Review: Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers - Coney Island Cowboy

Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers - Coney Island Cowboy
2009, Sean Kershaw

Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers have been doing their thing in Brooklyn, NY since 2001, playing high-octane, honky-tonk country music with a Rock N Roll attitude. The band has garnered a lot of positive press in the New York market and beyond, going so far to be chosen as a Playgirl pick of the month in July, 2005. The band continued to play live but took a break from writing original material until this year. Going into the studio with producer Rick Miller (Southern Culture On The Skids), Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers completed their debut album, Coney Island Cowboy, in just three days.

Kershaw comes off sounding like a cross between Big Rude Jake and Luther Wright. The album is very strong instrumentally and the vocals are good. There is a definite difference between the first and second half of the album. Kershaw front-loaded the album with his best material. Old Hollow Tree is an entertaining drinking song in the spirit of classic Honky-tonk style. While I know that apartments in New York City's five boroughs are expensive, this is a highly creative and probably dangerous solution. Piggy In The Middle is great rockabilly in modern vernacular; very danceable Rock N Roll. Coney Island Cowboy scores high points for an accurate description of Coney Island but just doesn't have the energy and chutzpah of some of the other material here. Already Cheatin' is a definite highlight. The song is highly entertaining and humorous and fits stylistically with old-school Honky-Tonk. When The Sheriff Comes To Town could be read as an analogy for the Judeo-Christian concept of the coming of a Messiah. The song uses humor and intelligent lyrics to tell a story without pushing the song into a religious realm.

Little Mr. Train Man is a pure child’s song, and very entertaining at that. Kershaw runs through tunes such as The Trucker & The Tranny, Get Real Gone, Honkytonk Special and Woke Up Dead, all of which are decent but not really up to par with the rest of the album. The band closes with a trucker classic; the Carl Montgomery/Earl Green penned Six Days On The Road, originally made famous by Dave Dudley. Rick Miller sits in and provides some searing guitar work on what turns out to be the best all-around track on the disc.

Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers have a flair for Honky-Tonk and Rockabilly with a modern attitude and post-modern lyrics. Their album, Coney Island Cowboy is an entertaining listen but is probably not a threat to break into mainstream radio any time soon. This is bar music, pure and simple. Rick Miller does a great job of capturing some of the sound and energy of a live performance on Coney Island Cowboy, and there is some strong songwriting here, but at the end of the day it's music with a limited demographic (at this time). If you're in Brooklyn on a weekend, I highly recommend you seek out Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers. I suspect the show will be well worth the cover charge.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Sean Kershaw And The New Jack Ramblers at http://www.seankershaw.com/ or www.myspace.com/seankershawandramblers. If you’d like a physical copy of Coney Island Cowboy, message Kershaw through his MySpace page. Digital downloads are available through iTunes.

Review: Blackberry Smoke - Little Piece Of Dixie

Blackberry Smoke - Little Piece Of Dixie
2009, BamaJam Records

It's now the end of September, 2009, and I have been waiting all year for a truly kick-a$$ rock album to cross my desk. We've had some decent efforts; albums with strong songs but nothing that really melts your face from the opening chord to the last faded rhythm. Until now. Atlanta's Blackberry Smoke releases their sophomore album on September 29, 2009. Little Piece Of Dixie rocks hard with country and blues riffs and a southern fervor that hasn't been seen on the rock scene in close to twenty years. This is outlaw country, Rock N Roll style, and if you get in their way you'll be swept up in the musical powerhouse that is Blackberry Smoke.

Little Piece Of Dixie opens with Good One Comin' On, the ultimate Rock N Roll weekend party song. If you pine away all week for that first beer on Friday night then this one is for you. Charlie Starr's voice fits perfectly into the band's sound, and the energy never wavers. Like I Am is a classic theme with a twist. Can you love me like I am? It's very well written with Country and Blues informing the heavy rock sound. Bottom Of This is dark and virulently catchy; a guy's tune, to be sure, but it might just help rekindle a lost genre, Hard Country. Up In Smoke sounds like a song you just need to hear live. It's incredibly catchy with thrilling guitar work, and very danceable.

Who Invented The Wheel is a classic. The narrator here is looking for anyone to blame for the downfall of his relationship. Anyone but himself, that is. This one will play well to commercial radio because we've all been there at one time or another; the theme is universal and the arrangement is flawless. I'd Be Lyin' takes Like I Am a few steps further in a highly entertaining bit of Outlaw Country-Rock. Here the narrator tells you not only what he's like, but also things that he's done, thought or said. Blackberry Smoke has a great populist theme for troubled times in Prayer For The Little Man. The sound here is toned down more to the country side, and would likely play well on Country radio. Never ones to rest, Blackberry Smoke jump right back into the heavy rock sound with Restless. This is a tune about a guy whose appetites are out of control, and is well captured in song. Shake Your Magnolia is a catchy Country-Rock tune that could cross over genres and would be a strong commercial candidate for Country Radio. Blackberry Jam closes out with Freedom Song, a fun extended jam with a little bit of Grateful Dead (on steroids) in its ancestry.

Blackberry Smoke knows how to rock. What's more, producer Dan Huff (Megadeth, Bon Jovi, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts) has managed to capture the raw energy that fills Blackberry Smoke's live shows on Little Piece Of Dixie. This might just be the best pure Rock N Roll album of the year, and it should be in the conversation on the country side. Expect Blackberry Smoke to be all over the radio this fall.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Blackberry Smoke at http://www.blackberrysmoke.com/ or www.myspace.com/blackberrysmoke. Little Piece Of Dixie drops September 29, 2009. You can pre-order the CD through Amazon.com. Expect wide availability in both digital and traditional formats.