Zephaniah Ohora, from Brooklyn, NY, and his band The 18-wheelers, released in 2017 one of the most vibrant-sounding, flawlessly-produced and recorded albums of classic country I have ever heard in any era. The debut album is called The Highway, and it includes superb songs, perfect instrumentation helping to fit the mood and style, turning the listening of this great album an overall dazzling experience that will make you open your eyes and clearly understand why you decided to open your arms to the best music in the world. We’ve just listened to the song that opens the album, Way down in my soul, sound that rapidly sets you in the mood when you hear the Bakersfield sound in the guitar and drums. It was produced by Jim Campilongo and Luca Benedetti, both of them deserving credit for capturing such warmth and body in the recording process, making the music soung vibrant and vintage, rewarding the listener with all the benefits of the music made in the 50s and 60s. He’s been able to put together what many a singers have so many times failed in: making real country music where it doesn’t matter if it’s 1957 or 2017 because the human heart still breaks down the same lines, we all yearn for freedom when we feel constricted, and we all search for comfort when we’re alone. Let’s listen to a couple more songs from this intemporal piece of work: I Do Believe I’ve Had Enough, that could have easily been cut by Merle Haggard, and This Highway, my favorite in this album, a song about the long-term marriage between singers and on-the-road touring. The pedal steel guitar Jon Graboff, responsible for all the pedal steel parts in the album, carries out an immaculate performance which elevates him to the Hall of Fame of the best ones of all time.
Zephanaiah OHora’s This Highway just very well might be a modern classic country masterpiece. It’s flawless for what it is, which is a reawakening of everything brilliant and beautiful about the Countrypolitan era of country music. The term “Countrypolitan” came from the contemporization of country music to appeal to country people who had moved to the city during the 50’s and 60’s for work and prosperity. Standards such as Detroit City, Old Home Place, and Streets of Baltimore all come from that time and deal with such stories of displacement of population. In fact, the Dustbowl we talked about some programs ago, the economic turmoil of the 1930s, and the end of World War II, in a way triggered this re-shaping of country music, which is nothing but the reflection of all these socio-economic situations that took place in the middle of the 20th century.
As I commented at the beginning, Zephaniah Ohora is original from Brooklyn, a New Yorker singing country music. In fact, there is a little bit of New York City peppered into the narrative here, in fact we can see that in the timeless theme called “High Class City Girl from the Country”, a song that reminds me of Glen Campbell. And even though we all know that country music doesn’t really belong to New York City, this album called truly tells the authentic story of Zephaniah OHora, and his experience as a classic country music fan living in the city. We’ll listen to a couple more songs from the album: High Class City Girl from the Country, and I can’t Let Go (Even though I set you Free), song about remorse of a lost love, with the pedal steel crying all over the place.
The challenge of all traditional and classic country music made in the modern context, such as Jon Pardi’s Heartache Medication, published last year, is definitely how to make it appeal to the present day mindset, while still minding the stylings both sonically and lyrically of the past era you wish to evoke. And that is exactly what happens here with Zephaniah Ohora’s debut album. It is indeniable that country music must evolve to stay relevant, but at the same time if someone can work within the restrictive parameters of a specific era and allow all the heartening and nostalgia to bolster the experience while still telling stories and touching topics that very much appeal to the modern heart, this is an enterprise worthy of praise when pulled off as well as Zephaniah does. music on a creative scale. Zephaniah wrote every song on this record except the tribute “Something Stupid”, guested here by Dori Freeman. I really hope this song really discredits those ones who might think that a guy from New York City can’t sing real badass country, ‘cause this is as real and relevant to today as it can be. We’ll say goodbye to this wonderful piece of work listening to a murder ballad called I can’t let go (even though I set you free).
Next June 2020 the new album by the Reeves Brothers will see the light. For the time being, the song Dad, an advance from the long-awaited Long Play, has visited the show. Matt Reeves on the Vocals, and lead guitar, Cole Reeves on the guitar, Kelly Bishop on the bass, and Caleb Melo on the pedal steel are responsible for a great Honky Tonk and western swing band that will make you think this is the official country band touring in Heaven. While we wait for the new album to reach our coasts, we’ll visit the last release, “King of Country Music”, published in 2017, as our previous guest. The songs Waltzes and Western Swing and Damned you whiskey open this magnificent album by The Reeves Brothers, band from Las Vegas, in the state of Nevada.
If you're familiar with the Reeves Brothers group, you will know that they have a lot of 70's influence. This album from 2017 is packed full of 70's style country, they also drew inspiration from the 60's Merle Haggard albums, the early 80's tracks of Alabama, and a lot of rodeo cowboy music from Red Steagall. Each album produced and recorded by these boys is nothing but a journey through the Honky-Tonk Country Music they grew up listening to. They have done over 600 live shows and they well know the difficulty of making it in the charts, especially keeping it real country. They won the Ameripolitan "Honky-Tonk Group Of The Year", and the Arkansas Country Music Awards' "Vocal Group Of The Year" a couple of years ago, and there is no doubt that they support fiddle and steel sound unconditionally. We’ll say goodbye to this wonderful band listening to two more songs from this 2017 disc: C.C. Watermark, and King of Country Music, with a touch of Red Steagall and a tribute to San Antonio Rose by fiddle.
Named by critics the new queen of rockabilly, has released a new album, called “Chicaboom”, Tami Neilson is coming to testify and save souls with her earth-shattering shouts that certify to anyone who has ever born witness to her in the flesh that powerwise she has no peer on this planet or any other when it comes down to musical performance. Tami is one of the greatest performers breathing at the moment, no ifs ands or buts about it, and make no mistake, a consensus prevails upon this point when surrounded by concert-goers who’ve actually been lucky enough to behold her power live in person. This Canadian-born performer who got her start in a family band opening for the likes of Tanya Tucker and Johnny Cash has been slowly bubbling under the surface of country for some years now, struggling to find her spot due to her limited name recognition and touring capability north of the equator. But things are changing now and she is starting to enjoy some of the buzz she’s deserved for some years now. It’s within this swelling of interest that she releases her new album, that as I said before is called CHICKABOOM!—an energetic mix of rockabilly, old school R&B soul, and classic country that has something for everyone with good taste. We’ll say goodbye to her listening to another song of this album, Tell me that you love me, before we go to the next band for today’s show.
5th album in a career that spans 11 years now, the Steeldrivers are not exactly the kind of bluegrass band that fits into the classic category of superpicking and wild runs on wood and wire. Rather, the way they accomplish a modern sound by bringing in the influences of other roots genres to bluegrass instrumentation, namely the soulful blues and vintage R&B that soaks their music with a measure of blood and color that other bluegrass music just doesn’t provide. That’s not to say they can’t excel in this field as well, as they prove on the instrumental of this new record. But they separate themselves from the herd of buttoned up bluegrass pickers and jam band newgrassers by bringing that influence time and again in this piece of work excellently. The album is called “Bad for you”, and the first song we’ve listened to is “I choose you”. It bears mentioning that most of the songs on this new record stick close to familiar themes and modes to blues, R&B, and bluegrass, even though they do these themes better than most other bands out there. The lyrics of the SteelDrivers fit the mood of the music just like a glove, with little latency between the two that traditional bluegrass listeners sometimes get in pure songwriting efforts with no purposeful musical direction. They can brag proudly about having been capable of accomplishing such endeavor. We’ll say goodbye to this great album listening to two more songs: Glad I’m Gone, and Lonely and Being Alone. The Steeldrivers.
Strange as it may sound, this album by Ronnie Dunn called “Redunn” is being released just a mere matter of months after his cameo-comeback with Kix Brooks in his “Reboot”, a forgettable intention to reignite the duet Brooks & Dunn.
This “Redunn” album, unlike “Reboot”, wasn't released on a major label, appearing on the tiny imprint Little Will-E Records. Anyway, it's a collection of covers, which doesn't make it all that different from Reboot, which featured revived versions of old Brooks & Dunn tunes. All of this makes Re-Dunn seem modest, but the album is long, stretching out over the course of nearly 90 minutes. This gives Dunn plenty of time to sing his favorites, which wind up being some '70s oldies, a few country tunes from the '70s and '80s, and a handful of honky tonk classics. The first two songs of this album cutting 24 of Ronnie Dunn’s favorites are Amarillo By Morning, the classic by George Strait, and Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) from The Hollies. One curiosity about this covers album is that this is the first time that a singer cuts a version of “The Cowboy Rides Away” from George Strait. As a fun fact I’ll tell you that that’s the song George says goodbye with in his concerts, and here is the one which will make us sign out. We’ll listen to three more songs from the album, as I said The Cowboy Rides Away from George Strait in 1985, Ridin’ my thumb to Mexico, from Johnny Rodriguez in 1973, and Amie, from The Pure Prairie League in 1972. All three covered by Ronnie Dunn from his new cover album “Redunn”.
