CD Review: Batdorf & Rodney - Still Burnin'

Batdorf & Rodney - Still Burnin'
2008, John Batdorf

Sometimes I hear a band and wonder how I missed out on them for so many years. Batdorf & Rodney are such a duo, with amazing guitar-oriented songs, velvet vocals, an innate sense of melody and music and great songwriting: They should be superstars. John Batdorf is a singer-songwriter unlike many others. He displays a real talent for the turn of a phrase - for storytelling that is more than just relating events. The guitar work here is intricate and beautiful and inevitably a perfect vehicle for each of the stories on Still Burnin'.

Picking song favorites on Still Burnin' is like trying to decide which Monet to hang in the living room. There really isn't any way to say "this is better". The quality and musicality of the songs here is at such a high level that distinctions lose their significance. That being said, I particularly enjoyed Summer Of Love, Home Again and One. The primarily acoustic-based sound is a welcome unplug from the electric and electronic ways of much of pop music, creating an aural treat nearly unaccustomed by contemporaries.

Batdorf & Rodney have been writing/performing great material for many years, whether apart together. Still Burnin' is a fine example of their art, and very much worth getting to know.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Batdorf & Rodney at www.myspace.com/johnbatdorf. You can purchase a copy of Still Burnin’ at www.cdbaby.com/batdorfrodney.