Drivin N Cryin, Live The Love Beautiful Review

Rock

Drivin N Cryin, Live The Love Beautiful Review

drivin-n-cryin-staccatofy-cd

Connect with Drivin N Cryin: Facebook |Instagram

Drivin N Cryin have been hitting stages for over three and a half decades. Building a solid reputation and following that stared at MTV, through avid streamers of today. The rock ‘n’ roll band has formed an institution supported by strong songwriting, a honest southern style, and loud, energetic shows. Drivin N Cryin has remained true to their sound though trends and bandmates have come and gone. The band has kept the flame alive by hitting the stage night after night, guitars in hand, amplifiers set a ten, and delivering their unique brand of self-made rock & roll. Drivin N Cryin is releasing Live the Love Beautiful in June of 2019, the band’s first full-length album since their 2009 working-class rock opera, Whatever Happened to the Great American Bubble Factory. Produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan, the new record is an anthemic blast of full-spectrum rock & roll, with frontman Kevn Kinney singing about the troubled times of modern-day America; the trials and triumphs of an adulthood logged on the road; the benefits of appreciating the small things in life; and even the legacy of the Faces’ late keyboardist, Ian McLagan. Together, these 11 songs connect the dots between the sounds that have shaped Drivin N Cryin’s career since the beginning, mixing together the jangle of folk music, the weirdo textures of 1960s psychedelia, the punky slash-and-burn of old-school rock & roll, and the sweep of Kinney’s southern ballads. They are now releasing their first single from Live the Love Beautiful called “Step by Step.”

amazon

Positives:

Solid songwriting on subjects that are obviously of emotional and intellectual interest to the band and it comes through loud and clear in the music.

Bottom Line:

Live the Love Beautiful roster consist of Kevn Kinney on lead vocals, guitar hero Laur Joamets — an Estonian-born instrumentalist who first moved to America to perform with Sturgill Simpson, making his debut on the singer's Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, bass-playing co-founder Tim Nielsen, and longtime drummer Dave V. Johnson. The lineup may be revised, but the beating heart of Drivin N Cryin has just as much edge today as it did in 1985, when Kinney and Nielsen played their first show together. Live the Love Beautiful captures the energy and electricity of DNC's live shows. Most of the 11 songs were captured in a series of live takes at Welcome to 1979 Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. There is always the hip spice of southern rock in DNC’s sound, which can be heard throughout the album. Starting with the opening track, "Free Ain't Free," a populist anthem about everyday Americans, capitalist corporations, and the widening gap between the two. The album celebrates a life free of addiction with "Step by Step," gets political with "Spies," and takes a simple turn during "Over and Over." The driving force behind any great rock album is the guitar and Live the Love Beautiful has plenty of crunch, harmonized guitar solos, solid riffs, and some skilled slide guitar from Joamets. “Step by Step” strikes a solid balance of acoustic sounds with crunch guitar riffs set to a moving Southern Rock vibe. The band’s sound is cohesive and balanced. The songwriting is strong with plenty of subtilties to bring a rewarding listening time and time again. Enjoy an American rock tradition built from experiences of decades on the road, live shows and rockin’ southern style with DNC’s Live the Love Beautiful. That’s the short of it!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.