplay of Texas music icon Guy Clark. In short, Appelblatt sounds like the type of artist with great taste in songwriters and the patience to pick apart his favorite songs and reconstruct them in his own voice.
Per a press release, Appelblatt started playing guitar after college. A 2017 stay at Earle’s Camp Copperhead songwriting retreat sparked his current passion for performing and touring. Make sure the timeline sinks in—This album is by an artist who’s chased his dream for only two years. If these songs spread online, the average listener will probably assume they’re by a time-tested veteran. Seriously, if Appelblatt can write this strong a homage to his songwriter heroes now, imagine how he might sound in another five years or so. By then, he’ll have his already-present voice as an individual artist defined and refined, making him a potential guiding light for a different wave of second-year songwriters.
