BLUESgrass
Written: Jan 18 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Superior songwriting, vocals and musicianship.
Cons: Too progressive for bluegrass?
The Bottom Line: The Steeldrivers are the kind of band that the bluegrass genre needs to prove it can be both "high lonesome" and "cool" at the same time.
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| MattBjorke's Full Review: The SteelDrivers [1/15] by The SteelDrivers |
There are a couple things you should know about The Steeldrivers. They're formed in Nashville by a consortium of Nashville's studio community. A couple of the band's members have even recorded solo albums of their own, mandolin/vocalist Mike Henderson and Fiddler/vocalist Tammy Rodgers, while lead singer/guitarist Chris Stapleton is one of Nashville's top songwriters. One last thing to know: This ain't your mama's bluegrass.
The first three tracks on this self-titled record are very strong. "Blue Side Of The Mountain," "Drinkin' Dark Whiskey," and "Midnight Train To Memphis" instantly showcase everything about the band. From Stapleton’s bluesy growl to Henderson's fine mandolin playing to Rodgers' great fiddling. Bassist Mike Fleming and banjoist Richard Bailey round out the band and provide the stompin' rhythm. Fans of Gary Allan will recognize "Drinkin' Dark Whiskey." it was a rollicking' country rocker on his "See If I Care" record and here, aside from Stapleton's vocal, is given a straight-up bluegrass arrangement. As with most bluegrass, there's joyfulness to the arrangement. "Midnight Train" has the kind of 'hard rock' sounding arrangement to the main melody that helps set the group apart from the pack. Stapleton growls about losing' his woman and if there no more than these three songs then this group would be set up for superstardom.
But there is. Immediately after these two songs, The Steeldrivers delve into a couple more 'traditional' bluegrass songs. "Midnight Tears" and "If You Can't Be Good, Be Gone" both have that high lonesome sound that Bill Monroe made popular while the ballad "Sticks That Made Thunder" has a poetic lyric that's backed up by a fine Celtic sounding melody that proves how much Bluegrass and country really owe to Irish music. Darryl Worley recorded the murder for love 'If It Hadn't Been For Love" and while I loved him singing the story, to hear it's songwriters sing and play it the song is transformed. It's one of the albums highlights for sure. The bluesy purity of Stapleton's voice really comes out here over the acoustic track. Sometimes hearing a song like this (which deals with a man killing his wife after she cheated on him) acoustically is all it takes to make the song go from merely good to brilliant, as is the case here.
"To Be With You Again" recalls Ray Charles so much that it could be easy to forget Ray's been gone for a few years now. It's almost all Stapleton for the first minute of the song but once the banjo and upright bass kick in, we know that this isn't Ray but a first rate bluegrass band with a superb blues singer leading them. It's that kind of 'cutting edge' bluegrass that the Steeldrivers make. They make the kind of music that is fresh and exciting without pushing tradition out the door. The Steel Drivers also make music that can expand bluegrass' fan base.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Listening
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Epinions.com ID:
MattBjorke
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Location: Music City, TN, USA
Reviews written: 485
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I'm still here and I'm still a fan of good pop and country music.
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