It is easy to be skeptical when it comes to music and when someone talks about a “blugrassish country band” from Los Angeles….well, LA is known for Lipo…fake tits…failed acting careers…face lifts….and hair metal…so, excuse my skepticism…but here it is….Rose’s Pawn Shop, a self-described sound of “Appalachian bluegrass channeled through a rock band”. Far be it from me to speak with any authority on what is and what is not but I would be inclined to say that just because your band has a banjo player does not give you an unconditional lease on the bluegrass descriptor. But what ever…as I said, I am not one to speak with authority and I am not trying to slag on the band here because they are a pretty good band. There are a shit ton of instruments on the disc….electric guitars, banjos, acoustic guitars, mandolin, fiddle, pedal-steel, drums and acoustic bass and when the vocal harmonies kick in the skepticism gets lost…I mean, who cares if they are from LA…if the music is good then it’s good…right?….I mean, I am in Florida, the southernmost northern state…hell, people from Alabama do not think Floridians have any claim to the whole southern thing except for Lynyrd Skynyrd so how can I claim what is country or bluegrass and what isn’t….wait, we are starting to get way off base here, if I do not reel it in it will become a pitchfork type of review…I like the RPS disc….I really do, the songs are very well crafted and even though I was just looking for a reason not to like the disc my foot started tapping anyhow. So, if you think a nervous mix of rock, rockabilly, pedal-steel guitars and vocal harmonies is your thing…check ‘em out….plus, I would be a fool not to mention that they have one hell of a fiddle player….
Roses Pawn Shop’s cd is a self-released title available on M.O.M. and CDBaby.
p.s.:Don’t worry RPS….people always laugh at me when I say I go mountain biking in Florida. Highly annoying but these are the stereotypes we are saddled with…
I thought Gwen only released summer jams….I guess seeing Fergie get all the attention made her bananas…yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck…sorry….the vocal delivery/cadence on this song really annoys the shit out of me….It’s no Holla Back Girl…but then, that was a summer jam.
Alabama - Songs of Inspiration (stream it here), Brooke Hogan - Undiscovered (stream it here), George Jones & Merle Haggard - Kickin’ Out the Footlights … Again, My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (stream it here), Brian Setzer - 13, Skid Row - Revolutions Per Minute (stream it here), The Walkmen - Pussy Cats Starring the Walkmen
okay….first things first…I must admit that i got the cd, Cruel Words, as mp3’s from a friend as an album that I *had* to listen to. I do a little Dowd research and see that he is “alt.country” or “country” depending on where you look and he is in his upper 50’s. Okay. I am expecting typical country fare and I may or may not like it but I am not by any means expecting anything special. So, the mp3’s camped out on my computer for a month or more and my bud emailed me asking what I was thinking of the cd. I told him I had not gotten around to checking out yet……2 minutes later I got a profanity laced reply telling me if I did not listen to it today I was gonna get kicked in the shins this weekend…well, I hate getting kicked in the shins and it was a pretty slow day in my cubicle so i fired it up. Well, 2 songs into it I emailed the dude and asked him if this was a joke? Cause the mp3’s I have are mislabeled or something….this sounds more like Buck 65 than a 50 something year old country musician. “Pretty funky ain’t it” was his reply. Ever the skeptic and convinced I was at the tail end of an elaborate joke I did a little research. Turns out the sounds coming from my speakers were indeed the Johnny Dowd fella….Freakin’ Hell! Retro Organs…driving “punchy” guitars and a spoken word rap style vocal delivery…this dude fucking rocks! His subject matter is seriously dark as well….one song sets a Brokeback Mountain type scene…however, instead of giving in to his love this cowboy takes out his revolver and….well, goes commando on his junk… “He drew his pistol, fired six warning shots/ Five of them missed their target, but the sixth one did not.“ There are suicidal musicians, drunks, junkies, vets in wheelchairs and whores scattered throughout the disc telling their stories and cussing their maker in a very interesting form of doom-laden country goth….at the end of the third time through the cd I sent my friend a single line response:
“Johnny Dowd is the bad santa of country music.”
what’s that mean? It means I like this Johnny Dowd character and you might as well…
I am getting this bitch started early today…so…drink hard and play safe this weekend. I leave y’all with a song that has been floating around on the internets for a week or so and has been sitting on my hard drive for a few days…well, I finally got around to listening to it today and damned if I did not enjoy it…Lady Sovereign and Missy Elliott…it would have been hard to fuck this one up.
okay….first things first…I must admit that i got the cd,