The Next Time Around

UPSIDE DOWN by The Neighbors

Austin Public Library....watch out. 

INTERPOL - ANCIENT WAYS

Oh Paul Banks, what tortures your soul? Is it hipsters? Or is it the inevitable end of life? I hope it is hipsters.

The Wild Feathers - Warner Bros. Records

The last thing anyone needs are more bands coming to fruition via the Mumford & Sons folk/rock/Americana explosion of the years past. I first brushed The Wild Feathers into that category mainly due to their name but oh how quickly did I realized they are on the opposite end of the country folk rock spectrum. Plus they are American. U.S.A! U.S.A!

Texas formed but based in Nashville, TN the quintet play with that Southern charm that you would expect. Plus add a tinge of heartache and you got a great rock and roll band. Think of The Jayhawks mixed with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Folky (Tall Boots) when they wanna be but always pure country-rock (Backwoods Company) with the appropriate harmonies of course.  

The Ceiling is the song of the album. You will probably get sick of it. But for now it's stomp along vibe will be your jam. Ricky Young is channeling his best Hootie & The Blowfish vocal and it's amazing. I rocked the Cracked Rear View cassette in the '90s...I was a pretty cool 9 year old. 

                Jon Pardi

Write You A Song                                    Capitol Records Nashville

It’s refreshing to see a young country artist wear a Stetson straw cowboy hat. With modern country singers opting for trucker hats and V-necks, sometimes a tight pair of wranglers and a pearl snap shirt can feel just right. A throwback to the 90s twang of Garth and George but with a touch of a modern outlaw sound – Eric Church on his best behavior - Jon Pardi isn’t about to waste his time with his debut album, “Write You A Song.” 

“What I Can’t Put Down” was the right choice to open the album. The immediate guitar riffs prep you for a solid debut effort. Sure there are the obligatory cliché songs of beer, girls and trucks and the sappy lost love: “Up All Night” and “That Man,” but they are sandwiched between genuine songs with substance. 

 “Missing You Crazy” is a fast romp complete with fiddle solo and a sing-along chorus that was manufactured to be part of a soundtrack for fun times. “Happens All The Time” is a song that should play as you sway with a lover under the light of the moon or in a really sad honky-tonk with a glass of whiskey in your hand. It can easily pass for a Brooks and Dunn song, and that’s a good thing. 

Themes of youth, good times and past love are recurrent without being monotonous, a good part due to Pardi’s role as a front man that knows his audience.

Pardi, a native of small town Northern California knows where he came from (Dixon...what what!), but is now as Nashville as they come. He’s got an opening spot locked for Dierks Bentley’s upcoming tour and a spot at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Get ready to Pardi y’all.