Barn Burners – Tobacco Sunburst
As befits their name, D.C.-area band the Barn Burners put on a pyrotechnic live show, led by guitarist and vocalist Bob Kannenberg. The Burners’ first studio release Tobacco Sunburst delivers the raw energy and intense vibes endemic to their live performances. Ably supported by his brother Marc on bass, drummer Steve Raskin and “Honorary Arsonists” Bonanza D. Jones, Dave Giegerich and Brett Wilson, Kannenberg cuts loose on seven sharp originals and three cool covers.
The album’s opening cut, “Smokin’ Into Mexico”, had me pushing my way to the front of the line to enter a packed Baltimore club last year. With its story of hitchin’ a ride with a bad girl in her hot car, the fast and frantic tune is like the theme song for a great lost juvenile delinquent movie of the ’50s.
There isn’t a weak cut on this disc. Whether it’s a raunchy three-chord workout such as “Cadillac Daddy”, the driving, bluesy crunch of “Come Clean” or the Buddy Holly-esque “Caught a Buzz”, the Burners traipse through the roots catalog with aplomb. “So Blind” and “Cowcatcher Blues” are two slices of neo-rockabilly heaven, the latter opening with the lyric, “I wanna lay my head on the railroad track/Waitin’ for the train bringin’ my baby back.”
Kannenberg’s “I Wish I Could Waltz” (featuring lovely dobro playing by Giegerich and harmony vocals from Jones) is a cry-in-your-beer country ballad so authentic it had my wife asking who did it originally. But Kannenberg picks nifty covers too — Johnny Cash’s “Blistered”, George Jones’ “Life to Go”, and a beautiful version of Jimmy Skinner’s “The Kind of Love She Gave to Me”, a duet between Kannenberg’s acoustic picking and Wilson’s harmonica playing.