Rodney Rice - Same Shirt, Different Day  (click on image to watch video)

 24 October 2019

Somewhere between Steve Earle and Todd Snider, stands Rodney Rice. The West Virginia native has just released his second effort, “SAME SHIrT, DIFFERENT DAY” and it’s a barn-burner from start to finish.

The album kicks into gear with the ramshackle ramble of  “Ain’t Got A Dollar. Rippling guitars,  a walking bass line, Hammond B3 colors and a rough and tumble beat coalesce around his rough-hewn vocals. The lyrics offer a stinging indictment of the current taint-stain ensconced in the Oval Office; “The bible belt thinks he’s heaven sent and because he’s made lots of money, he’s going to take our troubles away, by the sound of that, my troubles are here to stay.”

As the album unfolds, Rodney pivots between the political and the personal and every track is a winner. From the twangy “Free At Last,” the Soulful “Company Town” and the jaunty two-step of “Rivers Run Backwards.” 

         Songs like “Middle Managed Blues” and “Pillage And Plunder” resonate in these uncertain times. Still, he’s equally at home bearing his soul on the heartsick lament “Can’t Get Over Her,” sharing a slice of life on “Memoirs Of Our Life,” or indulging his smartass side on “Walk Across Texas.” 

       The album closes on a tender note with “Don’t Look Back.”  This low-key charmer assesses a longtime relationship, before offering up some hard-won advice; “Baby don’t look back, put one foot in front of the other, take this day like any other, do what you’re gonna do,  but don’t look back.” Simple wisdom from a complicated guy.

Eleni P. Austin - I was born into a large, loud Greek family and spent my formative years in the Los Angeles enclaves of Laurel Canyon and Los Feliz. My mother moved us to the Palm Springs area just in time for puberty and Disco.  I have spent over 40 years working in record stores, starting back in High School.

I wrote music reviews for the Desert Sun from 1983 to 1988. I began doing the same for the Coachella Valley Weekly in 2012.

I live in Palm Springs with my wife and our amazing dog, Denver. 

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