This band is a nice swampy rock and blues outfit out of Atlanta, Georgia, with a sometimes spooky sound. This is their tenth studio album, and uniquely southern tracks such as ‘Babylon Is Falling’ and ‘Little Pink Pistol’ feature some fine slide guitar work in a wonderfully controlled fashion, whilst the band borrows material from the likes of the driving Mississippi Hill Country style legend R. L. Burnside, guitar evangelist Blind Willie Johnson and blues great Howling Wolf though to Tom Petty (‘Louisiana Rain’) and Marvin Gaye, the latter represented by the throbbing ‘One More Heartache’ - Motown taken back down south. That’s an eclectic assembly – especially when you also include the band’s own originals like the work-song inspired opener ‘Long Way To Go’, the rocking ‘Might Take A Lifetime’, or the swampy, atmospheric closer ‘Christmas Time In New Orleans’. Tom Gray’s voice is suitably lived-in and he also supplies lap steel guitar, keyboards and harmonica, Mark Johnson’s guitar work meshes sublimely, whilst Franher Joseph on bass and three drummers (one at a time, not altogether) provide a rock solid and discreet anchor. Definitely recommended.
Norman Darwen