REVIEWS The final track, “Red River Valley,” was recorded in the parking lot of Swedish Hospital in Seattle in a poignant goodbye to a lost friend. It is simple, powerful and gorgeous as Shaw sings unaccompanied, with heartbreaking directness. The track illustrates her folk roots as well as the utter confidence she has in her voice. While she has plenty of help from her bandmates in Roxie Watson, as well as other notable Atlanta musicians, Shaw is a multiinstrumentalist and displays her abilities throughout the recording by playing acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, harmonica, flute, ukulele and drums. It is a record of quiet triumph. The songs and performances are passionate but understated. Her singing is never overly ornate; she goes to the heart of the matter in voice and song. Becky Shaw has made a record that can live in your CD player for weeks and your heart for much longer. —Paul Sanchez
Jon Hatchett Band Jon Hatchett Band (Independent) These local honky-tonkers’ debut CD opens with a song about a girl who is, as Pete Townshend would say, bleedin’ quadrophenic: “Four in One Woman” is a sprightly, NRBQ-styled rocker about a lady with a four-way split personality; it’s funny and catchy and the lyric’s basic premise—if your partner’s really confusing, you need to go drinking—is a hard one to refute. It’s clear that Hatchett (who used to play in town as Jonny Kashner) knows how to write ’em; honkytonk stompers are his specialty (and the above song isn’t the only one with booze references), but he’s versatile enough to pull off a few character songs, a broken-hearted rocker (“The Wind and Me”) and a more existential lyric on “Living Day to Day.” The one cover, the ’40s swing tune “RaggMopp,” features some hot guitar by Izzy Zaldman—a Bill Kirchen–type player www.OFFBEAT.com
who combines fast fingers with a fluid touch. Hatchett’s nasal twang of a voice takes a little getting used to, and there are times when his band could really use a harmony voice—notably on “Sometimes You’re Wrong,” a honey of a ballad that calls for a Yoakam-type singer. But if a debut CD is supposed to get you to make a point of seeing the band live, this one worked. —Brett Milano
Travis Matte and the Kingpins Highly Influenced (Mhat Productions) A few months ago, Travis Matte’s single “He Don’t Know You Like I Do” was burning up the KBON airwaves, sometimes being spun twice in a four-hour period. The slow, dreamy swamp pop ballad was so good, in fact, that the King of Swamp Pop, Johnnie Allan, personally visited Matte to buy the single. Another song released around the same time, the rockin’ “Bye Felicia,” was also a crowd favorite but certainly didn’t match the magic of “Like I Do.” The aforementioned, plus a dozen others (ten originals and two covers), are found here on the Kingpins’ 11th disc. Like the title suggests, there’s a fair amount of genre-hopping, indicating that the Kingpins operate under myriad styles and influences. A lot of these are various hues of rock: ’50s sock-hoppers (“Run Around Sue”), bolting outlaw rockers (“61”) and metal-esque mashups (“Did You Ever Love Me”). “I Like Me Some of You” infectiously blends zydeco and rattling rock together. The tunes are sequenced so there are surprises in the flow, like “Turtle” Cormier’s nimbleA PRI L 2016
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