The retro American dream…
Let’s face it new bands come and go each week boasting how they are the next big thing, and record labels over-promote watered-down pap that has little or no musical integrity, so it is therefore even more satisfying to stumble across a band that’s originality is in the form of bringing back the real grass roots of music.
Dusty Rhodes And The River Boat band, I guess get their name from the lead singer Dustin Apodaca, although I am unsure as to whether it also has anything to do with the 80’s wrestler of the same name, but this is totally irrelevant, like asking whether or not cavemen ever hummed a tune, or if fish have nightmares of large hooks chasing them through their wet little worlds…With ‘First You Live’ you are taken into a strange world that is somehow within two periods of time. Whilst there is the contemporary feel of well played instruments and clean smooth production, and lyrics that are in the here and now, you could also be forgiven for being lost in the world of Mark Twain, whereby adventures are around every corner in a more simple time, where river boats chug along happily; wood is used to build everything, you may have a friend called Tom, or Huckleberry, and life is more earthy…
The album starts of with an intro that sets the scene for the whole album. A fiddle starts up, and we have the gypsy-folk feel, that breaks into something that may not feel totally out of place in ‘Oklahoma!’, then first song, ‘First You Live’ starts up with retro keyboards and strumming guitar before Dustin’s distinctive vocals, that are a cross between Jack White and Brian Wilson, start up, in the whining and yet harmonic way. It’s lovely and sad ballad lyrics jump out, “There’s a man standing at the edge of the cliff // and he’s screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘I didn’t shoot him’ // His hand are bound by the virgin’s kiss // As he looks down, he’s got no reason to live.” It’s at this point that you will either love this band or hate them. For me it was definitely the former.
‘Leaving Tennessee’ is a Country-jig about being driven out of town, whilst despite the upbeat music, the lyrics to, ‘Ghost Trails’ tell the story of five outlaws terrorising a town, who get caught and beaten, and then left in the desert for dead. However they make a pact with the Devil, roam the dessert in search of lone riders…
The first single, ‘Dear Honey’ is certainly a good choice as it is instantly accessible • Well, as accessible as any track on here can be, that is! It’s a familiar reverse story of riches to rags via the bottle. “’Cause I drank away all my money // I spent each night on the street // I think I just lost my dear honey // Who’s gonna take care of me?” the lyrics ask, as it mixes the band’s fondness for this Country-Folk-Rock, which leads nicely to the catchy tune of, ‘Oh Icicle’ that plays upon the same story of loosing a woman to booze, whilst a fiddle gives us a melody and a marching snare sets the tempo just right.
Starting as a slow song of vocals and piano, ‘Strike’ is a little like one of those great ballad’s that Alice Cooper did in the ‘70’s that are simple and clean but somehow haunting all the same, and it even builds up with the fiddles and harmonies later on. Next song, ‘Keys To The Truck’ is fantastically simple. Sounding like it came from the same session that The Beach Boys recorded ‘Barbara Ann’, it has a sound of being live in a room with friends, an acoustic guitar and a tambourine. This is where Dustin’s vocals sound like the great Mr Wilson, and it’s a fun and well thought song. Brilliant.
We then mix it up again with honky-tonk pianos, and keyboards, as the vocals start off firstly sounding very much like Johnny Cash in a classic Country & Western tune, before Dustin’s slightly screeching vocals kick in giving the song a more Country-Punk feel. It’s very Johnny Cash, even in the lyrical content, “Well there was this lady on the tracks // She was looking to score some coke or crack // She was hunting down a dealer // who had copped a feel and cleaned her // But when she found him, he wouldn’t feel no more!”, then we have a tale of revenge in the epic saga of, ‘Street Fighter’ whereby our hero tries to avenge the murder of his father.
There is something slightly sly and tongue in cheek with the lyrics of Dusty Rhodes And The River Band, and a fine example is the great song, ‘Grampa Mac’ that gives us a tale of a great grandfather who kills his wife, goes to prison, then kills his second wife and her lover, goes to prison, but doesn’t kill his third wife, no, but does take a guy she’s been speaking to outside of a bar and beats him to death with his bare hands…
As we get to the end of the album the penultimate song, ‘Goodnight, Moonshine’ is the longest in length, but shortest in lyrics, giving us a long mellow wave of almost chill out music, with a few lines of lyrics at the beginning. Judging by the title I wonder whether this is a song you put on when you’ve drunk to much moonshine and need to sleep it off…The album finishes with a song that could easily connect back to the intro song and thus complete the beautiful loop. ‘The Ballad Of Graff’ could be Soul Asylum if they went slightly more towards fiddles, cellos and mandolins. Once again, as in virtually all of the songs here, you could pick out any line of the lyrics and find something that has you thinking, or conjuring up images in your mind, like here, “There’s a fire in the heart of a lonely man, who’s running out of time // He kept to his crackers and cheese but all he wanted was the wine // He packed up his truck and left us far behind // No reason for him to stay cause leaving is not a crime”.
Okay, so I could go on about how Dusty Rhodes And The River Band are tipped by LA Times as a band of 2008 to watch, or how most reviews are favourable, and call the band space-cowboys, and how they are currently touring with Blind Melon. What I will say is though, that this band, and album have given me something that I’ve not heard in many, many years, mixing up some of my favourite bands that normally would be considered old hat, or dated, and dragged these sounds into the future as a cool and hip sound. Normally I turn around reviews quite quickly, but I’ve had this CD playing for weeks now enjoying each listen before tapping out my humble views.
I’m usually getting excited about street punk, or catchy pop/punk, which goes to show what impact this album has had on me. This is the best album of the year; it’s quirky, kooky, retro and aspiring. Top marks.