Red Rooster “Walk” (Wondermore Records, 2009)
Walk with Red Rooster is more than a stroll
New York-based Red Rooster are the basically the duo Jay Erickson (lead vocals) and Nat Zikha (lead guitar) who have been playing together for many years. Jay & Nat formed Red Rooster in NY ten years ago and on this record they have brought together a diverse group of musicians and instruments to compliment some stellar song writing. The core group for this outing consists of Susannah Hornsby (vocals & accordion – and yes her uncle is Bruce), Andrew Green (banjo), Dave Gould (saxophone), Brandon Doyle (French horn), Lucas Ives (drums), David Engelman (bass) and Pete Nilsson (keys).
All but two tracks come from the pen of Zikha and Erickson, Susannah Hornsby contributes one song and there is cover of ‘Satisfied Mind’ by Hayes/Rhodes. Red Rooster are firmly linked to country and probably ‘alt-country’ (whatever that is) as the band strives to create numerous colours and themes on this excellent record.
Exploring familiar themes there are several stand out songs ‘Leaves in Autumn’, ‘Five Tiny Fingers’, and the Calexico influenced ‘Let It All Go’ and the tour de force ‘Washington Square’. The band even manage to combine some hip hop with country on ‘The Places In Between’ – clearly a band not happy to tread on water, more like WALK on water.
As always it’s about the songs and here on display is some of the best country/folk songs written and played this year. Highly recommended.
Reviewer: andy riggs
Reviewers Rating: 8 out of 10
Related web link: www.redroostermusic.com
