Browsing Tag

southern rock

Backwoods Creek delivered the ultimate Southern soul-rock anthem ‘Alright’

Posted on 15 March 2024

Sensing cynicism in the universal waters, Backwoods Creek prescribed a potent dose of optimism with their latest single, ‘Alright’. The refreshing take on bluesy soul-swathed Southern rock played fast and loose with the genre constraints while keeping the instrumental arrangement tight enough to unravel as every rock-inclined muso’s wet dream.

Part lyrical mantra, part musical Tour De Force, the UK-based quintet exhibited ‘Alright’ as a masterclass in balancing raw, overdriven guitars and whiskey-soaked vocals with an undercurrent of hope and redemption. It’s a track that carries the dynamic energy of power pop while remaining true to its bluesy rock and roll roots.

The virtuosic cohesion of the instrumentals showcases their skill and chemistry, honed through years of friendship and collaboration, and you don’t have to buy tickets to their live shows (even though you really should) to witness their infectious energy performance energy; the band’s electrifying aura is perfectly captured in this track.

No one can deny that while life is on a downward trajectory hearing everything will be alright prises ennui out of your perception. This life-affirming hit goes beyond reassurance –  it’s transformative.

Alright will hit the airwaves on March 15; check out the release via the official Backwoods Creek website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The dust of desert rock gelled with the sludge of grunge in Jeremy Phillips & The Ozark Grunge’s latest single, Hell Into Home

Posted on 31 July 2023

We’ve scarcely returned to the 21st century after revisiting the 90s with Jeremy Phillips & The Ozark Grunge’s single, Crazy. Proving that they’re more than just a one-trick sonic pony, they’ve dropped another nostalgia atom bomb with their lamentatively exhilarating single, Hell Into Home.

If Kurt Cobain had a little more of a Southern twang to his vocal lines and arrestively brashy swagger to his guitar hooks, Nirvana’s seminal hits would have swum in the very same vein as this epitome of an earworm.

The tight instrumentation lends itself effortlessly well to the grungily cosmic songwriting that entices you into the centre of the dusty-with-desert-rock-atmospherics hit that mourns the loss of a home becoming a house in the absence of the person that made the brick-and-mortar a place worth coming back to.

Stream Hell Into Home, which was officially released on July 21, via Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Skip Seattle and Go to the Ozarks for Your 90s Grunge with Jeremy Phillips’ Latest Single, Crazy

Posted on 5 July 2023

Country and Grunge rarely collide, but when they do, as proven by the latest single, Crazy, from Jeremy Phillips and The Ozark Grunge, evocative firestorms spark in the gruff vocal timbre and southern rock riffs, which will take you higher than a billionaire in space.

With the raucousness scouring the soul in Crazy, the hit is rough around all the right edges, but at its core, it’s a heartfelt release strong enough to pick you up off the floor if you reach to it in your lowest moments.

While the lyrics allude to how love is one of the only acceptable forms of madness, the blazingly tight instrumentals, which will throw you right back to the 90s, sell sludged-up sanctuary. While so many artists are keen to assimilate the Seattle grunge sound, Jeremy Phillips proves the distortion sounds just as sweet in the Ozarks.

Crazy is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Paraguayan Southern Rock troubadour Sunburned River is beguilingly defiant in his cinematic single, Go On

Posted on 9 January 2023

Paraguayan Southern Rock troubadour Sunburned River closed 2022 with the release of his heart-wrenchingly defiant single, Go On.

Starting with choral 70s folk-rock tones, the disarming single seamlessly builds around orchestrally cinematic and baroque motifs, complementing the rugged acoustic guitar timbres and the low ethereal hum of his evocative vocal timbre. If that wasn’t enough sonic beguile, the singer-songwriter orchestrated an electric guitar riff solo for the ages.

Regardless of who you revere as a guitar hero, Sunburned River’s talent while ripping through the soaring lead guitar work is breath-takingly superlative. The only thing on par with his instrumental ability is his captivatingly immersive songwriting skills.

The official video for Go On is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Borrowed Souls hit the ‘Killswitch’

Posted on 7 May 2021
Borrowed Souls

Borrowed Souls started out life, in 2016, as a covers band taking in the likes of Portishead, The Black Keys, and Alabama Shakes. As sometimes happens when a musical chemistry is formed between members, they realised they’d got something between them, and started writing their own original material. Finding their own, signature sound – a lo-fi mixture of jazzy, soulful blues-rock – the trio put together their debut EP, ‘Baxter’s Kitchen’, following up now with their debut full-length album, ‘Epiphany and Revelation’, ‘from which Killswitch’ – their debut ‘proper’ single release – is taken.

‘Killswitch’, then, is exactly that – bluesy, soulful, rocky, chilled yet powerful; opening up with some delicate guitar arpeggios, ‘Killswitch’ sounds exactly like something from the Sons Of Anarchy or Strike Back soundtracks, that gruff, vaguely Americana-tinged rock in the vein of The Forest Rangers, Billy Valentine, Mark Stone, or the Shapeshifters, but with a modern twist: Laid-back, groovy, swaggering alt-blues-rock – think ‘Short Change Hero’ by The Heavy, The Black Keys, or The Revivalists, and you’re not far wrong.

You can check out ‘Killswitch’, and the rest of the ‘Epiphany And Revelation’ album, here, and follow Borrowed Souls on Facebook and Twitter.

Review by Alex Holmes

Evandale – The Storm: Southern Sleazy Hard Rock

Posted on 23 April 2021

‘The Storm’ was the first single released from Evandale’s debut album, ‘All or Nothing’; it’s safe to say that the hard rock outfit went with the former option with this southern sleazy stormer.

Since forming in 2017, the Midwest powerhouse has opened for iconic acts such as Bowling for Soup, Soul Asylum, Dirty Honey, Wayland and Spin Doctors and won an Omaha Arts and Entertainment award for Best New Artist in 2019. With their enigmatic energy, technical ability and tendency to pack their tracks with enough visceral intensity that they could make the Richter scale quiver; the accolades are only going to get sweeter from here on out.

I can imagine, and hopefully, one day I will be able to discover that Evandale’s live sound delivers the same pit-opening arrestive adrenaline as Godsmack and Sevendust.

You can check out the official lyric video to the Storm via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Old Days: Trent Beaver and The Damage bring us back to those distant memories on ‘Ramblin Kinda Man’

Posted on 17 April 2021

With his heart on the sleeve and the stories of his family still fresh in his mind, Trent Beaver and The Damage bring us the road-trip gem called ‘Ramblin Kinda Man‘.

Trent Beaver is an acclaimed acoustic pop/southern rock Pacific Northwest-based singer-songwriter from the famous music town of Muscle Shoals in Alabama, who sings with that gritty edge that makes him a true artist who sings from deep inside, where the memories are stored forever.

This is the story about remembering his old man’s life, the sadness is strewn all over his tremendous vocals as he shares how things where back in the day, when life was way more simple and the good times were plentiful.

The superb southern style is lathered all over this top quality single, as you get lost in the journey and start to drift away into the past, your mind racing as you remember when you were younger and you wish things could go back to these innocent days.

‘Ramblin Kinda Man‘ from the humble family man and BMX-lovin’ Pacific Northwest indie singer-songwriter Trent Beaver, is an ode to those days where the whole family was there as one, the tears now ring down for his Mamma who lost her man too soon.

Stream this new single on Spotify and check out IG for more news.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Brandon Bing – Dyin’ Breed: Rapturously Raucous Country Rock

Posted on 31 March 2021

Singer-songwriter Brandon Bing is keeping modern country rock alive and breathing, ironically, with tracks such as ‘Dyin’ Breed’. The southern sun-kissed single plants itself firmly within the roots of country and resounds through the massive radio-ready rock production.

It’s a track that rhythmically commands you to move and lyrically compels you to see the beauty in the world in the same way the Florida & Nashville- based artist does. You almost don’t need the artist’s bio to know that he lives between Florida and Nashville, the gloss and grit delivered in Dyin’ Breed is a telling sign and just one of the reasons why Brandon Bing stands out so easily from the rest.

His rapturously raucous lyricism paired with their gritty southern twang will do infinitely more for your outlook on life than pawing your way through a mountain of self-help books. The energy from the stomping rhythms paired with the rich resonant vocals won’t fail to crawl under your ribs as you listen to the hook-filled feat of honkytonk.

Dyin’ Breed is now available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dylan Koski – I’ve Got Mine: Scorching Guitar-Driven Modern Rock

Posted on 5 November 2020
https://dylankoski.com/track/2454257/i-ve-got-mine

From the four-tracker “Sour Milk and Cigarettes”, Dylan Koski’s “I’ve Got Mine” is a modern, searing, scorching guitar-driven rock track which easily showcases Koski’s virtuoso guitar skills alongside his bourbon-burned vocals. With a guitar tone to die for, reminiscent of Santana and Rory Gallagher, rich in old-school ‘woman tone’, the guitar perfectly compliments Koski’s unique lyrical take on the ‘old school love song’.

Featuring Brandon Pettiford on drums and Tony Harpon on bass, and recorded at Sonic Lounge Studios, “I’ve Got Mine” is the absolute real deal of a track – Driving and powerful, modern yet familiar, slick and stylish, riff-driven yet with real songwriting style, “I’ve Got Mine” is an absolute stormer of a song.

Check out the “Sour Milk and Cigarettes” EP on Spotify, and the “I’ve Got Mine” video on YouTube.

Review by Alex Holmes

JD3 rock with the brilliant ‘No Fools’

Posted on 5 September 2020

Northeast Indiana’s JD3  (The Jondo Trio) bring that good bluesy country on the sensible-seeking single ‘No Fools‘.

JD3, also/previously known as The Jondo Trio, are a southern rock swamp stomp powerhouse. Their live performances have earned them a cult following all over their travels. The gruff vocals grabs your attention and you get lost in the crowd with the excellent guitar riffs.

Originally a power trio in the vein of ZZ Top, in 2016, The Jondo Trio (Nate Mosley-guitar & vocals, Paul Osborn-drums, Stu Way-Bass) with the release of their 2nd album, Scraps From The Borderlands, added a fourth member (Chris Dafforn- keys & trumpet) and re-branded themselves as JD3.

JD3 performs primarily in the Midwest (they are based out of ) but have also developed a bit of a cult following in Europe which is so great to see. Their music style transcends borders and they sound hungry here.

With the release of their third album, ‘Something Good‘ recently, the band took a deeper dive into exploring their southern rock and r&b roots, showcasing their songwriting skills and deep groove. ‘Something Good‘ was released with both band names- JD3 & The Jondo Trio – to help fans of each of the prior albums to “find” each other. This is a strong release and is well-received.

Stream the new song here on YouTube.

Click here for the Facebook page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen