•
Rating:
Borrowing the band name from a 2005 live performance of the NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTAR, "Hill Country Revue", Cody Dickinson does not want to hide the influences that the parent band provides to this side project. The Dickinson brothers, as we know, are the spokespeople for that splendid new Southern rock reality called North Mississippi Allstar which, along with a handful of other new names including the Drive-By Truckers, is rejuvenating the American Southern rock scene.
With this new band, Dickinson, alongside bandmate Chris Chew on bass, Daniel Robert Coburn on vocals and harmonica, Kirk Smithhart on guitars, and Edward "hot" Cleveland on drums, not only resumes the Southern and soul elements of his band but also enriches the sound by bringing it into those rock blues territories, where the guitars dominate, brushing the edge of Hendrix's blues.
Ten songs mostly written by Garry Burnside, with guest appearances by his brother Duwayne and Luther Dickinson (Cody's brother and, for some years now, a full-fledged member of the reborn Black Crowes) on guitars. In short, with all these guitarists, it is obvious that the sound leaned towards high-impact guitar-centric blues rock, played technically well even though at times a little more effort in the compositional phase could have favored originality that would have benefited the album's longevity, which will surely remain "for fans only."
An album constructed to liberate Cody's blues soul, allowing him to let go, assisted by the other guitarists as well in long jams and solos, sometimes truly of high quality as in the final track "Growing up in Mississippi". The recording of the album, almost live, reveals the album's intent, that is, to play freely without predetermined boundaries or paths. Torrential rock blues tracks like the title track "Hill Country Revue" or "Highway Blues" are accompanied by more laid-back blues with a skewed rhythm like "Let's Talk About Me And You" where Coburn's harmonica makes an appearance. Then, there are more cerebral episodes like "You Can Make It", where the band plays at being the Allman Brothers Band from the "Brothers and Sisters" era with highly convincing results; here Cody also takes on the piano, without forgetting his first passion, the drums.
Amusing is the redo of the traditional "Georgia Women", a lively boogie blues that pairs with "Ramblin", an original composition.
In conclusion, an enjoyable album to listen to, with guitars as absolute protagonists, not the most original but a sincere and heartfelt tribute to '70s Southblues, the kind of the early Allmans and Johny Winter to be clear, with a dusty sprinkle of a Southern style akin to early ZZ Top. It's impossible to give the highest ratings to such a derivative album, but sometimes even non-masterpieces turn out to be fun, and with summer, a torrid rock album is always nice to listen to.
Loading comments slowly
