THE NEW MADRIDS – THROUGH THE HEART OF TOWN
2014 – Self
Released
It always adds a note of drama when someone writes that a band is ‘formed from the ashes’ of several other bands but in the case of the New Madrids it is an accurate claim! This talented Scottish based band got together in 2010 with four of them having been members of Americana band Southpaw and the other being founder member and lead singer of bluesy rock and rollers, The Revivals. That blend of several sub genres goes a long way to explaining this tremendous five piece’s sound. The band is made up of Donny McElligott on guitar and vocals, Ian Hutchison, (the one member from The Revivals) on guitar and vocals, Owen Nicholson, guitars, pedal steel, lap steel and vocals, Maurice McPherson, drums and Callum keith on bass, although there is an appearance from local bass legend Pete Honeyman. The album consists of all band originals and emphasizes the appealing and slightly disparate styles, a fusion that works beautifully on this high quality album. Whilst it is easy to hear the roots of the two songwriters they slot the styles together beautifully without ever losing sight of their roots, often adding a strong dose of soul to the mix for good measure.
McElligott and Hutchison each contributed five songs to the recording and whilst they are stylistically different there is an ovelap that blends the styles nicely, ensuring there is an excellent continuity to this album that always has a huge amount of ‘soul,’ despite generically fitting under the umbrella of alt. country or country rock. There is never any slacking in the quality of the lead vocals either, with both McElligott and Hutchison being top notch vocalists albeit with their different styles, but the harmony blend is always excellent and as a bonus Donny McElligotts vocals at times sound remarkably like Don Henley. (I’m not an Eagles fan but Henley is a great vocalist!) Each of the two writer/vocalists handle the lead on their own songs so the split is even, but like me, you won’t be trying to compare the two, you will simply be enjoying the great songs and the flow and diversity of the styles on this exceptional recording.
The songs are powerfully atmospheric with either lead vocalist able to conjure up a range of emotions, all of which are believable. There is a convincing fire and passion to every song, something that only the most talented bands have any hope of attaining in a natural unforced way. This band manage it with something to spare, ensuring that every song sits within its own individual mini epic field that draws the listener into their often cinematic, multi faceted music. When I say multi faceted I don’t mean it in the sense that there are multiple overdubs, it is more about the depth and natural ambience of everything they play. The tempos are varied and whilst the album is rooted in alt. country the strong soulfulness should appeal to a much wider, although most alt. country fans will certainly appreciate that blend. The instrumentation is varied and even on the songs that lean more towards soul there is still a strong edgy country feel.
Album opener Wrapped Up was written by Donny and is a slow to mid tempo country rocker with gorgeous steel guitar, an excellent lead vocal that is a little reminiscent of a young Don Henley with that edgy melodic rasp, good harmonies and nice twangy guitar. It is a terrific scene setter for some, but not all, of what follows, which is essentially what lifts this album above many of its peers. The fact that the band has the ability to perform in and adapt several slightly varying styles without ever losing the flow and continuity of their music is something that keeps me coming back to this album. Ians Shine A Light is a song that could as easily be a soul song as country but the twang pushes it more into the country zone, until that is, the horns join in! Of course country is a form of ‘soul music’ so the excellent blend on this album should really come as no surprise, although this band seem able to put the two together without losing the essence of these two usually separate music styles. Donnys Shake is a tremendous ‘country soul’ song and performance, with horns added to the atmospheric vocal, harmonies and steel guitar. His Big Fun contains a lead vocal that even after numerous listening sessions I still find difficult to accept is not Don Henley at his best, on a song that rocks nicely with just a little twang and an excellent ‘rock’ guitar solo. Finally, Ians Mountain Of Trouble has an attack, instrumentation and tempo reminiscent of the Eagles Take It Easy. Throughout the album there are many areas reminiscent of the Eagles, but this band thankfully have much more of an edge, with no smoothing off of their natural attacking style. It’s simply that they fit into a similar genre but with more soul and more country, probably in the main, thanks to the lead vocal and excellent band harmonies.
With the often raw hard driving but intensely melodic sound, well written songs, excellent instrumentation and two supremely expressive lead vocalists it’s difficult to see how this band can fail. I read somewhere that this album could gain ‘classic’ status. It’s as difficult to justify that claim as it is to define what makes a classic album, although as far as my understanding of the word goes it’s difficult to put up a decent argument against that eventuality in the case of this band. ‘Roots music’ really doesn’t get too much better than this!
http://thenewmadrids.com/
It always adds a note of drama when someone writes that a band is ‘formed from the ashes’ of several other bands but in the case of the New Madrids it is an accurate claim! This talented Scottish based band got together in 2010 with four of them having been members of Americana band Southpaw and the other being founder member and lead singer of bluesy rock and rollers, The Revivals. That blend of several sub genres goes a long way to explaining this tremendous five piece’s sound. The band is made up of Donny McElligott on guitar and vocals, Ian Hutchison, (the one member from The Revivals) on guitar and vocals, Owen Nicholson, guitars, pedal steel, lap steel and vocals, Maurice McPherson, drums and Callum keith on bass, although there is an appearance from local bass legend Pete Honeyman. The album consists of all band originals and emphasizes the appealing and slightly disparate styles, a fusion that works beautifully on this high quality album. Whilst it is easy to hear the roots of the two songwriters they slot the styles together beautifully without ever losing sight of their roots, often adding a strong dose of soul to the mix for good measure.
McElligott and Hutchison each contributed five songs to the recording and whilst they are stylistically different there is an ovelap that blends the styles nicely, ensuring there is an excellent continuity to this album that always has a huge amount of ‘soul,’ despite generically fitting under the umbrella of alt. country or country rock. There is never any slacking in the quality of the lead vocals either, with both McElligott and Hutchison being top notch vocalists albeit with their different styles, but the harmony blend is always excellent and as a bonus Donny McElligotts vocals at times sound remarkably like Don Henley. (I’m not an Eagles fan but Henley is a great vocalist!) Each of the two writer/vocalists handle the lead on their own songs so the split is even, but like me, you won’t be trying to compare the two, you will simply be enjoying the great songs and the flow and diversity of the styles on this exceptional recording.
The songs are powerfully atmospheric with either lead vocalist able to conjure up a range of emotions, all of which are believable. There is a convincing fire and passion to every song, something that only the most talented bands have any hope of attaining in a natural unforced way. This band manage it with something to spare, ensuring that every song sits within its own individual mini epic field that draws the listener into their often cinematic, multi faceted music. When I say multi faceted I don’t mean it in the sense that there are multiple overdubs, it is more about the depth and natural ambience of everything they play. The tempos are varied and whilst the album is rooted in alt. country the strong soulfulness should appeal to a much wider, although most alt. country fans will certainly appreciate that blend. The instrumentation is varied and even on the songs that lean more towards soul there is still a strong edgy country feel.
Album opener Wrapped Up was written by Donny and is a slow to mid tempo country rocker with gorgeous steel guitar, an excellent lead vocal that is a little reminiscent of a young Don Henley with that edgy melodic rasp, good harmonies and nice twangy guitar. It is a terrific scene setter for some, but not all, of what follows, which is essentially what lifts this album above many of its peers. The fact that the band has the ability to perform in and adapt several slightly varying styles without ever losing the flow and continuity of their music is something that keeps me coming back to this album. Ians Shine A Light is a song that could as easily be a soul song as country but the twang pushes it more into the country zone, until that is, the horns join in! Of course country is a form of ‘soul music’ so the excellent blend on this album should really come as no surprise, although this band seem able to put the two together without losing the essence of these two usually separate music styles. Donnys Shake is a tremendous ‘country soul’ song and performance, with horns added to the atmospheric vocal, harmonies and steel guitar. His Big Fun contains a lead vocal that even after numerous listening sessions I still find difficult to accept is not Don Henley at his best, on a song that rocks nicely with just a little twang and an excellent ‘rock’ guitar solo. Finally, Ians Mountain Of Trouble has an attack, instrumentation and tempo reminiscent of the Eagles Take It Easy. Throughout the album there are many areas reminiscent of the Eagles, but this band thankfully have much more of an edge, with no smoothing off of their natural attacking style. It’s simply that they fit into a similar genre but with more soul and more country, probably in the main, thanks to the lead vocal and excellent band harmonies.
With the often raw hard driving but intensely melodic sound, well written songs, excellent instrumentation and two supremely expressive lead vocalists it’s difficult to see how this band can fail. I read somewhere that this album could gain ‘classic’ status. It’s as difficult to justify that claim as it is to define what makes a classic album, although as far as my understanding of the word goes it’s difficult to put up a decent argument against that eventuality in the case of this band. ‘Roots music’ really doesn’t get too much better than this!
http://thenewmadrids.com/