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Front Porch Prose is an apt name for the new CD by Neil Bradley
Owen, as it seems to conjure imagery of old friends pickin' guitars
out on a dusty porch, waiting to chase their daughters' suitors
away with sawed-off shotguns and have a hearty laugh about it afterward
as they polish off soft lemonade together. It also gives me vivid
pictures of the kind of America that exists in the burnt umber shadows
of every run down barn in a Bob Ross painting. Folksy, bluesy, down
home... these are terms that I'm bound to use more than once when
describing the tracks on this album, and if that's your thing, or
if you like to visit that heartland of the musical soul from time
to time, then you will definitely love this album.
The first track, "Baby Blues", starts things off in the
slower bluesy realm as Neil riffs on various pronunciations of "baby".
It eases into a nice chorus and then there are some cool harmony
trade-offs between Neil and guest vocalist Sam Payne. The organ
is rich, the slide guitar twangy, and the corn bread tasty.
"I Survive" is a folksy country ballad with some good
vocal harmony lines in the verse. It felt to me like each verse
moved into a pre-chorus which was going to turn into a gorgeous
hook, but it turned out that the pre-chorus was supposed to be the
chorus and it merely lays back at the end to repeat "I survive".
In that sense, this song seems to fall short of what it might have
been with a powerfully lifting hook.
Back to bluesy and definitely down home with "Goin' Fishing".
Sidetrack here, but I have to wonder why the title is "goin'",
with the apostrophe, but not "fishin'". That is clearly
how he sings it. Hmmm... Just let it go, Eric. Let it go. Anyway,
this is a real toe-tapper, and the bridge lyrics take it to a deeper
level that deftly answers the old Steven Wright joke about there
being a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like
an idiot. Clearly there is more to it than that, and there is more
to this song than the simple blues shuffle it may seem to be at
first listen.
"Close Your Eyes and Pray" is a melodic, folksy ballad
that follows through where "I Survive" missed on delivering
a nice hook, and its the kind of hook that is simple, elegant and
very singable. Ryan Tilby adds some slithery mandolin, and the drums
of Steve Lemmon are solid, as they are throughout the album.
"Mekong Delta" returns to bluesy as Neil laments that
"fifty-two died today", remembering news stories about
Vietnam. A great electric slide solo by Tilby and some cool panned
echo effects on the slide add some color to the mix.
"I Don't Feel a Thing" sounds more jazzy than anything
else, but I'll also give a slight nod to folksy for this. Throughout
Front Porch Prose, Neil's voice and music trespass a bit on Vince
Gill's territory, and here is the best example with a song that
could fit really well in Vince's discography and has some Gill-ian
(or if you prefer, "Vince-ian") guitar licks following
each verse. I love how Neil's voice rises and rings while the title
line approaches. He has a great vocal tone and the song is a very
nice change of pace for the album.
The next track, "Never Be the Same", is a more upbeat
bluesy and down home number, reminding me of some of Chris Isaak's
best work. The band really cooks up the grits for Mel to kiss on
this one.
"Don't Wake Me Up Sunshine" is a folksy ballad that has
the feel of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You". A beautiful love
song painted on a pleasant acoustic canvas.
"It's About You" manages to be bluesy, folksy and down
home all at once. In addition to Neil's similarity to Vince Gill,
he also often reminds me of LDS singer/songwriter David Edwards,
and this song in particular evokes the lyricism and funky blues
of songs like "Fire on the Mountain" and "If I Sang
You a Song" from Edwards' Tipping Pictures. Ryan Tilby adds
some bubbly upright bass and there is a hot acoustic lead, either
performed by Owen or overdubbed by Tilby (unless Ryan can play upright
bass and acoustic lead together at the same time? Wow!).
"That's the Way it Is with Us" is an upbeat folksy country
song, again skirting a bit on Vince Gill's land. It's another song
that seems to lack a lifting chorus, though the title repeats make
for a catchy refrain.
The final track is "Train to Catch this Morning" and it
comes just in time, as I would have been disappointed if there wasn't
a song about a train on this album. Folksy and mellow, Neil's voice
has the smooth country twang of (insert your favorite smooth and
twangy male country singer) on this track. At just a hair under
six minutes, it's a long train ride, but when you take a train it's
all about seeing the landscape going by (well, unless it's about
not being able to afford a plane ticket). This is a relaxing and
soulful trip across the wheatfields of the mind and makes an appropriate
way to close out the album and reflect on the experience.
So the final tally is seven for "folksy", five for "bluesy"
and three for "down home". But I should add that these
songs, listened to as a whole, really transcend such labels. This
is a very accessible album with many wonderful songs and even if
the "folksy, bluesy and down home" thing isn't your typical
cup of herbal tea, you might want to clean out your shotgun, mix
a pitcher of lemonade and grease up the old rocking chair out on
the porch to give Front Porch Prose a chance.
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Eric
Endres
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