Stone River Boys
Love On The Dial
Cow Island Music
also available on amazon
The Stone River Boys are a great continuation of the music of The Hacienda Brothers, that blending of Southwestern country soul twang with Memphis soul/blues, were just starting to put on the map. Dave Gonzalez picks up where he left off with his stellar guitar playing and heartfelt vocals, with perhaps even more soul in his songwriting and vocals since his long running partner and musical cohort, Chris Gaffney who lost his valiant fight with cancer (this disc is dedicated to the memory of Gaffney and Stephen Bruton) is no longer there to support him. He does this with Mike Barfield, who he knew for about 20 years from a band Mike had out of Houston called the Rounders when Dave was playing with The Paladins, stepping in to do some of the lead vocals, harmonica and percussion and contribute to the writing of songs.
This is one of those discs that destroys the current concept of radio and its neat niches, there is country, soul, Southwest
twang, Rock-a-Billy, and little bits of just about everything else, yet it is not a hodgepodge. There is a unity and cohesiveness to the disc that stands tall. Nine of the 14 songs are written by one of both members of the band, and the remainder shows their wide-ranging interests, covering the likes songwriters as diverse as C.King/G.Goffin and R.Despenza/C.Wolfolk. This is a disc that is well worth the effort spent searching it out as it is just flat excellent music played with joy and soul.