Sons of the Palomino - Sons of the Palomino: Album feature & review
Release Date: 30 June 2017
Label: 3 Ring Circus
UPC: 819376011622 | Digipack
Packaging
Record Label: BFD
13 Tracks/ Time: 47:45
1. Runnin’ Around 2. Authentic 3.
When Lonely Calls 4. Countryholic 5. Outta This Town
6. Lie 7. Independent Trucker 8.
Whiskey Years 9. Hole In The Wall 10. Unbroken People
11. Used To Be Country Town 12.
Nobody Does Lonely 13. Old Roads and Lost Highways
Fresh country music with an old
school country sound.
For Fans Of: The Time Jumpers, Merle Haggard, Jeffrey Steele, George Jones
ABOUT: Traditional Country Group lead by singer/songwriter Jeffrey Steele.
Real Name: Jeffrey LeVaseur
Profile: American country music
singer and songwriter, born 27 August 1961 in Burbank, California, USA.
Publishing: BMI/Jeffrey Steele
Music, BMI/BPJ Administration, BMI
In Brief: The project took Music
Row by storm with guest artists flocking to the sessions that include John Anderson ("Authentic"), Emmylou Harris (“Out of this Town”), Jamey Johnson ("Whiskey
Years"), Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson ("Used to be a
Country Town") and from Big and Rich fame, John Rich who appeared on the first single "Countryholic"
and makes a guest showing in the video as well.
Background: Every songwriter dreads these
words; “Nobody is going to cut this song.”
Everybody, that is, except
Jeffrey Steele. Make no mistake: This Nashville Songwriter Hall Of Fame member
has written more than his share of hits, including No.1 singles for Rascal
Flatts (“These Days”, “What Hurts the Most” and “My Wish”), Tim McGraw (“The Cowboy in Me"; songwriters
Tom Douglas, Jaren Johnston, and Jeffrey Steele), Steve Holy (“Brand New Girlfriend”) and Keith Urban (“Raise Em Up”). Jeffrey also co-wrote Tim McGraw and Faith
Hill's “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” with Tom Douglas and Jaren Johnston, which
peaked at #2 on Country Airplay and was nominated for a CMT Collaborative Video
of the Year in 2015.
This album was not created to
dominate the charts. Steele’s collaborators expressed bafflement or disbelief
at the way he was steering the session. “You can’t play this for Luke Bryan!
You can’t play this for Kenny Chesney! They’re gonna laugh you out of town!’
was the reaction.
Which is why his latest project
triggered so much head-scratching up and down Music
Row.
“Songwriting vet Jeffrey Steele is among the performers
who, early in his career, graced the stage of the Palomino Club, the legendary North Hollywood venue that was a haven
for country fans for decades.
Circa late 1980s/early 1990s it
is described a in the nicest sense of the word, a dive: dark, dingy, low
ceiling, red stools lining a long bar, duct tape patching a carpet worn by
decades of artists dragging gear in from the alley, lugging it through the crowd toward the room in the back
where they could change before their show. Only the photos that cover the walls
— shots of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, each
one taken as they played on this venue’s cramped stage.
Steele wrote or co-wrote every
track on the album paying homage to the traditional country music that
the venue championed.
In a nod to the club, which
helped launch Dwight Yoakam into superstardom, Steele is the front man of
outfit Sons of the Palomino, a band
that comprises A-list sessions musicians Paul
Franklin (steel guitar), Larry Franklin
(fiddle), Jerry Roe (drums), Tony Harrell (piano), James Mitchell (guitar) and Brad Albin (bass). The group’s new
single and video for “Countryholic” is a potent mix of old-school honky-tonk,
sparkling with clever, rapid-fire wordplay (with crafty shout-outs to Merle
Haggard and Hank Williams) and a guest shot from John Rich.”
Review:
Drenched in steel guitar and fiddle the light-hearted opener “Running Around”, a terrific up-tempo dance hall cut, reaches out to a female protagonist bored with the dance hall lies and neon lights and chasing a 6ft faded blue jean dream! After heels have cooled and tears have been shed an olive branch is tentatively offered for a return to her everyday Joe.
With its gentle piano opening there’s
a beautiful quality to the heartbreaker and soul searcher “When Lonely Calls” which
soars and builds.
With the additional strings in the mix and a standout vocal offering a necessary hurtful vibe this sounds like a modern-day classic, as good times come and drift away and bad times take a hold.
This is a track Steele gravitates to and is “the most real” sharing “These are pages of my life. Losing my son, battling addiction and demons, and somehow still standing here with a smile”
With the additional strings in the mix and a standout vocal offering a necessary hurtful vibe this sounds like a modern-day classic, as good times come and drift away and bad times take a hold.
This is a track Steele gravitates to and is “the most real” sharing “These are pages of my life. Losing my son, battling addiction and demons, and somehow still standing here with a smile”
John Rich (Big
& Rich) guests on the pre-grat and lead-off old-school single "Countryholic"
(writers Jeffrey Steele, Ira Dean, Shane Minor).
This infectious raucous, high energy throwback number which may be habit-forming! Its self-explanatory message delivers a toe-tapping stomper deserving of a dance smash. “There ain’t no cure for a Countryholic,” sings Steele, cautioning:
This infectious raucous, high energy throwback number which may be habit-forming! Its self-explanatory message delivers a toe-tapping stomper deserving of a dance smash. “There ain’t no cure for a Countryholic,” sings Steele, cautioning:
“If you
see him in a boot store, get him on home / Don’t leave him in the truck with
the radio on / Don’t tell him ‘bout the county fair, corn dog, tractor pull and
all the dosey-doin’ goin’ on down there”.
Country greats Haggard, Willie,
Waylon, and Hank Williams Sr. are suitably name-checked on the barnstorming track
which musically recalls Dwight Yoakam and BR549.
"'Countryholic' is a 100 proof honky-tonk song that will make you want
to holler yee-haw!" shared Steele. "That song is icing on the cake of a project three years in the making
with an all-star cast of musicians and guests who are all helping to capture an
era in music that seems to have vanished." With a mission statement to
create good, honest and fun country music this ticks all the boxes!
Official music video for Sons Of
The Palomino's debut single "Countryholic":
The slowly cinematic Outta
This Town rocks some nostalgic dreamy storytelling (stealing innocent
kisses, weddings and a funeral) with Emmylou
Harris adding a delicate, haunting and tasteful harmony – Wonderful stuff.
The penning of the magnificent “Lie”
tips a classic nod to iconic country songs. An observational song, it’s inspired
by the love of Steeles’ life lying on a bed. It captures a
beautiful moment of a guy realizing he is powerless over his girl’s mere
presence” with closing words: Don’t give
up, don’t go nowhere, don’t do nothing, just lay right there and lie, I love it
when you lie. Don’t change the story don’t change the tune, your bodies a temple
and I see the truth, when you lie, I love it when you lie.
The pace quickens on the entertaining
down-home chug-a-long Independent Trucker depicting the life on the road which allows
a crack band to break free.
Sons of The Palomino performing
"Independent Trucker" at Music City Roots Live From The Factory on Oct
2, 2016:
The laidback bluesy “Whiskey Years,” features Jamey Johnson accompanied by Steele on piano. Squeezing out the hurt this acoustic guitar-driven hardcore full on country ballad hits the emotional jackpot recalling a man looking beyond crazy wild ways and mistakes: But who am I trying to fool / I’m still going through my whiskey years
The laidback bluesy “Whiskey Years,” features Jamey Johnson accompanied by Steele on piano. Squeezing out the hurt this acoustic guitar-driven hardcore full on country ballad hits the emotional jackpot recalling a man looking beyond crazy wild ways and mistakes: But who am I trying to fool / I’m still going through my whiskey years
Where the beers ice cold and the lights
are low, Hole In The Wall with its beachy easy style is something you
could easily imagine gracing a Jimmy Buffet record.
The slowly “Unbroken People” a social
commentary score, oozes pain when trying to come to terms with loss underpinned
by a weeping steel.
Gretchen Wilson joins in the fun (with a humorous dig at Music City) on the Friday
night honky-tonk fuelled "Used to be a Country Town" that
should have country lovers hitting the dancefloor to burn it up all night long!
Woo!
With signature licks Vince Gill empathises with Steele on
the classy last-call lament “Nobody Does Lonely” and the 47 minute
countryholic journey ends with Old Roads and Lost Highways as a
steel gently drifts across the landscape.
Summing up the project, which I personally
hope is the first of many, Steele shares: I think ultimately the hope is that the
music captures the period and that the songs hold up as great songs. To sum it
all up, that it inspires a little bit of, ‘do it for the joy’ and watch what
happens!
He is not wrong there! For those
who have tired of the bland, samey Nashville Pop/Rock sausage machine sheen
this welcome gem is exactly what the doctor ordered and more. There are no
fillers, unearth it and lap up the country goodness.
Country Routes
They come in all ages #Countryholics
Posted by Sons of the Palomino on Tuesday, 13 June 2017
What others are saying:
"I think this will go down a storm, admit it how many of you would call yourself a Countryholic?. Heard that thought got to play that, excellent – Marie Crichton BBC Radio Shropshire.
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