The Contenders would probably always have been too eclectic to attract the masses, but the cocaine-cowboy ethos of the late 1970s must have been an especially inhospitable era for their blend of vocal harmonies, as carefully worked out as a doo-wop or gospel group’s, and songs that swung at least as hard as they rocked. Still, enough people listened, and remembered, for the band to have achieved near-mystical status in some circles.
Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood are the most recognizable names here, but the other Contenders, Tommy Goldsmith, Steve Runkle and Jimbeau Walsh, never take a backseat on the reissue of this 1978 album, their sole studio release (a live compilation, Light From Carolina Vol. 1, was issued in 2000).
The surprise here is that the album sounds as fresh as when it was recorded. Songwriting and lead vocals are divided almost equally among Goldsmith, Hyatt, Runkle and Hood. Goldsmith’s sensitive guitar playing and Runkle’s soulful vocals, which recall early Richard Manuel, provide many of the album’s highlights, while Hood seems always to be master of whatever instrument the song needs.
With four strong singers and songwriters, the Contenders never settled on one member of the band as frontman, a factor that might have impeded their commercial success. Another factor may have been the band’s determination to defy expectations. On paper, the lyrics of the album’s leadoff track, “Lean On Your Mind”, might appear to be the anchor for another tired faux-blues workout, but the slinky, almost Hawaiian guitar riffs, the shuffling backbeat, and Hyatt’s jazzy vocals are not what listeners would expect from a band out of Nashville, then or now.
Runkle’s “The Lack Of Love” puts on display the intricate vocalizing that set the band apart from their contemporaries, while Goldsmith’s Chuck Berry-ish “Talk” demonstrates how a song can be both lyrical and danceable. “Smoky Night Life”, a Hyatt/Runkle collaboration, mines the same territory as Willie Nelson’s “Night Life”, but the Contenders sound happy about the choice as they sing, “I like the smoky night life/It suits my smoky mind.”
The three tracks bonus tracks, intended for a never-to-be second album, prove that whatever the reasons for the band’s demise, it wasn’t a lack of new ideas or fresh songs.
Hyatt died in the 1996 Valujet crash in Florida. Runkle and Hood died within weeks of each other in 2001. Tommy Goldsmith works as an editor for the Tennessean and plays with Tom House. This souvenir of the Contenders’ recorded legacy is a welcome document of a band that deserved better than they got.