American Roots UK Gives Peewee Moore Tremedous Review On Hs Latest Album

Read the fantastic review over on AmericanRootsUK.com

"This is Peewee Moore's third tremendous album of modern 'Outlaw country.' I use the word 'modern' simply to distinguish him from the 'old timers' Bobby, Willie, Waylon, etc. because there are differences despite Peewees close stylistic links. The big thing is that his music has a total lack of sanitization whilst the other three, at least early in their careers, were dictated to by the record companies, as a consequence of which, whilst they were always edgy, some of that record company way of doing things can't have failed to have smoothed off some of the harsh edges. This is not the case with Peewee's music, which on occasions is raw and edgy but at the same time incredibly melodic despite a hardness that adds an aggressive and at times slightly threatening nuance to his work.  

J.B. Beverley Feature Review On American Roots UK

 Link to review on American Roots UK

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"Having previously made four albums that include one live limited edition and one demo recording, as well as touring relentlessly with his band ‘The Wayward Drifters’ it was perhaps inevitable that a change was due in the shape of a ‘solo’ album for the copiously talented J.B. Beverley. How often do we see the frontman of many a great band doing this only to find the finished product a disappointment. Not so in the case of JB! This album is a real triumph for an incredibly busy singer/songwriter who also runs his own recording studio, produces and engineers other peoples recordings, as well as being an author and screenwriter. Because ‘Drifters’ Johnny Lawless retired from the road and Dan Mazer moved out to the west coast, JB was forced into rethinking his musical career and fans old and new are fortunate that this new album not only matches the high quality of previous recordings but as a bonus offers more diversity whilst still firmly within the ‘roots music’ genre.     

His roots, as with friends James Hunnicutt and Hank Williams III, are in ‘punk’ music but that particular roots strain has gradually evolved into an edgy form of music that veers between a form of gothic country to southern rock to classic country, even a little blues and just about all points in between, all played and sung as if each of those strains was the only thing JB has ever played. He is a hugely talented singer songwriter who would probably have more success sticking to plain ‘commercial country,’ (as a vocalist he is more than capable of such a swing) but then we wouldn’t get treats such as this tremendous album! He really is a musician that ploughs his own furrow and one that is deep, diverse, heartfelt and full of commitment.

The fact that he can sing straight country in many ways proves his talent for diversity because that is only a small part of what this album contains, with him being equally at home on a ‘heavy’ rocker or front porch instrumental. I would have said it was virtually impossible for anyone to make an album such as this but JB, with the help of a few hugely talented friends, pulls it off. His extraordinarily gifted friend James Hunnicutt joins him on many of the songs sometimes adding vocals but always with his excellent guitar playing and the talented Buck Thrailkill plays banjo.  

There are fifteen tracks on the album, two of which are instrumentals, twelve were written by J.B and the three covers are Motorhead’s I Ain’t No Nice Guy, a duet with his equally talented old friend James Hunnicutt that veers between mellow folksiness and a raw powerful rocked up Motorhead feel and back again, putting the original in the shade! The traditional Hang Me, Oh Hang Me is an incredible live recording of the song with just JB's tremendous vocal and acoustic guitar propelling this classic song. The other cover is the late Gene Lee Wilcox  penned Time Will Tell, a simply stunning version of the darkest of all love songs that for good measure incorporates a murder ballad!

Thematically there is a dark atmosphere to many of the songs, hardly surprising considering several personal tragedies that were occurring in JB's life at the time of writing these songs. There is a deeply reflective thread that seems to bind many of the tales together despite the individual songs coming from musically diverse directions. The album opens with Appalachian Swamp Stomp an excellent instrumental that was recorded on JB's porch with him on cigar box guitar and Big Geo Ballentine on slide guitar. It has a deep dark atmosphere that could easily lure the casual listener into thinking this is going to be a ‘hillbilly’ album, but what follows certainly gives the lie to that premise! It is followed by Get The Wheels A Rollin’ a tremendously fiery hard driving ‘southern’ rocker that veers well away from any sort of country music. I described the album as diverse and so it is proven by the next song All The Little Devils, a terrific, quite dark, slow moody ballad with just acoustic guitar plus nice harmony vocals from Hunnicutt and co author Ronnie Hymes. Three entirely different strains of roots music but can he keep up the diversity? You bet he can, as proven on the next track. It is another instrumental but one entirely different to the album opener. This is called Bit Of Pickin’ a tune that is a tremendous jaunty banjo and acoustic guitar ‘old timey’ instrumental with Buck Thrailkill on banjo and Hunnicutt and Beverley on acoustic guitars. It would be easy to imagine this one being played on a front porch of the high Appalachians or conversely on a Mississippi river boat and has the quality that the late great John Hartford would have been proud of had he written it! An excellent co write by the three players. Disappear On Down The Line is an intensely dark, sad tale with a classic country vocal on what can almost be described as a classic country song, with excellent harmonies from Hunnicutt, acoustic guitars and cello and Beverley’s peerless heartfelt lead vocal on a gorgeous slow moody ballad. The title track Stripped To The Root is an incredible song and one that emphasises JB's raw evocative vocal with just sparse acoustic guitar for company. The song has an atmosphere that says the teller has lived this life and is now reflecting on the consequences as they leave him with no way to turn but knowing that somehow he must try to find a way back up. A story of such exceptional quality and raw heartrending emotion that had Guy Clark, Townes or Prine written it, the song would be hailed as one of the great pieces of generic writing!

As a measure of the man’s talent this open hearted album could not really have been surpassed. His writing is exceptional, the arrangements never overdone, there is huge diversity, he possesses vocals that can cope with most genres within roots music and there is a natural edginess that never gets in the way of the songs. Great album! "

J.B. Beverley feature write up on American Roots UK

 

Carolina Still Feature Review On American Roots UK

Link to original article on American Roots UK

"Imagination can be a wonderful thing! Mine doesn’t need to be stretched far to imagine this superb, ramshackle sounding band at a Saturday night hoe down in the high Appalachians of god knows how many decades ago! The vocals are melodic, tuneful and very raw, whilst the playing can be gentle but is also full of fire and attitude. If ever a band were a true evocation of the oft used (by me anyway) phrase ‘punked up hillbilly’ Carolina Still must certainly be the one. That is not to say they lack discipline or musical skill, very far from it, some of their playing is quite incredible. Whilst there are very few recordings by this brilliant band they have actually been playing up to 200 gigs a year for most of the last decade, ensuring their dues are paid and those amazing skills are honed!          
 

They are a four piece but can’t be described as a string band because of the prescence of drums in the more than capable hands of Billy Smith, who also helps out with vocals. Adam Jones is on upright bass and in conjunction with Smith lays an incredibly powerful and solid foundation for lead singer, songwriter, banjo picker and guitarist, Justin Casey, to paint his verbal pictures with the incredibly atmospheric and skilfull fiddle playing of Robert Norman. He also helps out with vocals and guitar, and gives the band what is virtually it’s signature sound with his powerfully evocative fiddling. They are fairly obviously confident in their abilities and perfectly at home together as you would expect from a band that has been together as long as they have and having played in a huge variety of locations. 
 

Whilst many of the songs have a slight tongue in cheek quality, at the same time there is a realistic grittiness that helps raise this album above the pack of other similarly excellent recordings, along of course with their fiery playing, particularly Norman’s. There is an unusual element to this album with album opener Distiller and the tenth track Runnin’ Moonshine being variations on the same story, the life of a moonshiner. The former is a terrific ‘hillbilly’song about a man driven to running moonshine by sheer desperation to support his family, having formerly been a ‘distiller’. 

Most songs with similar themes are humourous but this one emphasizes the lack of glamour and the price paid by his family if he gets caught. Some lovely banjo and hard driving fiddle propel the song, making it a perfect example of what is to follow. The latter song is another nicely atmospheric ‘moonshine’ running song with two vocalists exchanging verses and whilst it is much the same story, it has a slightly different slant and tempo but again is driven predominately by fiddle and banjo. Similarly Erastus Clay and Six Gun Sadie, with the former led by the haunting, keening fiddle and  repetitive acoustic guitar on a dark ‘country and western’ tale that would have been far too dark for the likes of Marty Robbins. It tells of a bad man that gets his come uppance, unsurprisingly from Six Gun Sadie! Like Clay, she eventually gets her just desserts in her very own song. A real seedy tale of the old west with no glamour added! Black Cat In The Briar Patch is an incredible fiddle and accordion driven instrumental that has real power and impact, whilst Sandy Boys is another speedy hard driving hoe down, with excellent foundation laid by bass but with fiddle as dominant lead. A pair of brilliant instrumentals! That .44 Gun is another excellent dark, haunting ‘country and western’ song that tells the tale of a man awaiting execution for shooting the man who made a pass at his girl friend. It is medium paced and as usual has the instrumentation balance perfectly matched to the song. There are further excellent songs, all perfectly arranged, sung and played with a variety of tempos and subjects with excellent hoe downs and ballads, all played with plenty of fire and intensity and no little skill and feeling.
 

All in all an album that contains variations on rural old timey music, country and western, punk and alt. country attitude, perhaps a little bluegrass, even echoes of blues so is not easy to slot into a particular category other than one of excellence. Terrific album!"

Carolina Still feature review on American Roots UK