Luke Has an Admirer

Bob Wayne Loses a Bet (All About That Bass)

Sure, "All About That Bass" covers are passé by now, but when it's from Bob Wayne and it's this well done,
I'll give it a pass. Funny stuff, if you don't take it too seriously.  NSFW

Album Review: Benton Leachman - Bury the Hatchet

Benton Leachman has a reedy croon that gives off the impression of innocence or sweetness. While that may indeed be the case for Leachman personally, his debut album, Bury the Hatchet, presents several bits of evidence that are at odds with that starry-eyed delivery. He's clearly a complicated and real person, and this record shows you all his sides with a passionate honesty that's rare in first releases.

Opener "Desire" is a bouncy country-rocker about modern dating - straddling that fine line between giving too much away while sharing just enough to keep a love interest …well, interested. "So maybe I’ll just get my feet wet first/Before I hold’em to the fire" sings Leachman late in the song, displaying a wariness that's both an armor and a sword.

The third track, "Pride," is a standout in the bunch, as catchy as it is insightful. It's a hopeful tune about trying to drop the selfish ways that make a relationship more about two hard-headed people than one committed couple. The very next song, and the title track, could well be what happens when that couple foregoes reconciliation and becomes irreparably frayed. "I'll bury this damn hatchet in your heart" is the first sign that Benton's lilting voice belies a sharp tongue, but further proof that he's not biting that tongue.

"Lonely" is my favorite song on Bury the Hatchet, highlighting Leachman's proclivity for a well turned melody and a layered story. The steel guitar gets a workout on this barroom lament that proves its protagonist an unreliable narrator who claims to be resolved in his brokenness but clearly is still fighting.

The biting wit reappears on "Cross to Bear" with the amazing opening lines:
"I think I hate you
And I want him dead
But I think I’ll take all this hurt
And I’ll just rhyme these words instead." Hot damn, that's some lyrical shade.

Closer "The Zombie Song" is either an Americana take on Michael Jackson's "Thriller," an acid trip, or a pondering of mortality. Whichever way you read it, it's a good tune and kind of a strange-ass way to end the album. Sonically, it fits the collection just fine, and based on some of the earlier lyrics, it's not entirely surprising… but still, an interesting way to draw the curtain.

Benton Leachman immediately proves himself a voice to be paid attention to on Bury the Hatchet. His vocal style certainly draws comparisons to Sean McConnell and Mando Saenz, but his unique inflections and hold-nothing-back songwriting brand him a singular and special artist. Bury the Hatchet is a heavy dose of medicine delivered with that spoonful of sweetness.



Bury the Hatchet is available as a digital download or a physical delivery at Leachman's Bandcamp page and also on iTunes.

Loretta v. Luke

Album Review: American Aquarium - Wolves

by Kelcy Salisbury

American Aquarium is a band that's been building tremendous buzz off the strength of their relentless touring and their album Burn, Flicker, Die for the past couple of years. We've all heard the story ad infinitum about how that album was supposed to be their goodbye. It was the end. Its success seemed like the beginning of a fairy tale ending, a Behind The Music episode in reverse.

So let's skip that part of the story & talk about the new album, Wolves.

I never do track by track reviews, but this deserves one. Problem is then I'd have to pick a favorite & I can't do it. I doubt I ever will.

This is as perfect of a country-fried, southern rock album as I can imagine hearing in the present time.

To say the musical arrangements are daring & a departure from past albums is true. Yes, the same basic structure is there, the skeleton is intact enough to keep the loyal fans sated. But BJ Barham & the boys take risks here. The lush "Man I'm Supposed To Be" could be something Chet Atkins produced, but the darkness that lurks in this most honest of love songs somehow makes the song even more powerful.




The opener, "Family Problems," strays into psychedelic, Turtles-esque territory in places & again the song is more powerful for it.

"Losing Side of Twenty-five" contains a riff that will lodge itself into your brain and likely be stuck there for the remainder of 2015. It doesn't hurt that the song is damn good too, giving an autobiographical account of the life of a late-20's guy who chose the road life over settling down. "I might never have a mansion, hell I might never own me a home…" sings Barham, laying bare the realities of the path he's chosen.

I never would call American Aquarium a straight ahead country band in the vein of those modern bands who are simply aping tradition. They have become one of the bands who've taken country music in the direction it needs to go & that's why I think that this album & this year are the most important of their careers. Based on what I know about their history, the incredible growth from strong album to utterly breathtaking album, and the tides seeming to be slowly turning in Nashville, I believe that this is one of the bands that is going to be the crest on the wave that rejuvenates true country music - with a truly modern touch - for the masses.

If you want to see them with the other band I've given similar accolades (a bit over a year ago I believe), catch one of their dates with Turnpike Troubadours. Truly the two best younger bands in any genre right now.

American Aquarium has been extremely generous in their willingness to make their music available to stream for free for years now. Now is the time to pay them back. Wolves is an album to buy. Seriously, it's as good as anything I've heard in 6 months at least. Probably much longer.

If you've agreed with my recommendations in the past, you know what to do. If not, I may have been out of sync with your tastes before, but this album is different enough from their past work that you should give it a try anyway.

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You can buy Wolves tomorrow (Feb. 3, 2015) from iTunes, Lone Star Music, and all the usual retailers.