Bobbo Byrnes - The Red Wheelbarrow  (click on image to watch video)

 11 September 2019

Somehow between splitting his time running his own recording studio and putting in hours with two bands, The Fallen Stars and Riddle & the Stars, Bobbo Byrnes has managed to squirrel away enough hours to put out another solo LP. 

The Red Wheelbarrow, coming in almost a year after his last effort, Two Sides To This Town, is an upbeat, sometimes rowdy Americana collection that owes just as much to classic rock mainstays as it does to a generation of cowboys with guitars. His manifesto is laid out rather succinctly in the delightfully twangy “Part Time Cowboy,” explaining why he eschews the typical country outfits, doing his own thing, playing his tunes in bars on the weekends, that may include a Clash cover or two. 

Elsewhere, muscular guitars propel songs like “Sally Starr,” “January” and the Five Easy Piece’s underrated track “Lovers” showing off those rock influences. Of the 10 tracks that make up the record, four are covers. Byrnes does a remarkable job adapting them to his own unique style. It’s on many of these covers, where he flexes his more country-centric side. Songs like the Del Reeves’ classic “Looking At the World Thru A Windshield,” and John Prine’s melancholy “Mexican Home” are among the strongest songs he’s recorded yet. He also manages to deftly cover Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain” so well that you’re halfway into the song before you realize it’s not an original.  

Not sure how Byrnes managed to find the time to pull together this LP, but it was certainly time well spent. 

John B. Moore has been covering the seemingly disparate, but surprisingly complementary genres of Americana and punk rock for the past 20 years.

Blurt/New Noise Magazine/InSite Atlanta/NeuFutur Magazine

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