“The Music Spectrum Got Behind” Lists: Country-influenced Rock – Part 1The CDs That Didn’t Get Reviewed Last Year

You can find the best-of year-end lists in most music publications. Rather than rehashing what was already reviewed and discussed last year, Music Spectrum is going deep into the stacks of CDs received last year. And yeah, I’ll admit it. I got behind on these reviews, but I didn’t want you to miss some good music!

The Maria Set

December 20, 1986. I saw Maria McKee belting out “I Found Love” with Lone Justice on Saturday Night Live, doing a Gospel-punk-country thing, and I fell in love. As much as you can fall in love with someone you’ve only seen on TV and heard them sing, I fell in love, and I fell hard. McKee was mesmerizing to watch as she spun on stage, leading forth the band to crank out a song that I knew was Country—but she made me forget that. She made me forget about all of my preconceived notions about what Country music was. She rocked that place; she drove the blues train; she pogoed like a hardcore punk.

This ain’t supposed to be a posting about Maria McKee, but really, do yourself a favor and pick up these CDs: Lone Justice’s Lone Justice, Shelter, and This World is Not My Home, and you’ll hear what McKee, Marvin Etzioni, Ryan Hedgecock, and Don Heffington created. Then keep following Maria McKee. I especially recommend her album, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved.

Now to the task at hand: there’s a collection of Country-influenced Rock CDs from women who either are inspired by, working with, or sound similar to Maria McKee. Therefore, while you’re grabbing McKee’s discs, grab these CDs so that you can see who else is doing that Gospel-blues-country thing today.

Featured Country-influenced Rock List Title

Stepping just to one side of Lone Justice towards a more Country feel is Maggie Brown. Brown’s self-titled album has that soulfulness of Mindy Smith, but it swings with Country blues much more than Smith’s New Bluegrass. Like McKee, Brown’s got that blues swagger to her country twang. She slides a bit more towards the Mary Chapin-Carpenter side of things without much of that cow punk blast of Lone Justice. All of that winding through the comparison muck shouldn’t obscure this: Maggie Brown is a Featured Year-End Country-influenced Rock List Title, because it comes as close as anything I’ve heard lately to having all of the punchdrunk, tender-footed, hollering passion of McKee and Lone Justice. Brown is able to both sing some sad, quiet blues (“Full Moon Over Dallas”) while also turning out a sweltering sizzle rocker (“Mosquito Net”) before also throwing down like at the county fair fairground (“Used Cars”). Maggie Brown is released by Riverwide Music.

Go one more step from Lone Justice, now past Maggie Brown, towards Mary Chapin-Carpenter to come to Tift Merritt. Here, together with Theresa Andersson (see below), we’ve entered the “could be Blues but really is Country Rock” section. Merritt’s music chimes with blues riffs, bluesy vocals, and that overall blues groove. Her album, Tambourine, though also finds her in the country bar, singing during a break on line dancing night. Flip that country gal sound around a little, and you find a soul—soul music, that is. “Good Hearted Man” has horns, backing chorus, and a Motown worthy Gospel-soul sound. It’s like Merritt brought the Motor City to Nashville, leaving everyone scratching their heads. This isn’t what you expected from a Country-influenced album, but beating that expectation keeps Merritt out of any two-step trap. “Wait It Out” rides forward like a good ol’ country rocker, but it’s laced with Hammond B-3 lines, hand claps, and Merritt’s best Gospel-blues-soul shouter. Throw in some other more Country sounding tracks, and then you land at “Your Love Made a U-Turn”—soulified, Aretha-fied, funkified, a Joss Stone thing. And of course, there’s no surprise that Merritt is in the Maria Set, what with McKee adding fabulous harmonies to Merritt’s album. Tambourine is released by Lost Highway Records.

From the blues label, Basin Street Records, a label located in New Orleans smack dab in the middle of the Delta blues, comes Theresa Andersson. No doubt Andersson’s music drips with the muddy Mississippi River water blues. On the 2004 album, Shine, you don’t have traditional New Orleans blues, but there’s groove and soul. There’s the rock blues of the title track, the swamp boogie of “Good Girl,” and the acoustic blues of “What You Give.” But when Andersson pulls out her fiddle for “Break Up,” you see how the thing swings like Country-influenced Rock. Like Tift Merritt, this “could be Blues but really is Country Rock.” While this actually leads a little to confusion—a blues label often leads you to think you’ll get a much more bluesy sound, that momentary confusion shouldn’t take anything away from Andersson. The album opener, “Connected,” captures what festival ready sound, ready to rock with the crowd in the sun. “I’m On My Way” kicks aside the straight rhythms of the country rock song core, picking up on the down stroke, shaking with a little funk and syncopation. Backed by an exceptional band, Andersson has got that Country-blues-soul sound going on.

Thanks to all of the labels for the review copies.