Two Cent Revival - The Devil's In This Whiskey

Two Cent Revival - The Devil's In This Whiskey
2011, Two Cent Revival

Brazilian-born, Texas-raised singer/songwriter Matt Jones found love for his Texas roots only after making the move to New York City.  The emotional resonance of being so far from home plays through Two Cent Revival's new EP, The Devil's In This Whiskey, available June 15, 2011.  With a mature writing style born of the desolate honesty of Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt, Jones spins tales of emotional darkness and redemption, and the constant pull of both forces on the soul.

The Devil's In This Whiskey opens with "Rear View Mirror", a catchy, id-tempo Americana blend about running away from a past the narrator can't escape.  This anthem of a tortured soul comes with recognition of the trap and in ability to stop running.  Jones sounds a great deal like Paul Gross on vocals, with a steady baritone born of country grit and a touch of folk/rock seer.  "The Devil's In This Whiskey" is a brilliant rune about losing control to the bottle, in spite of having every reason not to.  He's gone to the well one too many times and spoiled the one relationship with any hope of keeping him sane.  Jones begs for mercy, expecting none, in the beginning of a spiral of competing needs.  It's an impressively compelling story-song with many layers.

"Give Me More Time" is catchy number about trying to pick someone up at a bar and being painfully aware of one's own inabilities while trying to make it look good for your friends.  The internal conversation here is well-wrought, reflecting a man who spends too much time thinking and not enough simply doing as insecurities plague his every move.  "Save Our Souls" starts out as a plaintive country/rock ballad, but turns into a Doors-esque epic rocker.  Full of urgency and desperation, this tremendous piece of songwriting shows its progressive rock roots as things swing further and further out of balance.  Two Cent Revival closes with "Back In The Day", a romantic retrospective based in a paucity of emotion.  The narrator isn't certain about happiness, but remembers a time when life was simpler as a bright light.  The solid Americana arrangement lends to the emotionally maudlin tenor of the song.

The songs on The Devil's In This Whiskey are well crafted Americana/country hybrids, but it is the personal story-telling style and pure charisma of Matt Jones that gives Two Cent Revival their wings.  Jones would be equally as compelling alone on stage with a guitar as he is in front of a band, but the full band flavor of the recordings certainly gives additional oomph to Jones' tales of imperfection, pathos and hope.  Two Cent Revival is going to make a lot of new fans with songs like this.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Two Cent Revival at www.twocentrevival.com or www.myspace.com/twocentrevival.  The Devil's In This Whiskey drops on June 15, 2011.  You can pre-order digital copies from Amazon.com.  Expect wider availability upon release.

Big Tobacco & The Pickers - Big Tobacco & The Pickers

Big Tobacco & The Pickers - Big Tobacco & The Pickers

2010, Big Tobacco & The Pickers

Big Tobacco & The Pickers are a Southern Ontario-based sextet that blends the outlaw country of Johnny, Merle, Waylon and Willie with the folk/rock sensibilities of The Band and occasionally the offbeat feel of Luther Wright & The Wrongs.  Songs of hard living, hard drinking and occasional forays over the line of legality are the order of the day, delivered in a no-nonsense manner that is full of the charisma of lead vocalist Jamie Oliver.  Big Tobacco & The Pickers, the band's self-titled debut, delivers on the promise of the band's live shows, and announces Big Tobacco & The Pickers as one of the bright new stars on the alt-country horizon.

Big Tobacco & The Pickers open with “The Drunker You Get”, a musical take on the classic joke about the quality of the band’s music in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed.  Vocalist Jamie Oliver shows tremendous charisma and showmanship, and the band matches him step for step.  “Whispering Palms” is a northern-dweller’s lament missing his home in the south.  The song has a nice, classic-country feel, like something you might have heard on country radio a generation or two ago.  “Time Ain’t On Your Side” laments the time spent as a young kid/adult ‘running from the mines’.  It’s a song about big dreams, the wasted pursuits of youth and never quite ending up where you intended.  This particular story/song includes a side bar in prison and a lot of regret, but also a thread of pride and fond remembrance deep beneath the surface.  The arrangement is a thing of beauty, and the vocal harmonies sublime. 

“Return To Sender (Say It Ain’t So)” is a monologue from a man who has been untrue and has been exiled from his marriage and children.  Now he has been served with divorce papers and is suffering the ultimate regret for his past actions.  The song is delivered in a straight-forward country arrangement with a fine melody.  “Lonesome, On’ry And Mean” is pure fun; a likely favorite in the live set.  This is the sort of deep album cut that can become a cult favorite.  “My Own Hell” is about two lost souls drinking to their misery together. He somehow shows enough judgment, however, to leave her sleeping on the bar rather than going home with her and making things worse.  It’s a sorrowful but pragmatic turn that’s a bit atypical for popular music in any genre.  “No Good Gal” is pure singer/songwriter/country about a lady who is nothing but trouble.  Three years in and he’s finally moving on, but the tongue-in-cheek story telling makes it clear she’s been nothing but trouble.

“I’m Fine” is all about getting over true love.  Set to a waltz, he acknowledges not being over her, but consoles himself with women, whiskey and the road.  “Livin’ By Rolling The Dice” is catchy, bluesy rock n roll; an outlaw country tune with a classic rock pedigree.  This one’s a lot of fun, a sure-fire hit in Big Tobacco & The Pickers’ live shows.  “Beans For Breakfast” sounds like something that might have grown out of a jam session between Johnny Cash and Luther Wright.  It’s a tongue-in-cheek song about a man living on the dregs of life.  “The Legend Of Ma Barker” is a great story song about the notorious maven and her criminal activities.  Edgy and entertaining, this is the sort of song that will inspire whoops and hollers in a southern bar on a Saturday night.  It’s flat out great songwriting and a sharp performance.    “Big Tobacco & The Pickers” closes with “Sing Me Back Home”, commemorating the power of music to take us back in space and time to home.  It’s a touching and heartfelt tune without a bit of schmaltz. 

Big Tobacco & The Pickers are the real deal.  Mixing elements of classic country, southern rock and down home, self-deprecating humor, Big Tobacco & The Pickers have created an album that stands on its own.  Vocalist Jamie Oliver is personality plus, selling every song as if his life depends on it, and the band is as tight and interconnected as you could hope for.  Big Tobacco & The Pickers has one or two slow moments, but overall is a great reminder of what country music was meant to be.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

 Learn more about Big Tobacco And The Pickers at www.myspace.com/bigtobaccoandthepickersband.  Big Tobacco & The Pickers is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Mike McCarroll – Honky Tonk Dreams

Mike McCarroll – Honky Tonk Dreams
2010, Mike McCarroll Productions

Mike McCarroll was indoctrinated into music at an early age, dancing around the kitchen with his mom to Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and “All Shook Up” as a toddler.  It wasn’t until enlisting in the army during the Vietnam War that McCarroll picked up a guitar and began to have a sense he could create music.  In the 1960’s and 1970’s it was rock n roll that lit McCarroll’s lamp.  By the late 1970’s McCarroll had made the jump to southern rock, and in the 1980’s was reborn of country music.  The birth of the alternative country movement awoke something in McCarroll that had been there all along.  He began to write country/rock tunes for his own enjoyment, and by 2008 he had released his debut album, the critically acclaimed At The Crossroads.  McCarroll returned in 2010 with Honky Tonk Dreams, refining his outlaw country sound and putting appealing distance between himself and the commercial country pack.

Honky Tonk Dreams opens with “Cash Crop”, a low key southern country-rock tune that explores the difficulties faced by small time farmers and the lengths they must at times go through to survive.  The farm’s new lifeblood grows in line between the rows of corn.  McCarroll sounds like a cross between Paul Gross (Due South, Men With Brooms) and Garth Brooks on “The Devil In The Mirror” while exploring the dark, unknown side of human nature.  “Honky Tonk Dream” finds McCarroll channeling the spirit of Jerry Reed in a good-time tune that looks forward to the weekend as a way to get through the week.  “I Had It All” is a song of heartbreak, lamenting a love lost and the fact that he let her slip away. 

“If The Devil Brought You Roses” is a stellar mix of country, rock and blues.  McCarroll, in character as a less-than-ideal man, asks for another chance, or at least one more roll in the hay.  This mid-tempo creation is as catchy as anything you’ll hear on country radio, but the level of personality and commitment in the performance offered here is striking.  This song will stick with you.  “It’s All About You” is a kiss off, country style.  The title takes on a double meaning in a tongue-in-cheek turns that’s highly entertaining and fun.  “Merle Haggard Jack Daniels & Me” is all about drinking, classic country music and the sort of brotherly commiseration that can only occur at your neighborhood bar.

McCarroll stands up for Indie artists everywhere on “Pop-Style Cookie-Cutter Formula”, informing pop/country music executives what they can do with the songs they want him to play.  The honky-tonk arrangement is laced with the rebellious feel of early rock n roll.  “Southern Pride” is an ode to southern rock and some of its greatest purveyors.  McCarroll takes another shot at the music industry here, lamenting labels’ determination to essentially ignore a market for which there is still significant interest.  Along the way McCarroll references some of his own influences, including The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Charlie Daniels Band, the Atlantic Rhythm Section and the Charlie Daniels Band.  “Waitin’” is a bit of light-heard, mid-tempo country fun.  “Waitin’ On The Whiskey To Work” takes a slightly darker turn about drowning your sorrows.  This isn’t a light drinking tune; it’s a serious, all hands on deck get drunk and forget song.  “What You Gonna Do” finds McCarroll back in the honky-tonk, leaning dangerously close to early rock n roll with a musical blend with elements of Garth Brooks, Hank Jr. and Jerry Lee Lewis.  This is a potential country hit, being the most commercial tune on the album without the air of trying to be.

Mike McCarroll takes a lifetime of musical influences and channels it through his own quintessence to create a sound that is simultaneously modern and classic.  Picking up the mantle from gentlemen such as Hank Williams Jr. and Garth Brooks, Mike McCarroll does his own thing, his way.  McCarroll has a way of blending intelligent lyrics, the irreverent spirit of rock and roll and first class musicianship into songs that are eminently listenable and call you back again and again.  McCarroll’s attitude toward the pop/country ways of Nashville virtually assures that Honky Tonk Dreams probably won’t get the airplay or national attention it deserves, but is a fine example of the sort of great music that happens on the fringes of Nashville once the bills have been paid.  Honky Tonk Dreams is one of the finest country albums to surface in 2010.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5) 

Learn more about Mike McCarroll at www.mikemccarroll.com.  Honky Tonk Dreams is available as a Honky Tonk Dreams or Honky Tonk Dreams from Amazon.com.  Digital versions are also available via iTunes.