Chuck Brodsky
RADIO
Red House - 119
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Chuck Brodsky tells a good story in a quite linear fashion that lets the listener follow along with minimal doubt about what the story is really about. This is the way not of poets, but more in the tradition followed by all good folk music storytellers. To enhance and flesh out his sound he has enlisted the help of a few able bodied musicians, that more than competently play a wide variety of instruments, with a flair for which they should be proud. They don't get much chance to really step up into their licks as this is a songwriter's disc and not a musicians'. There is a sensibility about this disc that evokes images of rural in the south for the songs of Chuck Brodsky. Don't have any reason for that beyond a feeling, although I see the disc was recorded mostly in Decatur, GA. His vocal styling own a lot to the Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan lineage, as earlier mentioned, unlike Dylan his tunes are straight ahead stories as opposed to stories that are veiled in obscure references that invite wild speculation about the 'meaning'. The opening cut on the disc, LA MIGRA VIENE, was a real grabber to me. It had a strong and full rich sound very much like the earliest work of Bruce Springsteen with a good strong beat and some catchy hooks to bring you into the story. The rest of the disc stays closer to the more traditional folk music idiom with its more spare instrumentation. All the cuts are written by Chuck Brodsky except the last cut, CIRCLE, which is a pretty little song by Annie Gallup. This song is like the others on the disc and a pretty straight forward short song that leaves the listener to hear and drink and taste the goods at their leisure. This is strong on the songs, and they are well crafted stories, but it seems to lack a fire to take it too a higher level.
Songs and times - all songs written by Chuck Brodsky unless noted
LA MIGRA VIENE - 4:06
MOE BERG: THE SONG - 4:15
BAD WHISKEY - 3:27
OUR GODS - 3:58
CREEPSVILLE - 3:53
RADIO - 4:52
ON CHRISTMAS I GOT NOTHING - 2:55
BLOW 'EM AWAY - 3:42
HOCKEY FIGHT SONG - 2:11
THE COME HERES & THE BEEN HERES - 4:41
CIRCLE - 3:01 - Annie Gallup
Musicians -
David Hamburger - Dobro, electric & resophonic guitars
Brandon Bush - electric piano, organ
Dave LaBruyere - electric bass
Jenny Hersch - acoustic bass
Kevin Leahy - drums
Kristian Bush - snare, harmony vocals
Don McCollister - ARP, shaker
Mike West - banjo, banjouki
Myshkin - washboard, harmony vocal
Chuck Brodsky - guitars, vocals
Produced by - Kristian Bush & Don McCollister