snap reviews
Album: Crash My Party Artist: Luke Bryan (Capitol Nashville)
Within the first minute of That’s My Kind Of Night, the opening track on Luke Bryan’s new album Crash My Party, he cites tailgating, beer drinking and a nameless “pretty girl” in suntan oil and cowboy boots — all standard modern-day signifiers for a country song. Set to an electronically altered bass-and-drum rhythm, the song also refers to a country hip-hop mix tape, a reflection of the tune’s arrangement, which mixes banjo, hard-rock guitar riffs and hip-hop production touches. What Bryan’s fourth album doesn’t offer is many surprises. The current Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year, Bryan sticks with souped-up country rockers and romantic ballads about how guys who like to fish and guzzle beer and drive pickup trucks do better with women and generally have more fun than their counterparts. That theme rings out in the title song and many others, including Beer In The Headlights, We Run This Town, Play It Again, Out Like That and on and on. Bryan and producer Jeff Stevens do push the edge of how many electronic effects they can use in a country song. But in every other way, Bryan sticks a bit too predictably with a successful formula on Crash My Party. Michael McCall, Associated Press
Album: Amelita Artist: Court Yard Hounds (Columbia)
If there was ever any doubt that Natalie Maines was the rogue Dixie Chick, the past couple of months and a pair of wonderful releases have proven that with little sonic doubt. First was Maines’s Mother, and now comes the sophomore effort from the remaining two-thirds of the country act, sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire. No, it’s not a DC album, but it’s much more in that light, rural territory than their singer’s dark, cover-heavy, Ben Harper-assisted rocker. In fact, the absence of all of the things that made Maines’s solo effort a winner equally suit the siblings, their songwriting and Amelita as a whole. It’s a sweet, jangly, twangy, easygoing country-pop recording that has enough spaces in it to let the fresh breeze blow through. No, Robison, isn’t entirely convincing in her role as Hounds’ main vocalist — compared with her backing and harmonic duties in her day job — but in the absence of power she does have a warm, lovely warble that suits the sunniness of much of the original material on the album. It doesn’t stray far from how they’re best known, but with the Court Yard Hounds being faithful serves them well.
Mike Bell, Postmedia News
Album: Rhythm & Blues Artist: Buddy Guy (RCA/Sony)
Buddy Guy’s had a great career, which, of course, doesn’t mean he got “paid” the way the rock stars he influenced did. Frankly, he’s the only guitar player in the world who could collide the funky riffing and blistering, psychedelicized blues solo in Best In Town, and the powerhouse testifying of Justifyin’ has to be heard to be believed. He makes most players seem like they’re not even trying. The Aerosmith boys drop by for Evil Twin (and Tyler sounds like the older one). A personal, bristling double album, and here, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who still makes the blues sound urgent. He celebrated his 77th birthday on July 30. Pay the man. Mark Lepage, Postmedia News
Album: That’s It! Artist: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Sony/Legacy)
With high-profile collaborations at Bonnaroo (Jack Johnson) and the Grammys (The Black Keys), the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been reaching out to a wider audience. That’s It!, co-produced by Jim James of the indie rock band My Morning Jacket, continues this trend as the first album of entirely new compositions in PHJB’s 50-plus-year history. Preservation Hall’s original mission was to preserve the authentic sounds of New Orleans jazz by presenting musicians with direct links to jazz’s founding fathers in the early 20th century. Now under the leadership of tuba player Ben Jaffe, whose parents founded the Hall, the band’s current lineup is preserving New Orleans jazz in the 21st century with a fresh-sounding repertoire that keeps the brass-heavy acoustic instrumentation and rhythms from the past. The title track gets things off to an exuberant start with blaring horn section blasts prefacing Mark Braud’s blistering trumpet solo. Some tunes sound as if they were lifted from the band’s standard repertoire, including the gospel-inspired Dear Lord (Give Me the Strength) and Come With Me, a love song to the Crescent City sung by the band’s oldest member, 81-yearold reedman Charlie Gabriel. The humorously spooky Rattlin’ Bones with trombonist Freddie Lonzo’s gravelly vocals evokes Dr. John’s R&B style. August Nights is a smoky ballad with Clint Maedgen providing sultry vocals and Braud playing muted trumpet. The instrumental Yellow Moon draws on Afro-Cuban influences. But most of all what the band preserves is the infectious joy of New Orleans jazz sure to get listeners tapping their feet if not dancing. Charles J. Gans, Associated Press
Album: My Favorite Picture of You Artist: Guy Clark (Dualtone)
On the cover of My Favorite Picture of You, veteran singer-songwriter Guy Clark holds an old Polaroid snapshot of his wife, Susanna, who died in 2012. The photo captures a fierce look on Susanna Clark’s face, her arms crossed. As the title song explains, she was upset and considering leaving because of her husband’s behaviour. The song is a tribute, in Clark’s concisely poetic fashion, as he notes lovingly in his sweetly gruff voice that his wife was “a standup angel who won’t back down.” That blunt autobiography, and the masculine sentimentality it contains, encapsulates Clark’s distinctive gifts. A legend among fans of acoustic music steeped in country, folk and blues, the 71-year-old Clark hasn’t been the most prolific recording artist over a nearly 40-year recording career. But he is among the most consistent, setting the bar for raw-boned, open-hearted, slow-rolling narratives. Working with old friends and a small collection of younger musicians and cowriters, Clark continues that streak on My Favorite Picture of You. Past the touching title song, he writes with moving detail about emotionally scarred soldiers in Heroes, tragic border crossings in El Coyote and stoking the muse through dangerous habits in The High Price of Inspiration. All told, Clark’s talents remain in crisp focus on My Favorite Picture of You. Michael McCall, Associated Press