CD Review: Southern Drawl Band

 

Southern Drawl Band "Against The Grain"

 

 

I first heard about the Southern Drawl Band from my friend, Shurl Galliher-Gates. Shurl lives in the Tampa area and runs a music management business, where she works with a number of artists – including the Southern Drawl Band. I was talking to her about last year’s Meeting Of The Minds and the possibility of doing some recording for my internet radio show, “Trop Rockin’ Live” (heard Thursdays and Sundays on BeachFrontRadio.com). Shurl suggested I check out SDB and put me in touch with lead singer and front man, Mike Nash (aka “Nash Mike”).

 

At this point, let me tell you a little about my background. I’m currently a radio dj in Atlanta – and can also be heard weekday afternoons on stations in Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. But, for a number of years, I was in record promotion. That is, I worked for some major record labels and my job was to try to get radio stations to play the records – singles – released by the artists we represented. I was also the Music Editor for an industry trade magazine, and, before moving to Atlanta, worked for radio stations from Charlotte to Philadelphia. Over the years I have worked with groups from Yes and Motley Crue, to Blondie and the Go Gos and met stars like David Bowie, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones – and Jimmy Buffett. I mention all this for a couple of reasons. I am used to hearing hit records. And I have also dealt with a lot of a-holes. The latter makes it that much more of a pleasant surprise when I encounter someone in the music business who is not an a-hole, someone who is a genuinely nice person. One of the reasons I like “Trop Rock” is because so many of the people performing it are just that, genuinely nice people. Which brings me back to “Nash Mike”. Following Shurl’s advice, I dropped Mike an email, told him about my upcoming trip to Key West and plans to record for Trop Rockin’ Live. Within a day I got an enthusiastic email back, saying “Sure you can record us!”. Mike and I exchanged friendly emails over the next couple of weeks, then met during Meeting of the Minds, where I found him to be just as nice in person as he was over the internet. I also had a chance to hear the band live at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon.

 

All that leads me to the point where Steve Kesegich called and asked if I would be interested in reviewing cds for Crab Island Mambo. Among the first batch of discs Steve sent me to check out was the most recent release from the Southern Drawl Band, “Against The Grain”. Having met “Nash Mike” and seen the band live, I was anxious to hear what they sounded like on record (yeah, I’m old enough to remember – and still call music – records). So, I popped the disc in the player on a recent road trip. As I said earlier, I have spent years in the music business – and listened to thousands of albums (there I go showing my age again). I can usually tell whether a record is going to be good or not within the first three tracks. This record – ok, cd – isn’t just good. It’s DAMN good.

 

First up is the title track, “Against The Grain”, a swampy Southern Rocker –Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Jason Aldean. Mike’s voice has just the right touch of gravel and grit, backed by bluesy harp and a bluegrass banjo. If these guys were on a major record label, this song would already be on the radio. From there the cd takes a Trop Rock turn, with “Another Day In Paradise”. With an island feel and lyrics about sun and surf, it would sound right at home on a Zac Brown Band record. Next up is “The Backroads”, an achingly pretty number about escaping to someplace where time passes while sitting in a front porch swing and “shellin’ beans”. There you are. I told you I could tell if a cd was going to be good or not after the first three tracks, and these three are as good as I’ve heard from any album – independent OR major release – in some time. This doesn’t sound like a band that’s big in Knoxville, Tennesee (their hometown). This sounds like a band that is ready to be big EVERYWHERE.

 

There are plenty more good tracks on “Against The Grain”, from the raucous, rocking – and hilarious – “Party Trained” (“She’s the life of the party till you get her started on double tequila shots and twisted Bacardi”) and “My Johnson (“When I pull up the girls all grin, they love to watch me put it in”), to the nostalgic “When Kids Played Outside (“Our Playstation was an old swing set”) and even a Phil Collins-y piano ballad,  “Gone”.

 

A little back ground on the group: according to their bio, SDB was formed in 2011 by Mike and drummer Larry Dunsmore. They added percussionist Melanie Howe (who, I must say, won a lot of admirers - mostly male - at Meeting of the Minds) and bassist Daniel in 2012, the same year they recorded and released “Against The Grain”. More recently, they have released a five song ep titled “Another Day In Paradise” that includes that song and four more island-inspired tracks, including one – “Floriday” – recorded with fellow Tennessean Taul Paul. The ep was released largely to quiet folks who kept saying, “These guys are good, but are they TROP ROCK?”

 

The SDB will be on the road throughout 2013, including a number of dates throughout Florida. More info – as well as a free download of their take on “Rocky Top” – can be found on their website, http://southerndrawlbandofficial.com/