Why Am I Surprised?

Album Review: Fifth on the Floor - Ashes and Angels

A thumping bass drum and Justin Wells' gritty "Yep!" fire the starting volley and Ashes & Angels is off to the races with as pure a southern rock album as you're gonna hear in 2013. Fifth on the Floor pulls no punches, ripping through the opener, "Whiskey," with a rollicking drum bed, racing fiddles and Wells' one-of-a-kind barroom pipes.

"Shotgun's" limp-horse trot takes the album's second track through a tale of a sin and rust filled town that offers no outs. "Ain't nobody leavin', but dammit, everybody's hell-bound" sings Wells in his unmistakable rasp. You're not to be blamed if the word "badass" comes to mind multiple times while enjoying this album.

"Burnin' Nashville Down" is an imposing, intelligent screed against Music City that avoids all the cliches and buzzwords of the typical song of this ilk. It's an aggressive anthem against corporate country that provides a slight glimmer of hope in that "there's still a lot of soul left to save."

Along the way, Wells trades off lead vocal duties with both bassist Jason Parsons ("Angels in the Snow" "Same Old Thing") and guest vocalist Rachel Brooke ("Wine") on a few tunes, but Fifth on the Floor never loses its signature sound in the transition. While mixing in bluegrass, boogie and outlaw country, Fifth's fabric is always held together by the thread of southern rock. This is a tight and talented group of musicians playing right in the pocket of a recognizable voice built over three albums and scores of live dates.

Ashes & Angels is an unfashionably unadulterated gem of southern rock goodness that proves the soul of the genre hasn't been killed by time or the dilution by commercial acts like Three Doors Down or Kid Rock. Fifth on the Floor is real, raw and hopefully sticking around for a long time to come.



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Ashes & Angels is available for purchase at iTunes and Amazon (and live shows!).

But What About Ho Ho's?

Album Review: Shooter Jennings - The Other Life

Since today is the big release day of Shooter Jennings' The Other Life, I figure I should write a little something about it. You probably already know of my journey from 'hater' to fan in the past couple of years. Continuing that trend, The Other Life has made me a huge fan.

This is a record that sees Jennings find his truest voice, both musically and thematically. The Other Life is a cohesive mix of country, folk, rock and a little Shooter weirdness, bringing together the aspects of all his previous work. It also presents a balance of the traits that make the man.

Book-ended by the appropriately spacey "Flying Saucer Song" and the expansive "The Gunslinger," the album has the feel of an epic rock album, despite being only 11 tracks in length. This, along with the song sequencing, hold together the collection as far more than the typical singles-vehicles of today's music scene.

"Wild and Lonesome" is a beautifully understated exploration of a vagabond life. Patty Griffin's angelic backing vocals help to make this a standout in a crowded field of great tunes.

The title track is a far more personal take on the same subject, Shooter laying his emotions about touring life bare. "There ain't a song that I would not trade for one minute with you" he sings, knowing the performing half of his life will always have him away from home more than not.

"The Low Road" could be a big hit in a Nashville that appreciated subject matter that was more about the truth and details of a country person's life rather than sweeping generalizations to prove such. There's a Skeletor lunchbox, a cheating girlfriend and the admission that you can't always take the most honorable path to your destination here, and all that strange honesty is a bit much for top 30 radio.

The Other Life closes with its most interesting and assertive number, "The Gunslinger," all bravado and Axl Rose-esque paranoia. The curse-filled chorus may turn off your average country music fan, but it's a powerful song, an R-rated singalong if there ever was one (and it has a freakin' sax solo!). Surely there will be questions of who this song is about, but in the end it's about Shooter showing us another dark facet of his person, whether real or theoretical. It's my early pick for song of the the year.

The Other Life is Shooter Jennings' best album to date, by a long stride. There's something nearly any music fan could enjoy in the set, as well as something to turn off nearly any casual country fan. Why would anybody be just a casual fan and what more could you ask for in an album?

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You can purchase The Other Life at Amazon, iTunes and all the usual outlets.

Shooter Jennings Might Be Short, but...