In our cold, cruel, post-vinyl world, the Lonesome Brothers’ distinctive warmth offers a welcome respite from so many bands that confuse digital perfection with a good-sounding recording. On Diesel Therapy, their second release on Tar Hut, this western Massachusetts trio winds its way through 13 well-crafted songs of country-tinged rock with considerable skill and an unflagging commitment to “feel,” making even the weaker tunes worth a second listen.
Guitarist Jim Armenti and bassist Ray Mason adeptly trade off songwriting and lead vocal duties, Bob Grant’s steady drumming provides the anchor, and a cast of talented friends — including Cheri Knight — add tasteful layers of pedal steel, cello, keyboards and backing vocals. From the sticky guitar hook of the opening track “Going Blind” through the rollicking, solo-filled closer “What I Want,” the Lonesome Brothers deliver the down-home goods with songs that alternately evoke NRBQ’s bar-band energy (“Lucinda”) and the laid-back looseness of American Beauty-era Grateful Dead (“Remember To Forget”).
The fifth track, “Every Goodbye”, a plaintive ballad underpinned by cello and Knight’s reedy vocals, leads off the album’s strongest songwriting stretch, from the blissfully straightforward rocker “Water Off A Duck”, to the funky backwater groove of “Big Shakedown”, to “Don’t Make Me A Memory”, a pleading two-step laced with electric guitar and sweet pedal steel.
Seasoned musicians who have played together for over 11 years, the Lonesome Brothers clearly know their stuff. Thanks to their wisdom and the sure hand of producer Jim Weeks, Diesel Therapy is a solid, feel-good record that hearkens back to vinyl’s warm and fuzzy heyday.
