Hundred Word
Highlights
…Each CD review is
guaranteed to be a full one hundred words, because sometimes
ninety-nine and a
half just won’t do.
Nathan Bell
Blood Like a River
Turns out, I’ve been missing Nathan Bell for 15 years and
didn’t even know it. In the 90s, Bell stepped away from music and into a house,
a family, a regular job. Perhaps he needed that time to mature as a person
before he could write the songs on Blood
Like a River. Bell’s twelve tracks are just his vocals and acoustic guitar,
telling stories where he tackles some weighty emotional issues, including gay
marriage and adoption. Blood Like A
River runs somewhere between Springsteen’s stark Nebraska soundscape and
the haunted strains of Townes Van Zandt. Picks: Names, Really Truly.
Here's Names:
And here's something a little more rowdy:
Blackberry Smoke
Leave a Scar: Live
in North Carolina
This is one of those live records that make you want to
jump up and immediately go see the band play.
Blackberry Smoke unabashedly pump out what can only be called southern
rock, a swaggering mix of country, blues and good ol’ rock-n-roll. The band is
smart enough to weave Zep and Allman Brothers teases into their songs, and
talented enough to make music that takes the best of 70s southern rock and
filters it through the Bottle Rockets and Little Feat. Like Ronnie said in Sweet Home Alabama, “Turn it up.” Picks:
One Horse Town, Six Ways to Sunday.
Curtis Lynch
August 2014
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