Album Spotlight: Whiskey Myers: Mud

Mud is the perfect title for Whiskey Myers' fourth album release. Mud is dirty, it's gritty, it's grimy, it's greasy and it's swampy. So, yeah, it's muddy. Mud is not slick and polished, it's not saccharine and glossy, it's not good times and parties. It is real and raw and hard times and making do and living in the good times.

Although honing their skills on the Texas Red Dirt scene, Whiskey Myers is not a country band. They are a Southern rock/hard rock band with country leanings. They recently wrapped up the Carnival of Madness tour with Shinedown, Halestorm and Black Stone Cherry. They are another entry into my "Rock Ain't Dead" campaign.

The torch of Southern Rock is in good hands with Whiskey Myers, who, along with Blackberry Smoke, have re-lit it and have it burning brighter than it has since the early 80s. Just as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, The Allman Brothers, etc. all had their own unique sound within Southern Rock, Whiskey Myers borrows heavily from the pioneers while still sounding uniquely Whiskey Myers.

Produced by Dave Cobb, as was the previous album Early Morning Shakes, Mud seems to have Whiskey Myers and Dave Cobb hitting  the sweet spot together. Mud is, in my opinion, the best Whiskey Myers album yet, edging out 2011's Firewater by a slim margin.

The album closes with "Good Ole Days", a collaboration by Cody Cannon with Brent Cobb. It's a fun acoustic song, but what got me was the baseball allegiances revealing themselves in the final verse.

Here are couple songs that show the diversity of the album, "Mud" and "Stone".

Album Spotlight: Blackfoot: Southern Native

Blackfoot has a new album called Southern Native. Rickey Medlocke.

That sentence and that name probably mean nothing to 99% of Americans. Probably 99.9999% of the world.

Blackfoot was a 70's Southern Rock band, heavy on the rock. Contemporaries with Lynyrd Skynyrd, though never nearly as popular. Blackfoot co-founder Rickey Medlocke is now the touring lead guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Medlocke put together a new Blackfoot with four new musicians. He produced the album and wrote or co-wrote much of it and played on it. But he's not a member of the band (Gene Simmons, take note).

However they got to this point, and whatever convoluted thread they hold with the original Blackfoot, Southern Native is a good album. In fact, if you grew up with 70s rock and Southern Rock, it's a great album.

I don't know if the new Blackfoot has legs going forward, but if you like Southern Rock with a harder edge, check this one out.

Album Spotlight: Blackberry Smoke: Holding All The Roses

You know when you are looking forward to a new record release and then it comes out and you're so disappointed? Yeah, I do too. But with Blackberry Smoke's Holding All The Roses that didn't happen.

Charlie Starr and the boys bring their country fried southern rock tinged with country to a new level. I'm not sure if there is a bad song on the album.

The vocals are not stellar, no blazing guitar solos, just a fantastic band locking into what they do. And doing it well.

Blackberry Smoke, along with Whiskey Myers, are doing Southern Rock the right way. Are they Skynyrd? Nope. Are they Marshall Tucker? Nope. Are they the Allmans? Nope. What they are is Blackberry Smoke. And that's a good thing.

I could try to break it down song-by-song, but that would be futile. There are heavy doses of Southern Rock, there is honky tonk, there is country. And it's all good.

I know it's expected to post a vid of my favorite song. I don't know that I have a favorite yet, so I'll go with this one.

Southern Rock is Alive and Well

OK. So we are all annoyed by the guys yelling out "Play some Skynyrd" or "Freebird". And, yeah, that still goes on. The band doesn't appreciate it. Most of the patrons don't either.

But, you know what? There are plenty of bands out there keeping Southern Rock alive. Do they all play "Freebird"? Nope. Do they rock in the spirit of Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Molly Hatchet, ZZ Top, the Allmans, Charlie Daniels, etc.? A resounding yes to that.

In the past I've been more than willing to say "Today's music sucks".  Well, yeah, some of it does. But some of it is really good. Here are some bands doing Southern Rock justice.

Whiskey Myers: My personal favorite. And, as a caveat, I can be swayed by the fact that they hail from Texas. Their latest record Early Morning Shakes is pure, unadulterated Southern Rock, no matter how it's categorized now.




Blackberry Smoke: I have to give them proper credit.  They were my gateway into looking for more modern Southern Rock. I first heard them and was intrigued. Are there really still Southern Rock bands out there? Yes, yes there are. And Blackberry Smoke is at the pinnacle.




Preacher Stone is pretty unknown but they bring it. Although they don't want to be known as a Southern Rock band, but rather a rock band from the South I'm including them anyway.



There are many more. And that excites me. Search, dig and find the music you like. Don't let anyone else dictate what you listen to.

Album Spotlight: Preacher Stone: Paydirt

Hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina's Preacher Stone does not want to be identified as a Southern Rock band, but a "rock band from the South." Okay. Whatever. I'll roll with it.

Their latest record Paydirt, released in March of this year, borrows liberally from other "rock bands from the South" such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels and Georgia Satellites. There are also hints of Classic Rock bands like Bad Company and Edgar Winter. There's also some very Country-like tendencies on the record.

Throw that all together and, in Preacher Stone, you get a very familiar yet unique sounding band. With Blackberry Smoke and Whiskey Myers, Preacher Stone is doing Southern Rock the right way. Even if they're just a rock band from the South.

Here is "Me and Mine" from the Paydirt album.

Preacher Stone on Amazon.

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Album Spotlight: Tyler McCumber Band - Saracene Sessions: Tape 1

Listening to Saracene Sessions: Tape 1 by the Tyler McCumber Band, I hear southern rock and country. I hear Merle Haggard and Bob Seger. I hear Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. That's all good.

But what I hear mostly is Tyler McCumber. And that's even better.

Saracene Sessions is not going to be anyone's go-to summer feel-good record. No party anthems to be found. There's nothing wrong with that, this just isn't one.

Sometimes dark and brooding, this record has remarkable songs in the almost lost art of storytelling. And stories, it does tell.

You're not going to put this on the playlist for your BBQ or crab boil party. This is the record you put on while sitting on your deck/balcony/etc. with a glass of wine or bottle of craft beer and just take it in.

Here is "Don't Blame the Gun".


Dont Blame the Gun from Tyler McCumber Band on Myspace.

Tyler McCumber Band on Amazon

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Album Spotlight Whisky Myers: Early Morning Shakes

Led Zeppelin, early Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top. I can hear a little bit of all of those in Whiskey Myers new album Early Morning Shakes. But what I hear predominately is pure unadulterated Southern Rock. Skynyrd, the Allmans, Marshall Tucker, Molly Hatchet, etc.

Any song on this album would slide nicely into any classic rock format. But that's not to say it sounds dated. It doesn't. Early Morning Shakes sounds as current as anything you will hear.

Coming out of Tyler, Texas, Whiskey Myers cut their teeth on the Red Dirt/Texas Country music scene. And you can hear those country influences on the record, but this really a good old-fashioned, in-your-face, Southern Rock album. The best since the late '70's.

The album kicks off with what, in my opinion, is the weakest track, the title song "Early Morning Shakes". But then the whole thing takes off and never lets off the gas with the Zeppelinesque "Hard Row to Hoe".

Another highlight is the single "Home" (track 5). Straight up Southern Rock the way it was meant to be played. That leads in to the next two hard rocking tracks "Headstone" and "Where the Sun Don't Shine".

"Reckoning" (track 8) and the album closing "Colloquy" show a more introspective and mellower side of the band. Both are excellent.

If you were ever wondering what happened to good Southern Rock, it's alive and well and it's name is Whiskey Myers.