Alex Abercrombie on keyboards. They open the album with a rocking, heart pounding tune called “Always,” and do not let up until the very end of track 12, the acoustic “I Won’t Be Here,” a truly pretty song, reminiscent of Warren Haynes. Another favorite track of mine is “Boone,”
which opens with a North Mississippi Allstars Delta feel before cranking into full on Mule bombast. The whole album is an outstanding debut from a band destined for greatnesss.
- Michael Buffalo Smith
Bodeans I Can’t Stop (Free & Alive Records)
on my face. I Can’t Stop is rapidly becoming not only
one of my favorite Bodeans albums, but one of my favorite albums this year.
- Phillip Smith (
www.phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/)
Royal Southern Brotherhood Don’t Look Back: The Muscle Shoals Sessions (Ruf)
For their third studio album, Royal South- They say you can’t keep a good man down.
The same goes for Kurt Neumann. Neu- mann’s most recent album under the Bodeans moniker is a pure delight. Neumann is the only one left from the original lineup, but he keeps chugging along as a prolific writer and musician. I Can’t Stop contains a dozen origi- nal tracks which just gets better with each lis- ten.
Neumann leads the album off “Slave.”
Thick swampy blues-soaked slide guitar licks which ride atop a cool tribal beat makes this one sound so good. “Oh Mama,” “Roll With the Punches,”,and “Yesterday” capture that slightly poppy rocking Bodeans sound oh so elegantly. Songs like these are what made me a Bodeans fan in the first place. Emotions run deep in the beautiful and melancholy break- up song “Beg or Borrow.” Accompaniment from the Junkyard Horns is an added bonus. “Something We Found” rolls out like a pop- infused folk rock Mumford and Sons tune. This catchy-as-hell song is quick to put a grin
ern Brotherhood ventured down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record at the legendary FAME Studios. Since Devon Allman left the band to concentrate on his solo career, the RSB seems to feature much more of the vo- cals and songwriting of Cyril Neville, bringing Louisiana swagger and Muscle Shoals soul to the forefront. This may well be my favorite RSB album to date. Produced by the extremely talented pro-
ducer/writer/musician Tom Haimbridge and FAME founder Rick Hall, Don’t Look Back finds the RSB with two red hot guitar players added to the line up, Bart Walker and Tyrone Vaughan (son of Jimmie Vaughan). The re- sulting album is a joy to behold, from the sev- enties soul sounds of “Better Half,” to the soulful lover’s plea of “Anchor Me” and the New Orleans vibe of “Bayou Baby.” Neville’s autobiographical “Come Hell or
High Water” has the FAME/Shoals stamp all over it. It’s like the second coming of Wilson Pickett. The variety of music on this release is amazing, with “Hard Blues” rockin’ to beat the band, and “The Big Greasy” throwing down some serious old-school, wah-wah pedal fueled funk. The title track, “Don’t Look
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