It’s slightly disorienting to hear traces of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gram Parsons and the Allman Brothers all in the course of the same song. But that’s the sonically dizzying effect that occurs in the riff-oriented country-rocker “Failure As A Friend” on the latest album from the Drunk Stuntmen. Add that this band is from western Massachusetts and not the deep south, and the confusion enters geographic proportions.
But the Stuntmen have been doing their countrified neo-southern thing for more than twelve years now, and devoted listeners long ago tossed out their atlases. The twin focal points continue to be the charismatic vocals of Steve Sanderson and the torrid lead guitar of F. Alex Johnson. Sanderson, complemented nicely at points by guest background singers Mark Mulcahy and Zip Cody, has a great ear for that line between emotive and over-emotive. Johnson, for his part, just plain wails.
“Two Good Wheels” is a catchy open-road anthem. On “Get To The Wine”, the Stuntmen mix a little religion into their lyrics. Well, sort of; Sanderson sings about going to church on Sunday merely to drink a little wine. On “Made Of Wood”, Johnson breaks out the pedal steel to accompany Sanderson as he sings longingly about the selling of the house he grew up in.
Memphis-style horns pop up to ornament a few songs tastefully. The band also covers “Bus Back To Birmingham”, a lovely ballad by southern singer-songwriter Rusty McHugh, who died in February, though the arrangement, complete with Pips-like backing vocals, is a bit over the top.
