05 September 2019
You gotta give it to any Americana artist with the smarts/guts to cover a glam rock classic song. In Bobbo Byrnes’ case, this gutsy move is a twangier take on Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain,” which is rootsier and much less spacey where it sits on Byrnes’ The Red Wheelbarrow album
Although “Looking At The World Through A Windshield” is country, in the best shit-kicking tradition, Byrnes also sends out a disclaimer with the song “Part-Time Cowboy.” “I don’t wear a cowboy hat/Don’t drive a truck/Don’t have a gunrack,” he admits. Instead, he works a day job Monday through Friday, and then plays country music on the weekends. However, don’t let his true confession dissuade you; he may not always dress the part, but Byrnes well knows his way around a traditional country song. With that said, though, Byrnes also understands how to rock & roll. “Sally Starr,” for instance, is a cranked-up Southern rock song, with just a touch of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers thrown in for good measure.
Much of The Red Wheelbarrow is relatively rocking, but one titled “Mexican Home” is quiet and notable for its picked acoustic guitar and Neil Young-ish harmonica. Byrnes is one of those guys that loves rock & roll just as much as he digs country and doesn’t see any reason to segregate the two. Even though “Lovers” includes plenty of steel guitar, Byrnes revs it up into a kind of cowboy “Born to Run.” These two romantics were born to run “like lovers on parole.” Long may they run, indeed.
Dan MacIntosh - Dan MacIntosh has been a professional music journalist for 30 years and his work has regularly appeared in many local and national publications, including Inland Empire Weekly, CCM, CMJ, Paste, Mean Street, Chord, HM, Christian Retailing, Amplifier, Inspirational Giftware, Stereo Subversion, Indie-Music, Soul–Audio, Roughstock.com, Country Standard Time and Spin.com.