It sounds like the musical Nixon/Ford/Carter years with the team of Peter Andrus/g, Chris D/voc, Julie Christensen/voc-g, Bobby Permanent/b, DJ Bonebrake/dr and Doug Lachy/p-str ride the rock riffs on this recent release. A dash of AC/DC permeates throughout, partularly on “Mystery Writers” with some gruff vocals, while a dash of The Byrds is felt with Christensen on “Fall Forward”. There are some heavy bluesers like “Love Cannot Die” and punky beats for the slash fans for “Handful of Sand” while the swirling guitars on few songs remind you of vintage Aerosmith. Old rockers never die…
Bold and bluesy Polly O’Keary plays bass and delivers muscular vocals with a hard hitting team of David Miller/g, Tommy Cook/dr and some background singers on this collection of originals. Her opening “Brand New Day” sounds a lot like “Brother Louie” by the 70s group Stories, but the rest of the album could be taken from Jeff Beck’s Rough and Ready sessions, with some snarling vocals and hard hitting guitar work on ‘Too Much Like I Care” and the boogie rock of “You Better Think.” She gives some dark and harrowing blues on “American Highways” and the strings agonize with her on “Smiling”, while a trip to the delta delivers a strutting “People On The Corner”. Blistered fingers and hands.
Mick Kolassa sings and plays guitar with a core team of Jeff Jensen/g, Bill Rufino/b, Rick Steff/key, James Cunningham-Doug McMimm/dr and various guests on this mix of funky blues and shuffles. The team boogies hard on “Throwing Away These Blues” and some wailing Chicago guitar with Eric Hughes’ harmonic blows a strong wind of Lake Michigan on the title track. Kolassa tells a harrowing story with acoustic guitar on “Easy Doesn’t Live Here” and takes a trip down Lonely Avenue for “Feeling Sorry For Myself”. A tip to Dr. John takes place on the Crescent City’d “I Can’t Get Enough” while some jazz piano and guitar swing on “Touching Bass”. A rhythm fest.