**** (out of 4 stars)
Label: MCA Nashville
So I hung out with a bunch of buddies and heard some “you’ve-gotta-hear-this-band” live music tonight. I could hardly wait to get back to my computer and archive the experience. Of course, I never met these friends before tonight. And, actually, they were the band I am talking about. OK, I guess I was exaggerating a little. But you see – once you’ve been to a live show of the Randy Rogers Band, you leave feeling like you just hung out with 5 of the most talented, coolest friends ever.
And this wasn’t just any concert. It was the live show given in Austin, Texas (where Randy Rogers lives and rules the Texas country music scene) celebrating the release of their new album Burning the Day. It also happened to be Randy’s 32nd birthday, so everyone was in a party mood. Speaking of the new album – Burning the Day is full of uncluttered, solid melodies sung to the rafters of every dive around by Randy Rogers’ confident (but gruffly human) vocals. Randy Rogers is the kind of country star that the genre depends on. He stands there, between the audience and the song, and it clear that his job is to let the two get acquainted with each other. Now that they are finally getting national exposure, here’s hoping he and the band stay together and are around to deliver the goods for a very long time.
If you aren’t lucky enough to be from Texas and you haven’t heard of the Randy Rogers Band, you won’t be able to say that much longer. (Click here to meet the band). Burning the Day is a classic album, full of throwback traditional country sounds; songs that instantly evoke the breadth of feelings that come with living a life that can best be described only through country music. You know what I’m talking about – loving, leaving, and (hopefully) learning a little along the way.
Randy Rogers is one of the most successful singer-songwriters in country music, and his band is something of an institution in Texas. With this new album they are on their way to conquering the rest of the country. Here’s hoping that they stay true to the authentic “pure country” sound they are known for. In this era when pop and rock are driving country music into an American-Idol-corporate-format-radio-friendly ditch, we need the Randy Rogers Band and their dependable songs. The band consists of 5 musicians: Randy Rogers (lead vocals/guitar), Brady Black (fiddle), Geoffrey Hill (guitar), Jon Richardson (bass guitar), and Les Lawless (drums). Randy’s plaintive and sometimes growling vocals, Brady Black’s virtuoso one-man string section, and the overall tightness of the band are all prominently featured throughout the album. It is an album that anyone who wants to know what’s happening in country music today must have and listen to.
Download these:
“I Met Lonely Tonight” – Randy Rogers Band loves to tell a good story. Especially when the rhythm and sunny chorus is juxtaposed with the inherent pain of the lyric. This is a simple song, but it showcases the way the band can take a simple song and make a possible classic out of it.
“Interstate” – From the moment you hear Brady Black’s fiddle, you’ve found the musical equivalent of rolling down the windows and sticking your head out window on a warm, summer night on a Texas highway. You know that wherever you end up will be great, and you love the ride along the way. The push-and-pull of the band is brilliant on this track; the song comes at you, then pulls back and demands you listen more intently, and then it comes at you full-force. The harmonies throughout the album are strong, but they are just about perfect in this song.
“Just Don’t Tell Me The Truth” – I’ve found my “write-in” nomination for next year’s first-round CMA ballot in the “Song of the Year” category. This painful admission to a love going-going-gone by is in just the right key to capture the new and tangy aftertaste of a relationship fizzling out right before your eyes. It’s a song that might require a whiskey chaser… just warning you. I can’t stop playing this song. It’s a haunting piece of songwriting delivered with a softness that packs quite a punch.
“Too Late For Goodbye” – Another song that will have you singing along from the second time you hear it. The prominence of the keyboard comes as a treat when you least expect it and gives the song its own slightly melodramatic quality. This one is classic Randy Rogers Band. That it is the final track on the album proves what an overabundance of riches is to be found in Burning the Day.
