Shelly Fraley - Into The Sun

Shelly Fraley - Into The Sun
2011, Hinterland House Publishing Co.

Native Kansan and Nashville transplant Shelly Fraley began writing songs at a young age on an out-of-tune church piano. Inspired by the pop music of her youth, Fraley developed a strong sense of melody and an appreciation for great hooks that lights up her songwriting with verve and panache. Fraley seems to have struck a chord along the line, with her songs featured on such shows as Private Practice, One Tree Hill, Army Wives and Pretty Little Liars. Fraley continues to build momentum on the back of her debut album, Into The Sun, while embarking on an East Coast tour of the U.S. in the Fall of 2011.

Into The Sun opens with "Sway", showing off a lush pop arrangement and sultry voice ala Canadian chanteuse Sarah Slean. "Come On, Let Go" is a catchy, bouncy pop tune about inertia in relationships, and having the courage to let go when the time is right. Fraley's chorus is the sort that sticks with you, replaying itself in your mind long after the song is over. "Two At A Time" is a cute song of reminiscence of the joy and excitement of new love. Reserved in approach, Fraley nonetheless manages to create a catchy and memorable pop number with substance. "Up, Up & Away" seems the most likely hit here; a shiny bit of pop gold with a rootsy base that gets in your skull and stays there.

On "Be Brave", Fraley is psyching herself up to talk to someone she can't get out of her head. She knows he likes her too but just can't seem to make the first move. The song is wonderfully authentic, steeped in the normal neuroses of insecurity that plague us all when trying to interact with others. "Uh Oh I'm Fallin'" is a light and fluffy number about the pure elation of falling in love. Fraley nails the moment, encapsulating it in a musical atmosphere that's perfect for her subject. "Seize The Day" is all about picking up the pieces and moving on. A positive message in difficult light, the song itself is a solid album track, but Fraley's addition of strings to fill out the arrangement is a nice touch. Into The Sun closes with "Hi, Hi, Hi", exploring the circular nature of an on-again, off-again relationship. Fraley pulls off another memorable chorus in the process, writing a tune that will call you back and encourage you to hit play again.

Fraley contributes piano and voice on Into The Sun, but gets some help from alumni of the Josh Gracin Band, Sixpence None The Richer, Outsiders and Tonic along the way. Producer Mark Nash (PFR, Sixpence None The Richer) helps Fraley construct a musical tableau that puts her personal observations in song in their best light. There's a distinctive pop feel that pervades Into The Sun, but also a messy, organic side that makes Fraley's songwriting accessible and authentic to the listener at home. Into The Sun is a great start.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Shelly Fraley at www.shellyfraley.com or www.myspace.com/shellyfraley.  Into The Sun is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Margate - Rock 'N Roll Reserve

Margate – Rock ‘N Roll Reserve
2011, Boom 57 Records

Lead singers who are also drummers are always intriguing.  Its fun watching a band trying to work out the dynamic of having the person at the back of the band be the front.  Some bands pull it off better than others.  Los Angeles power trio Margate seems to have it down pat on their recently released EP Rock N Roll Reserve.

Margate announces their presence with the high energy alt rocker “Control”.  Punk energy pervades, but a distinctive meldocism is found here, and the chorus is the sort that sticks in your head for hours after first hearing it.  Margate’s cover of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” brings an active, alt-rock sound with a muscular guitar solo.  The blend of lead vocal and harmonies here work very well against the more driven backdrop in a catchy and memorable update of the classic.  “Live It Up” is a vibrant rocker with real pop sensibility that you won’t be able to get out of your head.  “”Rock N Roll Reserve” is an ode to the career minor leaguers; the lads and ladies who continue to play the bars and clubs every Friday and Saturday night, long after the dream of ‘making it’ has faded.  It’s a great tune; an anthem for most anyone who’s ever strapped on a guitar and dreamed.  Margate closes with “This Road”, a rock and roll mission statement, of sorts, and an expansion on the ideas laid forth in “Rock N Roll Reserve”.  A memorable chorus and big harmonies help this one to flow like water.

Margate packs a punch on Rock ‘N Roll Reserve.  Their blend of high energy rock and roll, pop sensibility and vibrant melodies is candy to the ears.  More importantly, it’s exceedingly clear from the music that these guys love what they do.  That joy spills forth from the stage and from the album.  Rock ‘N Roll Reserve is the sort of album that gets under your skin.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Margate at www.margatemusic.com or www.myspace.com/margate.  Rock ‘N Roll Reserve is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Luke Bryan - Tailgates & Tanlines

Luke Bryan - Tailgates & Tanlines
2011, Capitol Records

Leesburg, Georgia native Luke Bryan is a rising star in the country music world.  With three top-ten albums and 6 top-ten country singles in four years (including to #1 hits), Bryan is living the Nashville dream.  His latest album, Tailgates Tanlines, debuted at #1 on the U.S. Country charts and #2 on the Billboard album chart.

Tailgates & Tanlines opens with "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)", a catchy country/rock anthem that's likely to be a live favorite. Bryan shows real pop sensibility here, and his backing band is top notch. "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is a solid, middle of the road country number about saying goodbye to a purely physical relationship in the only appropriate fashion. "Drunk On You" is a radio friendly love song that would make for a great summer single. "Too Damn Young" recalls young love with great simple poetry and reminiscences of a time when a single kiss meant everything.

"You Don't Know Jack" explores the depth of hopelessness that can lead a man with everything to lose to the bottle and to the streets. Bryan offers an interesting perspective, bringing a sort of nobility to those often viewed as untouchables. "Harvest Time" is a solid country anthem paying tribute to small time farmers and the work they do to feed the world. The high point of the album is "Muckalee Creek Water", a number about getting away from it all, backwoods style. Bryan opens up his vocal range here a bit with pleasant results, and the song is catchy enough and raw enough to stick in your mind. Bryan works his way to "I Knew You That Way", a reminiscent love song that avoids melancholy by the narrowest of margins. It's an honest look at what was and what is; well written and from the heart.

Luke Bryan shows flashes of insight and contemplative rural poetry on Tailgates & Tanlines, and has some good old fashion country fun along the way too. Bryan's sound is modern and radio friendly, but there's enough depth here to make his songs interesting. Vocally, Luke Bryan is a solid performer who can hold his own among the CMT crowd, and Tailgates & Tanlines should solidify his status as a headline country artist.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Luke Bryan at www.lukebryan.com or www.myspace.com/lukebryan.  Tailgates & Tanlines is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Babe Gurr - SideDish

Babe Gurr – SideDish
2011, Elan Records Canada
Babe Gurr continues her slow, relentless rise through the world of folk and Americana.  Her last album, Chocolate Lilly, earned rave reviews in both the U.S. and Canada, and led to a series of high profile concerts in both countries.  Gurr’s songs have also been featured on a number of shows on U.S. television, including the FOX series Higher Ground.  Gurr’s songwriting has also been lauded in venues such as the Billboard World Song Contest, the 12^th Great American Song Contest, and the Sonic Bids Nashville Song Contest, the latter of which she won.  Gurr recently released her latest effort, SideDish, a collection of eight originals and two covers with an international flair.

SideDish opens with “I’m Just Here To Dance”, a gritty tango, and Gurr’s voice is as sultry as the dance itself.  Gurr is a master storyteller, and proves it once again here.  “Solo Mia” is an absolutely gorgeous performance, with Gurr’s earthy alto the perfect complement to a great arrangement.  “The World Is Calling” is a wonderfully dark world/rock number that blends Middle Eastern and Western sounds in a vibrant and driven arrangement.  “I Will Be” is a pure love song; a promise of devotion with surprisingly melancholic undertones.  The song is dark and urgent; moving in an almost needful way. 

“Voodoo Love” is bluesy, elemental folk/rock ala Bonnie Raitt; a catchy number with an unforgettable chorus.  This is Gurr at her finest.  “My Love” and “Let’s Find A Way” are both solid entries, and lead to the closer, “Rio’s Lullaby”.  The song is an apt closer, a gentle goodnight that highlights Gurr’s voice as the supreme instrument it is.

Babe Gurr’s SideDish definitely walks a different musical line than we have heard from her in the past, but it is a worthwhile one to follow.  Gurr shows a versatility of language and style that is unique in modern music; not just an ability to cover different ground but a depth of perception and musical understanding that is startling.  Gurr’s voice, as always, is a pleasure, and the journey she takes on SideDish is one that listeners will prize.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Babe Gurr at www.babegurr.com.  SideDish is available on CD from Amazon.com.  The album is also available in multiple formats from CDBaby.com. 

Anastasia Barzee - The Dimming Of The Day

Anastasia Barzee – The Dimming Of The Day
2011, Ghostlight Records

Anastasia Barzee has made herself something of a staple, both on Broadway and the small screen.  In New York, she has starred in shows such as Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; Urinetown; Jekyll And Hyde, White Christmas and Miss Saigon.  Barzee also created the role of Josephine in the West End production of Napoleon.  Television aficionados might recognize her from a host of guest appearances on shows such as Law & Order; Law & Order SVU; White Collar, Murder She Wrote and Herman’s Head.  Barzee has even graced the silver screen, appearing in the film Fair Game opposite Sean Penn.  But it’s Barzee’s voice and stage presence that set her apart from the crowd.  In spite of that, Barzee has never released an album of her own; until now.  On September 27, 2011, Ghostlight Records releases The Dimming Of The Day, a collection of Broadway, Pop and Jazz interpreted by Barzee under the direction of Grammy-nominated producer Matt Pierson, with arrangements by Grammy Award winning Gil Goldstein.

Barzee kicks things off in high style, with an absolutely chilling rendition of Kate Bush’s “The Man With The Child In His Eyes”.  Barzee presents the song as a Broadway soliloquy, much more personal and raw than the original.  This is both positive and negative, as the earthy take seems to fit better to the song that Bush’s dreamy original, but it is also quite heavy in sound.  “Summer Me, Winter Me” has a nice, light swing feel.  Barzee’s vocal sound is a bit heavy for the light, breezy arrangement, but the net effect is still enjoyable.  Artist and arrangement meet on “Lilac Wine”, where everything clicks as if Barzee wrote the James Shelton standard herself. 

Barzee shows off a bit of her upper range on “Dinner At Eight” (Rufus Wainwright), soaring in the moment.  The wider range puts more sonic perspective on the heavier alto sound she’s traded on thus far, and helps you realize just how gorgeous her sound can be.  Richard Thompson’s “The Dimming Of The Day” gets the royal treatment, with Brian D’Arcy James sitting in on the duet.  Barzee and James, who starred together in White Christmas, share a beautiful chemistry in the blending of their voices here.  Barzee takes on one of the true classics of American pop music in Paul Simon’s “American Tune”, and performs admirably in a number that’s a lot easier to lose than it might first appear. 

A more recent classic, Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” (Randy Newman’s Faust), is full and rich, both in arrangement and Barzee’s vocal performance; one of the true highlights of the album.  Another is “Don’t Go To Strangers”, with Barzee giving live to the song’s invitation in a purely inspired vocal performance that will have you hitting replay again and again.  Barzee cruises to the close with “All I Know” (Jimmy Webb); “Terrible Things” (April Smith) and an eerily pretty rendition of “April Moon”.

There is something to be said for a performer who can sing literally anything and make you think it’s their personal genre.  Barzee can sing anything; although there are certainly some styles and sounds that she wears better than others.  Barzee gets off to something of a slow start on The Dimming Of The Day, but never looks back and ends up turning in the sort of performance you expect of a star of stage and screen.  Barzee belts, croons and coos her way through thirteen classics and prospective classics of the American Songbook on The Dimming Of The Day, surprising at turns with one quality performance after another.  Anastasia Barzee is one of a kind, and The Dimming Of The Day is not to be missed.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Anastasia Barzee at www.anastasiabarzee.com.  The Dimming Of The Day drops on September 27, 2011.  The album is available for pre-order on CD at Amazon.com.

John Gaar - Brighter Side Of Maybe

John Gaar – Brighter Side Of Maybe
2011, Jango Bleaux Records

John Gaar picked up a guitar at the age of thirteen, and rumor has it he's yet to put it down.  Gaar turned down a music scholarship at the age of eighteen to go on the road and has never looked back.  Along the way he's recorded or performed with the likes of Burton Gaar, Red Archibald, Chubby Carrier, Rockin' Sydney, Michael Cross and Malford Milligan.  Gaar has moved back and forth between his roots in the south and the San Francisco Bay area over the years, ultimately settling down (for now) in Austin, Texas.  There he has quietly become a prominent songwriting force with his blend of blues, rock, folk, Americana and jazz.  Gaar's latest effort, Brighter Side Of Maybe, shows off his distinctive songwriting style and sound.

Brighter Side Of Maybe opens with "It Is What It Is", a catchy and vibrant blues/rocker featuring stylish guitar work and a distinctive pop sensibility.  Gaar's working class voice is the perfect balm here; solid with just a hint of gruffness underneath.  "Sooner Or Later" is a dark blues/rocker steeped in fatalism and richly recursive guitar licks.  Gaar builds the sound with stark vocal harmonies in minor triads to create an intriguingly bleak sonic palette.  Gaar works in a bit of country into the blues/rock milieu on "Angel Flew Away", a melancholy ballad with subtly significant guitar work.  Gaar approaches a perfect moment here, transcending sound and style to imprint on your mind a song you'll return to again and again.

A Robert Cray influence shows its head on the catchy pop/blues of "Still In Love With You".  The arrangement is as tight as a wire; the musicians pushing the bar and each other throughout.  Gaar responds on vocals, digging into the melody line with a fierceness that surprises.  A bit of repetition might distract you from how well-constructed "Ain't No Hill For A Stepper" really is.  Gaar has built the song around a dynamic blues/rock guitar, buttressing it with distinctive vocal harmonies.  You'll have a hard time shaking this tune once the album is done playing.  Gaar changes tempo and tone with "Between The Lines", an introspective and melancholy soul searching ballad.  This is a solid tune, but it does seem a little out of place on Brighter Side Of Maybe. 

"The First Step" is a straight-up blues/rocker that sets the musical ship to rights again, and paves the way for "Brighter Side Of Maybe"; a glass half-full rocker full of oomph and good humor.  This is sure to be a fan favorite in concert, and seems a likely candidate to get picked up in the licensing world.  Gaar winds things down with two ballads that end up over-staying their welcome.  Clocking in at 6:17, the woeful ballad "Shoulda Been A Good Day" is just too blue for too long, zapping the momentum out of Brighter Side Of Maybe.  Ditto "Let Me Show You", which clocks in at a herculean 5:50.  The latter is an emotionally overwrought ballad buoyed by an outstanding arrangement and instrumentation, but which will challenge the stamina and good cheer of listeners by not knowing when to call it a night.

John Gaar makes a distinctive impression with Brighter Side Of Maybe, displaying a fiery guitar style and memorable voice against the backdrop of well-written and occasionally stellar songwriting.  In fact, Gaar approaches brilliance across the first eight songs on Brighter Side Of Maybe, but surrenders the flow of the album of two solid but ill-fitting songs of melancholy at the close.  Brighter Side Of Maybe remains essential, however, for showing it’s still possible to write and record an album of viable, original and fresh blues/rock album that bows to influences without giving itself over completely to the sound of others.  John Gaar will make you believe once again in blues and rock n roll.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about John Gaar at www.johngaar.com or www.myspace.com/johngaar.  Brighter Side Of Maybe is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Jody Lee Petty - Done My Time

Jody Lee Petty – Done My Time
2011, Jody Lee Petty

If you knew Jody Lee Petty as a child, you’d never guess he would turn into a country singer on the cusp of stardom; a star athlete, perhaps, but never a singer.  Petty’s childhood revolved around sports.  He eventually starred in basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne College; leading the nation in free-throw percentage his senior year.  After college, Petty went on to spend eight years on the professional beach volleyball circuit.  Next came modeling, when Petty was spotted by a talent scout in Miami.  This career led him to music, through appearances in several music videos, including LeAnn Rimes’ “Something’s Gotta Give.”  These days, Jody Petty is making his own music videos, in support of his dazzling new EP, Done My Time.

Jody Lee Petty gets things started with a sweet bit of modern country with classic embellishments in the form of "Country Song And A Bible Verse."  There's an authenticity here that's surprising, and a melody that practically sings itself to you.  Petty shows some of the same charisma that made Garth Brooks a superstar, and creates a commercial country number with big hit potential without managing to sound like a mass-produced pop/country maven.  "Done My Time" is a big time rocker in country clothing.  It's a great tune, but you can hear the heavy rock arrangement that wants to explode out of this number if you listen closely.  There's a dark, outlaw feel to the number, but a genteel aspect that is counterintuitive and intriguing.

If the right radio programmer ever gets hold of "I’ve Done My Time," Jody Lee Petty is going to be a massive superstar.  This tune will not get out of your head, and forget keeping your feet still.  Petty's blend of southern-fried rock is infectious, and features some of the best honky-tonk piano you'll hear in 2011.  What a horse meant to a cowboy in the olden days is now the province of his pick-up.  Petty gets to the point on "This Ole Truck," a love song to Detroit's greatest export.  It's a solid tune; a country ballad in form and function. 

"Shotgun" uses wordplay and a winking sense of humor to explore how an innocent summer tryst turns into a lifetime.  The title itself is a fond remembrance from a country boy that commemorates different points in his life in different ways.  This song is a charmer that will get under your skin with its blend of heart and humor.  Petty shows off his rock intentions, once again dressed in country style, with the upbeat anthem "Rockin' On The River".  Elements of Queen, The Doobie Brothers and Garth Brooks come together in unique fashion for a memorable summer hit-in-waiting. 

It's impossible to walk away from Done My Time and not be impressed with Jody Lee Petty.  His voice is classic country, and Petty shows a talent for writing country numbers with distinct pop sensibility and a secret rock n roll pedigree that doesn't quit.  Petty looks and sounds like a rock star in country clothing, and it wouldn't be surprising to look up one of these days and see his name at or near the top of the Billboard Country charts.  Songs such as "Country Song And A Bible Verse" and "I’ve Done My Time" have gold record written all over them, and there isn't a weak song in the bunch.  With Done My Time, Jody Lee Petty proves it's possible to write honest country music with massive commercial appeal.  With the right breaks, Petty will be rocking the country airwaves for years to come.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Jody Lee Petty at www.myspace.com/jodyleepetty.  Done My Time is a forthcoming release.  Keep checking Petty’s website for updates.