Pleasant Valley Ranch

***1/2

Ameripolitan favourites West Of Texas’ new album is their first made with the renowned Ted Russel Kamp stepping in as co-producer alongside Jerry Zinn, the group’s lead singer and songwriter. The band's infectious unmistakable vibe, wrapped up with ace musicianship, topped with great songwriting, and delivered with powerful, heartfelt vocals, has a slightly more modern sheen. Overflowing with swing and groove, the album is across the board, completely no-frills. The rhythm patterns aren’t complex, there’s only a few chords per song, and the band never deviates from verse-chorus-verse structure. The band pays homage to the tapestry of luminaries such as Johnny Bush, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Johnny Bond, with a kind of classic country hop-scotch approach with western swing interludes right out of the Asleep At the Wheel playbook. Choosing to focus more on fine picking and captivating singing, they have somehow managed to make a timeless, intelligent record that speaks directly to my ol’ country heart.

They offer two-stepping classics (Wall Of Memories), a lighthearted look at romantic commitment (15% More Of Your Love), and slow-burning beer-stained ballads that sound like lost late-1960s Haggard gems (I Hate The World Again). Jerry Zinn is an excellent lyricist, whose side-eying observation in Doin’ Time, is dead-on specific. It is a fast paced song that is quite catchy with fine interplay between pedal steel, piano and telecaster. Certain songs—I Only Listen To Heartbreak Songs and Tell Me, in particular—tend to focus on tattered feelings of a more reflective variety, a further indication of the band’s desire to stir their songs with hard realities that often negate any and all attempts to pursue more of a giddier groove. It makes for interesting and intriguing circumstance, one that lays their thoughts bare without reservation.

Their brand of twangy, rangy, ringing country-rock in Get Back In Here, allows the band members— Jerry Zinn (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Jeremy Long (lead guitar, piano, back-up vocals), Ryan Posner (bass) Kevin Brown (drums), Phil Glenn (fiddle) and Caleb Melo (pedal steel)—to really strut their stuff, especially Caleb with his inventive playing and the solid bass work that underpins it all. Every good story starts from a wound.I’ll Ask Gin, which palpably conveys the shift from love and desire to pained realisation, runs cooler and creepier, riding a viscous pedal steel whine through the alcohol-fueled break-up wreckage. A serious collection of country songs with lots of hooks, but also lots of depth, this is an album of finely crafted songs, built on smart sonic choices, proving once again that country music doesn’t have to be loud to be great. 

www.westoftexas.com

November 2024