July 23, 2009
“MUD, BLOOD AND BEER”
Posted by Hal Bogerd at July 23, 2009 9:43 PM
The self-titled debut album from “Mud, Blood & Beer” rocks as much, if not more, than it twangs. While the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks are obvious touchstones, the Long Ryders, Guadalcanal Diary, Jason and the Scorchers as well as early REM but are perhaps closest in sound, attitude and songwriting style. Sure there are songs about drinking and hard-livin’ but the guys have skillfully avoided slipping into the clichéd whiskey broken bottle songwriting trap and have come up with thirteen hook-filled tracks that caught my ear on the first listen. A second listen and I knew I owed them a review. You can call it twang-pop, jangle-rock or alt country. I’m calling “Mud, Blood & Beer” a serious contender for debut disc of the year.
If you’re in NYC, drop by the their CD release party tomorrow night (7/24) at the National Underground (Houston and Allen, 8:00 p.m.) in Manhattan.
You can stop by their No Depression page and listen to four tracks from the disc and if you can’t make it to NYC, it’s is available (disc or download) from CDBaby.
Mud, Blood & Beer is Jess Hoeffner (guitar, vocals), Stephen Swalsky (bass), Jason Fine (guitar, vocals), and Stephen Sperber (drums).
Highly recommended.
