Gerry Beckley “Unfortunate Casino”
Gerry Beckley (America) has been serving up stellar pop for most of his adult life. After recent work with Jeff Larson, a haunting concept album emerges with Beckley’s trademark warm melodic style. The gentle “Always” starts us off with a simple hushed vocal, guitar strum and horn accents. “Feelings Flow” is another sentimental soft shoe melody that easily brings us a smile.
The title track is a simple tune that builds into a rich complex theme, but a real gem is the upbeat “Remembering” with its hook filled harmonies and handclaps. The slower numbers really resonate too, “Dark River” and “Cup Of Rain,” being especially moving. In addition, a pair of wonderful songs (“Hello” and “Simpson Sky”) written by both Gerry and Bill Mumy are perfect pop in the Andrew Gold mold. No throwaway tunes here make this album an essential purchase. I look forward to more Gerry Beckley each year.
Snowbirds “s/t”
The Snowbirds are a six piece Americana/Rock band from Wisconsin with a gentle confidence and knack for making majestic melodies. Lead singer Jason Berken has a sweet soulful vocal and the rest of band does a great job bringing out each songs emotional heart. The steel lap guitar and harmonies on the opener “Current State” impresses and “Old Wall” is another roots pop gem. Things get bumped up with the Gary Louris styled “Cody Cody” full of gorgeous chords. The barroom anthem on “Shakedown” balances the album out between slower ballads and Tom Pettyesque mid tempo songs like “So Long.” Fans of alt country style like The Jayhawks, Ryan Adams and The Autumn Defense will really enjoy this one.