Chris Murphy - Water Under the Bridge (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://chrismurphymusic.com/

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Written by Jay Snyder, posted by blog admin

Like music you would expect to hear in a grand Civil War-era ballroom, Chris Murphy and his cohorts (The Blind Blakes Blues Band) fire on all cylinders with their latest eclectic instrumental album Water under the Bridge.  Molding a strong, soulful sound the record mixes and matches jazz, ragtime, blues, swing and country as so gloriously exhibited by opener “Moveable Feast.”  Saloon-styled piano that will make you want to soak back a sarsaparilla or three tangos hand-in-hand with vintage jazz rhythms, Murphy’s runaway train fiddle playing and some atmospheric guitar work.  This music is as catchy as it is progressive; welding together influences spanning a timeframe from 1930 to 2017. 

“Joan Crawford Dances the Charleston” furthers Chris’ out-there approach to his chosen stylistic attack in much of the same way that Frank Zappa threw caution to the wind in whatever sonic enterprise he decided to monopolize.  Murphy and his band’s take on the blues grooves with punchy upright bass work, ragtime piano, economical runs of downplayed electric guitar and numerous subtle tempo changes and aural fluctuations.  Neoclassical acoustic guitar lassos a flamenco element that positively dazzles the eardrums and only tangles the listener’s eardrums deeper in the artist’s audio webs.  The faster paced “Table for Two” incorporates bluegrass into the band’s repertoire with especial attention paid to high octane rhythms, fiddle on overdrive and spitfire, Nashville bound two/three-part vocal harmonies.  “Riverboat Blues” shifts into a slower waltz tempo that’s meant for swinging cheek-to-cheek sweetly with the one you love before “I Swear I’m Going to Learn This Time” settles on a danceable mid-tempo brimming with blue-eyed soul vocals with excellent harmonies, playful ivory tinkling, wayward fiddling and a rhythm section that’s completely locked into the arrangement.  A series of melodic stop/start instrumental licks and two-part harmonies enter at the 1:21 mark and craft an infectious sing-a-long you won’t be able to get out of your head with bleach and a wire brush.  An excellent segment of intricately picked, Hawaiian flavored guitar licks take the spotlight in one particularly potent segment which is immediately preceded by a fiddle lead and firmly bookended by some spotlight for the piano.  Even the bass guitar gets a shot to step up and command center stage.  Without a doubt this is one of the album’s finest tracks and my personal pick for a tester tune to see what Murphy and the boys are cooking up in their soul kitchen. 

Elsewhere “My Spanish Lover” a simultaneously laidback and engaging jazz number that’s afraid to strut both country and blues inflections over its 4 minute and 37 second course, “The Lemon Rag” is set aflame by a cavalry charge of busy fiddling heavy on the bluegrass touches while keeping the piano style firmly rooted in 1880s Americana, “Benzedrine Shuffle” buckles down on the blues in a well-layered storm of upright bass thunder mingling with every kind of stringed instrument imaginable, “Tomcat Blues” filters a blown out garage sound through the band’s usual and closer “Cheer uUp Mickey” relishes the minimalism of a kick drum and a rustic fiddle banging out complex melodies that are an absolute treasure to behold. 

Water under the Bridge is without a weak tune across its 14 track arc.  You get a little bit of everything on this record; from dazzling instrumentals to killer meat n’ taters singer/songwriter fare that sports a heightened level of instrumentation…it’s all here and sounds great.  This is a highly recommended release.        

Alpha Mule - Peripheral Vision (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.alphamulemusic.com/

BANDCAMP: https://alphamule.bandcamp.com/

Written by Laura Dodero, posted by blog admin

The debut from this Southern Cali, rural music duo Alpha Mule is an excellent lead-off album.  Featuring 10 main originals, a pair of bonus cuts and some pared down duo versions without additional instrumentation of the album’s main tracks, there’s a lot to digest here and it’s certainly well-worth the time and listening effort.  Joe Forkan (vocals/acoustic guitar) and Eric Stoner (banjo/vocals) is practically the band, though they bring in a few support musicians to help out on the majority of the album’s tracks. 

Start-up number, “Corpus Christi” pulls the lead on a taut, tense dark-folk attack that sees dirty n’ raw production wraparound a hearty banjo/guitar/upright bass workout with lyrics and delivery fit for a night under the black sky.  There’s something overcast going on here and it’s among the bleaker, weirder tracks on the album and an interesting choice for an opener.  It really makes you stand up and take notice thanks to its bleak, foreboding vibe.  This darkness dissipates on the immediately following “On the Moon” which culls a brighter country guitar twang and buoyant banjo swagger that ricochets over a particularly wild upright bass line that practically propels the vocals to some awesome melodic highs. 

The mood takes a dramatic sea change on the stalwart country n’ western swing of the title track and its inclusion of slide licks and steel guitars which really hammer home the atmosphere; the hurdy gurdy vocals and plucky traditional arrangements only further the sentiment, conjuring one of the record’s most powerful tunes.  “The Distance” follows the same standard making for a superb couplet, which “Pavlov” is happy to alter with its furious upright bass grooves and incendiary guitar/banjo trade-offs.  One can hear bits of Elvis and even Bill Haley on this old school rock n’ roll scorcher, and again they change up the mood on the pickin’ n’ pluckin’ country of “Mule in the Mine.”  As the record continues onward in its steadfast charge to the finish line moods swap and change with the drop of a dime; “Step Outside” being the most straight forward atmospheric ballad on the album, “The Ballad of Huell Howser” going for the country side-wind full-throttle, “Music of our Hearts” going the dark, mid-tempo country route and closer “Empire” capping things off with dreamy, drifting folk that’s completely pitch-black in its vibe and atmosphere.  Some worthy bonus tracks including duo versions of album favorites “Step Outside,” “Mule in the Mine” and “Corpus Christi” show just how well Forkan and Stoner lay it down with no outside help at their disposal.  These guys can play and they have chemistry to spare. 

Peripheral Vision is a modern classic of the genre with great songwriting and musicianship that makes each track an all-out winner.  As the grooves seep into your brain and the duo’s dual melodic vocals take over your mind, you’ll find yourself replaying each track several times before moving on.  This is a standout record with one excellent song after another, and it’s hard to believe that these guys are already THIS good on their debut…the sky’s the limit for Alpha Mule, that’s for dang sure. 

Sarah Morris - Hearts in Need of Repair (2017)

OFFICIAL: www.sarahmorrismusic.com

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/sarahmorris10

Written by David Shouse, posted by blog admin

Minnesota songstress Sarah Morris unleashes a potent doozy of an album in the form of her 3^rd release Hearts in Need of Repair.  Fantastic songwriting, knockout instrumentation and Morris’ soaring voice are the glue that holds together an upper echelon recording that doesn’t have a dull moment in sight.  There’s groove and soul to spare throughout Hearts’ 11 rousing tracks with each tune being worthy of endless repeat plays. 

The title track is a punchy, catchy opener drenched folk influence with just the right amount of countrified acoustic guitar licks and Sarah’s skyward pushing vocals.  Morris also handles some of the acoustic guitar playing alongside regular band mate Thomas Nordlund while Aaron Fabbrini contributes exotic pedal steel.  Fabbrini carries over his smooth playing to the next cut, “Good at Goodbye.”  Lars Erik Larson interjects some percussive smacks thanks to his locked on work on the snare and the band’s regular producer Eric Blomquist ladles on a third acoustic guitar for a very vibrant, full sound that creates multiple melodies to follow. 

“Cheap Perfume” enters on a dusky, scrappy blues grind that eventually alters its mindset into up-tempo country.  Andrew Foreman’s electric bass grooves furthers the high noon shootout atmosphere as Morris’ vocals utilize husky lower registers that only highlights her many vocal personalities.  The wispy “Helium” moves at a slower clip and glows like the dying embers of midnight pyre with beautiful acoustic guitars glide above the supple support provided the bass lines.  The stringed instruments construct a rock solid foundation for Morris to paint hymnal vocal melodies upon.  

A duo of harder, more rockin’ tracks appear with the back-to-back attack of “Falling Over” and “Course Correction.”  Nordlund’s electric guitar is a centerpiece of both; bouncing off the numerous acoustic counterpoints that fill this part of tunes with life and soul.  “Empty Seat” draws the blinds, blocking out the sun with a dirge-y acoustic jam that’s equal parts engagingly melodic and heartbreaking.  Returning to hard rocking abandon “Shelter or the Storm” lives up to the “storm” part of its namesake by drilling electric guitar riffs into your cranium and offsetting with just the right amount of harmonic nuance.  The rhythm section explodes like a powder keg all throughout and the triple guitar attack is at its most ruthless right here.  This is easily the album’s heaviest, hardest cut and certainly shakes up the atmosphere like a vial of nitroglycerin.  The record comes to a close with a melodically contagious trio of acoustic leaned tracks with “Nothing Compares,” “On a Stone” and the piano-slicked, epic closer, “Confetti.”  Though the music throughout these songs is similar, each one has its own unique vibe. 

Hearts in Need of Repair is an astounding album and probably Sarah Morris’ finest offering to date.  The turbulent toss n’ turn of acoustic and electric guitar and bass, the generous amount of melodies and texture, the addition of dobro, piano, lap and pedal steel as well as Morris’ picture perfect vocal stylings yields an album that’s airtight in its construction.  Anyone with an ear for rustic rock, country, blues and folk will be unable to stop listening to this disc…it’s simply THAT good.

Russ Still and the Moonshiners - Still Cookin' (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://russstill.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/RussStillandtheMoonshiners/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/rbstill2

Written by David Shouse, posted by blog admin

Georgia country rockers Russ Still and the Moonshiners are lost in time.  The problem is it’s 2017 and these guys think that big guitars, dynamic songwriting, tight rhythm playing and a singer who doesn’t need studio polish to get a vocal tone are going to get them through. There’s certainly still a sizeable audience out there for this sort of gritty, profoundly American music.  The Georgia Music Awards recently lauded Russ Still and the Moonshiners “Country Band of the Year” and there’s a reason for it; the band’s music has chops, panache and plenty of killer fret-work to feast your ears on. 

Still Cookin’ is the band’s 2^nd full-length outing and they are in fine form throughout.  The only minor thing that might help the record is putting one of the big acoustic/piano/guitar workouts like “I Can’t” or “10, 000 Ways” at the end of the record.  It’s strictly a construction issue; the album feels a little front-loaded with these big, larger than life numbers. Listeners can definitely hear in these tunes that they are the band’s equivalent to iconic classics like “Highway Song” or “Green Grass and High Tides” and deserve more climatic slots. Placing them closer to the album’s end allows them, as well, to frame Still’s powerful voice in the most dramatic light possible.

Elsewhere, the tightly meshed music unit serve up thunderous Southern rock riffs and leads on “Promised Land” and “Workin’ Class Hunter,” take a gleaming acoustic foundation and turn it into electric gold on the ornery “Long Way from Home,” deliver excellent call/response lead and background vocals along with driving guitar licks in “Glorine’s” before merging acoustic/ and electric atmospherics across the gravel road rollick of “Goin’ Fishin’”. The anthemic “Juantia” gives the band another opportunity for a particularly on target cut highlighting many of the band’s greatest strengths. Stellar production provides clarity to each instrument and highlighting the infectiously locked-on playing of every musician. The aforementioned lack of a major production number near album’s end is a minor weakness, but not one ever threatening to drag the release down as a whole. If you thought this hybrid of rock and country lingered on forever usurped by the likes of Kenny Chesney or Florida Georgia Line, Russ and his Moonshiners stand as a sharp rebuke to such misplaced beliefs. Big, bold, hickory flavored country rock is alive and well on each of the 9 tracks of Still Cookin’; crack a cold one and enjoy.