E-mail Me! Click Here!
Louisville Music News.net
September 1997 Articles
Cover Story
Vicky Moon
Features
Bill Conger
Jean Metcalfe
Scott McCormick
Paul Moffett
Columns
Berk Bryant
Decimus Rock
Mike Stout
Paul Carney
Vicky Moon
Vicky Moon
Keith Clements
Tim Roberts
Laura Spalding
Henry C. Mayer
Jimmy Brown
CD Reviews
Brent Starkey
Robert Gruber
Brent Starkey
Paul Moffett
Kory Wilcoxson
Roark
Brent Starkey
Brent Starkey
Bob Bahr
Bob Bahr
Brent Starkey
Bob Bahr
Brent Starkey
Kory Wilcoxson
Roark
Performance Reviews
Mike Stout
Paul Moffett
Leo Durham
Calendar
Staff
Paul Moffett
News Item
Bookmark Louisville Music News.net with these handy
social bookmarking tools:
del.icio.us digg
StumbleUpon spurl
wists simpy
newsvine blinklist
furl blogmarks
yahoo! myweb smarking
ma.gnolia segnalo
reddit fark
technorati cosmos
Available RSS Feeds
Top Picks - Top Picks
Top Picks - Today's Music
Top Picks - Editor's Blog
Top Picks - Articles
Add Louisville Music News' RSS Feed to Your Yahoo!
Add to My Yahoo!
Contact: contact@louisvillemusicnews.net
Louisville, KY 40207
Copyright 1989-2024
Louisvillemusicnews.net, Louisville Music News, Inc.
All Rights Reserved  


Issue:September 1997 Year: 1997
this one

the value of repackaging

We Didn't See You On Sunday (Touch And Go)
P.W. Long's Reelfoot
Varnaline (Zero Hour)
Varnaline

Southern rock appears to be making a comeback — but to whom? All the redneck kids are into gangsta rap now. Aspiring singer/songwriters who cut their teeth on Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special would be s.o.l. if it weren't for college radio (which can make any absurd style of music "cool" — i.e., "lounge" music). Call Southern rock something different — say, "No Depression" — and suddenly it's cool again.

P.W. Long's Reelfoot is what Molly Hatchet would sound like if they were produced by Steve Albini and had fired two of their guitarists. Actually, about half of this disc is P.W.'s solo acoustic stuff, which is quite good. The song "Jelly" is creepy: "C'mon down an' sit on my bed/C'mon down, take care o' Red". P.W. does an excellent job of capturing the old-school sound of folk blues, with his flat, deeply inflected tenor voice.

Varnaline confused me, however. Upon first glance of their cover art — a trio of lionesses ganging on some pathetic water buffalo or something — I thought this was just another lame hardcore band. But the first song, "Lights," was a cool, melodic rocker. Other songs took on a country-ish twang that delivers on what critics say bands like Wilco and Son Volt promise. Varnaline takes "No Depression" to its most ragged, its crudest elements infused with punk energy. So I say, let the South do it again, if it sounds this good — um, yeehaw.

Bookmark and Share