THE KENTUCKY STRUTS – THE YEAR OF THE HORSE
2011 – Self Released
3.5***
This is the second album of difficult to define ‘roots music’ from this native Kentuckian band. Any list of stylistic influences would have to include punk, blues, country, country rock, prog. rock, swamp rock, alt. country, gothic country, rock and perhaps even a little grunge, all in varying degrees and mixed together to overall form an extremely original album. I say ‘overall,’ because there are several songs on this excellent recording that do seem to fall generically within the boundaries of ‘country’ (or at least ‘alt. country!’) but all of that diversity just seems to be their signature and those elements blend together incredibly well. The album was actually completed a year ago but they had the highly original idea of releasing one track a month on their web site but with a different artist each month literally painting their interpretation of the song. Most of those artists are well known and jumped at the challenge, the results of which can be seen on the band web site. Should you purchase the album (recommended!) you can choose one of the artistic interpretations as the c.d cover. A novel idea for an album and band that are far more than mere novelties.
The members of the band have been friends since grade school in Cold Spring, Kentucky and have been performing as a band for about ten years, evidence of which can be heard in the all round tightness of their playing. Todd Lipscomb writes virtually all of the songs, plays acoustic guitar and handles all lead vocals. The fact that the band has so many influences means that they need a versatile vocalist and he is most definitely that, at times sounding a little reminiscent of people such as Bob Dylan and even Randy Newman but with a greater range and power. The remainder of this highly skilled band are Adam Pleiman on guitars, pedal steel and organ, Brian Teismann on guitar, Brian Mahan, bass and Brian Kelly on drums with all of them helping out with backing vocals.
The well written songs themselves are dark in theme, although not exclusively so and the instrumentation and vocals combine to enhance the dark atmosphere. Several songs do seem to move a little too close at times to what is easiest described as ‘prog. rock.’ Mercury probably comes closest, starting out as a very good twangy spookily dark country story song of an elusive lover and then slowly veering away from this feeling into an almost prog. rock melange. There are other occasions where the instrumentation seems a little over done but nowhere does it really spoil the album. It doesn’t make it a bad song, and it isn’t, in fact credit should be given for the experimentation, as on other songs, but it didn’t feel quite right. Conversely, on Tornadoes there is some gorgeous dobro and evocative vocals on a song that could have been recorded forty years ago by a band such as the New Riders of the Purple Sage but with Randy Newman on lead vocals! There are several very good ballads as in the case of Country Road, agorgeous slow moody song with acoustic guitars, chiming mandolin and a haunting steel guitar in the background plus the excellent lead vocals and nice harmonies. Good Man is another good song and has more of a rolling murky blues rock feel, although it is not the only nod to the blues, with My Wife The Tiger being more of an edgy swampy blues than country. Terrific song as well.
Despite the few little concerns this is a very good album by a hugely talented band that are not afraid of experimentation, something for which they should be applauded by all. I felt a few things should have been changed to make it an even better album but many will disagree. That’s music!
http://kentuckystruts.com
3.5***
This is the second album of difficult to define ‘roots music’ from this native Kentuckian band. Any list of stylistic influences would have to include punk, blues, country, country rock, prog. rock, swamp rock, alt. country, gothic country, rock and perhaps even a little grunge, all in varying degrees and mixed together to overall form an extremely original album. I say ‘overall,’ because there are several songs on this excellent recording that do seem to fall generically within the boundaries of ‘country’ (or at least ‘alt. country!’) but all of that diversity just seems to be their signature and those elements blend together incredibly well. The album was actually completed a year ago but they had the highly original idea of releasing one track a month on their web site but with a different artist each month literally painting their interpretation of the song. Most of those artists are well known and jumped at the challenge, the results of which can be seen on the band web site. Should you purchase the album (recommended!) you can choose one of the artistic interpretations as the c.d cover. A novel idea for an album and band that are far more than mere novelties.
The members of the band have been friends since grade school in Cold Spring, Kentucky and have been performing as a band for about ten years, evidence of which can be heard in the all round tightness of their playing. Todd Lipscomb writes virtually all of the songs, plays acoustic guitar and handles all lead vocals. The fact that the band has so many influences means that they need a versatile vocalist and he is most definitely that, at times sounding a little reminiscent of people such as Bob Dylan and even Randy Newman but with a greater range and power. The remainder of this highly skilled band are Adam Pleiman on guitars, pedal steel and organ, Brian Teismann on guitar, Brian Mahan, bass and Brian Kelly on drums with all of them helping out with backing vocals.
The well written songs themselves are dark in theme, although not exclusively so and the instrumentation and vocals combine to enhance the dark atmosphere. Several songs do seem to move a little too close at times to what is easiest described as ‘prog. rock.’ Mercury probably comes closest, starting out as a very good twangy spookily dark country story song of an elusive lover and then slowly veering away from this feeling into an almost prog. rock melange. There are other occasions where the instrumentation seems a little over done but nowhere does it really spoil the album. It doesn’t make it a bad song, and it isn’t, in fact credit should be given for the experimentation, as on other songs, but it didn’t feel quite right. Conversely, on Tornadoes there is some gorgeous dobro and evocative vocals on a song that could have been recorded forty years ago by a band such as the New Riders of the Purple Sage but with Randy Newman on lead vocals! There are several very good ballads as in the case of Country Road, agorgeous slow moody song with acoustic guitars, chiming mandolin and a haunting steel guitar in the background plus the excellent lead vocals and nice harmonies. Good Man is another good song and has more of a rolling murky blues rock feel, although it is not the only nod to the blues, with My Wife The Tiger being more of an edgy swampy blues than country. Terrific song as well.
Despite the few little concerns this is a very good album by a hugely talented band that are not afraid of experimentation, something for which they should be applauded by all. I felt a few things should have been changed to make it an even better album but many will disagree. That’s music!
http://kentuckystruts.com
