Striking Impressions of Country-influenced Rock:Derek Lee Bronston's Empty River

Derek Lee Bronston’s Empty River might’ve passed by as simply another guitar-toting, singer/songwriter’s CD recorded just to have something at the merch table after hotel lounge sets. It might’ve been that—if almost every one of Bronston’s songs weren’t so deeply resonant as to produce striking impressions.

“What is Wrong” is a bluesy, acoustic country song just kicking it on the porch with a weathered barhall piano rolled outside. Melissa Greener’s background vocals are right out of Emmylou Harris land where harmony can make you fall in love. “That’s Alright” is stripped back to closing time or maybe even later when the chairs are up on the table.

With its little hesitation step, “Woman Like You” has hints of the Silos. For “Waiting,” Bronston taps into a mournful New Bluegrass like Thomas Denver Johnson with a stronger lyric delivery that comes at a faster cadence than the slide guitar would suggest.

“Rainy Days” is a countrified hard rock song of slamming intensity slowed down and cut back for a late night, the liquor’s all gone, the party’s all done, the energy’s just about drained by the passion—that’s still smoldering. Like Greg Brown, Bronston finds a bluesy country folk song in “Weighed Down” while letting some faint echoes of Classic Rock hang out on the edges. “All I Need” is an acoustic picker that finds Bob Dylan staring into the melancholy of U2’s “All I Want is You” and “Van Diemen’s Land.”

Thanks to Derek Lee Bronston and Paved Earth Music for the review CD.