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Music Review - I Just Can't Call It Quits` by Grant Britt (gb)
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Paterson Barrett - I Just Can't Call It Quits (click on image to watch video)
23 June 2023
Patterson Barrett is a survivor. His latest release, I Just Can't Call It Quits, refers to his longevity in the music biz as well as his personal battle with cancer. Even though it cost the singer/songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist a kidney last year, Patterson has recovered and is back making music in his adopted Austin home town. Aided by famous former bandmates Buddy and Julie Miller, from the now defunct group Partners In Crime he founded in the mid-seventies, Barrett lays down a sound heavily influenced by Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers with some Jerry Jeff Walker sprinkled in as well as some Sam and Dave soul licks.
The Millers chime in on their original, “I'm Pretending,” sounding like a classic country hit from the '50s, blending George Jones and Buck Owens with plenty of guitar twang and cry-in-your-beer fiddle. Barrett is a one-man band for most of the sound on the record, contributing acoustic guitar, pedal steel, piano, bass, drums, and vocals on this one, aided by Miller on harmony vocals with Cam King on electric guitar and Gene Elders on fiddle.
Sam and Dave's '67 classic “Soul Man” is virtually unrecognizable, turned into a twangy shuffle, cowboy soul that sounds like it borrowed the melodic framework of Eric Clapton's laid back '77 hit “Lay Down Sally,” with a vocal that sounds like Clapton and Jerry Jeff stirred up in a blender. Patterson leaves original “Soul Man” guitarist Steve Cropper's signature lick intact in the bridge, but otherwise lopes along lazily down a country road.
Patterson's Neil Young infatuation is evident on the title cut, but he takes Young a bit farther into the country corral with his yodeling and weepy pedal steel.
Even though it's a secular tune about matters of the heart, “Longing For Sun” has a country gospel feel like a Burrito Brothers spiritual with Emmy Lee soundalike Jaimee Harris on harmony vocals.
Trying to pigeonhole Patterson is a daunting task. He doesn't roost anywhere long enough to get a leash on him, heading out into wherever the wind takes him. But his flights are always worth tracking, a unique glidepath to marvel at and follow closely.
Grant Britt (
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) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record.
To Read All of Grant B's Reviews, Click Here
Music Review - `A Murder of Crows` by Grant Peeples (gb)
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Grant Peeples - Murder of Crows (click on image to watch video)
7 March 2023
In the 1953 movie The Wild One, Marlon Brando portrays a surly biker gang leader whose scruffy minions invade and terrorize a small town. When asked by a local girl what he's rebelling against, Brando snarls “Whaddya got?” For his latest outing, A Murder of Songs, Grant Peeples has a long list of grievances he's rebelling against. The murder reference apparently refers to the proper name for flock of crows, as depicted on the cover. But Peeples protest song collection here is aptly named.
He doesn't sugar coat his message, or drape peace and love sentiments over his calls for change. “Don’t let the circle be unbroken, don’t let the sunshine in/Who gives a damn where all the flowers have gone/The answers aren’t blowing in the wind,” he declares on his original, “Lets Start Killing Each Other.” In the opening lines he admits that back in '75 he had hope for the cultural divide “when I saw hippies and rednecks dance side-by-side At Willie Nelson’s Texan 4th of July.” But now things have gotten to the point that the general solution seems to be “whip out a switchblade/ pullout a gun/Pistol whip some sumbitch just for fun/And don’t stop dealing till the dealing’s done/Till we start killing each other.”
Peeples sounds like Willie on Mark Knopfler's “Brothers In Arms, a song he says was informed by the Falkland War. Peeples admits he'd been smitten with it since he heard first heard it in 1985, delivering a stripped down version just as moving as Knopfler's original, with the chilling message still relevant today: “Every man, he has to die/But it's written in the starlight and every line there in your palm/That we’re fools to make war on our brothers in arms.” The rest of the nine cut are all originals, collated over a two year period in 2020 through 2021, some written before November 2016, when he alleges America “either changed or just revealed how and what it had always been.”
“Insurrection Song (January 6)” sounds like an Irish jig, but there's nothing good to celebrate here: “Freedom’s just another word for all we have to lose/Let the sonsabitches rot in jail for what they tried to do.”
On “Liberals with Guns,” Peeples issues a dire warning to jackboot-clad, saber-rattling insurrectionists who think brandishing firearms is the answer: “I know they’re locked and loaded, but they ain’t the only ones/They better look out though cause there’s liberals, and they too got guns.” It ain't easy listening music, but it sure as hell gets its point across, a kill shot right between the ears.
Grant Britt (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record.
To Read All of Grant B's Reviews, Click Here
Music Review - `By the Risin' of the Sea` by James Kahn (gb)
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James Kahn- By the Risin' of the Sea (click on image to watch video)
28 April 2022
James Kahn is going boldly where few men have ever gone before. After a successful career writing the novelizations of movies including Return of the Jedi , he branched out into television writing for shows including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek:Voyager and William Shatner's TekWar.
For his latest project, Kahn is exploring stuff at the opposite end of the planet, releasing a collection of original sea shanties. Although the music sounds old timey, the lyrics address current problems including global warming, immigration, Covid, and whale endangerment.
“The whale is the water master of all she surveys,” Kahn proclaims on “No More A-Whalin,'”adding that “we never stopped to listen to the beauty of their tunes/we were too wrapped up in the romance of the sail and the harpoon.”
The mellow four part harmonies with fellow shipmates David West, Glen Phillips, and Wee Dougie Clegg on the title cut are as warm as a fireside gathering at an Irish pub. But the offering here is not meant to lull you into a false sense of ease. The song takes on the myriad crises threatening the world with a dire warning that all mankind's hopes and dreams are in danger of being washed away if all of us don't take action soon.
“In the Covid Times” recalls the year 2020 “when the fucking world ran out of luck, the hinges broke on the gates of hell, the year when Covid ran amuck.” Kahn manages to name check most of the hellacious events of the year on a stripped down presentation, harmonizing with West backed only by handclaps and ominous thumping of the bodhran.
In spite of the cataclysmic nature of the material, Kahn doesn't come across as a doom-spewing naysayer, but more like a prophet giving it to you straight up delivered in a package you can hum along with. But make no mistake- the former Emergency Medicine specialist who helped create the residency program in Emergency Medicine at UCLA is as serious as a heart attack, warning us fellow shipmates to quit floating around aimlessly and row cause this ship's a-sinkin'.
Grant Britt (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record.
To Read All of Grant B's Reviews, Click Here
Music Review - `Deluge Of Hurt ` by Tornado Sky (gb)
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Tornado Sky- Deluge Of Hurt (click on image to watch video)
3 November 2022
Although they named their band after one of nature's most dire warnings of impending doom, the husband and wife duo Tornado Sky come across more as a mellow breeze than an out of control blowdown. Its an impressive debut for the couple, LA natives Jerry Careaga and Stephanie Gladhart. Careaga is a seasoned songwriter who has written for artists including the Bellamy Brothers( co-writer on '77's “Crossfire”) Michael Martin Murphy (co-write on '83's “Don't Count The Rainy Days,” also covered by John Conlee,) and Tommy Roe(co-writer on '87's '“Back When It Really Mattered.”) Gladhart, a relative novice to songwriting, is proving to be an insightful co-writer, often sketching the bare bones of the lyrical content.
Careaga comes across like Whispering Bill Anderson doing a George Jones impression, while Gladhart sounds like a more urban version of Dolly Parton blended with a dollop of Shania Twain.
The soundscape is hurtin' country, but nobody's killed or seriously injured from the romantic field of fire sprayed around here.
“Two Beat up Hearts” sounds like a Tammy Wynette vehicle, a bar encounter that actually comes off well for both wounded parties. Gladhart's heartsick protagonist finds herself in a downtown bar knowin' that whiskey wont set her free but willing to give it a shot to ease the pain: “Two hearts beatin' as one/workin' through the hard part/beating for a fresh start.” Gladhart shows off impressive songwriting skills and reveals some insider experience as well: “Some heartbreaks move on fast/some hang around like a ghost/ Reminding you of the things you hate about yourself the most.”
The title track uses the tornado theme , with Careaga doing his Anderson/Jones clone persona to recount what could have been a real life heartbreak situation between George and Tammy, love swept away by angry words as the whirling. destructive force, leaving only rubble in its wake.
“Am I Mighty” is Gladhart's search for self confidence: “ I'm searching every day to find me/Am I a sapling or a mighty tree?” From the sound of things here, I'd vote for the mighty tree option. Grab a branch while it's still low enough to reach and rise up with her.
Grant Britt (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record.
To Read All of Grant B's Reviews, Click Here
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Music Review - `Kieran Ridge & the Moonrackers ` by Kieran Ridge (gb)
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Kieran Ridge and the Moonrakers -
8 November 2021
Kieran Ridge has sprung some leaks. His folky acoustic country-flavored bluegrassy old-time framework has some rock and soul leaching in as well. The Boston-based singer/songwriter/ guitarist's eponymous latest release wobbles all over the place, but in a good way, dragging rocky tendrils along as it meanders along the Americana pathway. Ridge has be en at this stuff for a while, knocking out four albums since his debut in 2003, three with the Kieran Ridge band and this latest one with the Moonrakers: Hannah Rose Baker on fiddle, Liam Dailey on banjo and mandolin, with bassist Michael Doughty and drummer Pat Hannafin.
Ridge earned his blue collar creds the hard way, working as a laborer on Boston's decades-spanning "Big Dig" bridge and tunnel project. “Three Sheets To The Wind” sounds like John Prine channeling John Mellencamp.It's an isle-hopper, shuffling from foot to foot trying to decide which direction to go. Dailey's banjo and Baker's fiddle keep it out of the rock arena, if just barely. \
“Wasted” resides and thrives in Steve Earle country, a gritty, rough and tumble invitation to bring on whatever you got at your own peril. Ridge travels into country music territory for “Last One To Know.” But the country sounds like it's located somewhere in the Middle East. This time out, Dailey's banjo is majoring in minor chords that sound plucked more from an oud than an Earl Scruggs vehicle. Although the title sounds like it might have sprung from Hank Williams tortured soul, “Your Drifting Heart” comes across as punky, muscular Mellancamp fodder. The Dylanesque “Close Your Eyes” is a rough-hewn lullaby, banjo clucking gently clucking in the background as Ridge gruffly puts this baby to bed.
Ridge's mountain top-hopping rocky travelogue digs deep in the roots to unearth some gritty treasures you can take home and enjoy.
Grant Britt (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) has been writing about music since the earth cooled a while back. A staff writer for No Depression, his work also appears in BluesMusic Mag and the Greensboro News and Record.
To Read All of Grant B's Reviews, Click Here