Given our current administration’s slash-and-burn foreign policy, it’s tough to believe there are still folks in other lands who would gladly sell their grandmother for a shot at U.S. citizenship. But judging from their Stateside debut, London quartet Grand Drive fits that category. Considering the high quality of their wares, the Department of Immigration would be wise to green light that application, pronto.
To the uninitiated, the only discernible clue that Grand Drive didn’t grow up next door to the Jayhawks is remnants of Australian accents in the singing of siblings Danny and Julian Wilson (who were born Down Under but raised in London). Even that’s easy to miss, since their habit of recalling other distinctive vocalists — Bob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Petty — can occasionally be distracting. But it’s tough to bad-mouth Grand Drive for sounding derivative, because they channel their affection for American roots music into some stellar originals.
Take the mid-tempo “Track 40”, a childhood reminiscence about “bikes with flattened tires” and places that are gone, a fine variation on the small-town paeans that dot John Mellencamp’s catalogue, right down to the fiddle solo. Despite the downtrodden tenor of the lyrics to “A Little Numb”, the tune eventually swells into a rousing, stadium-sized sing-along. Both Wilsons are multi-instrumentalists; Danny favors the guitar and mandolin, while Justin plies a variety of keyboards. On “Tell It Like It Is” and “You And I”, Justin leans on the Hammond and Rhodes like a Muscle Shoals vet leading a Sunday congregation.
This thirteen-song package is culled from three previous U.K. releases: See The Morning In (2002), True Love And High Adventure (2000), and Road Music (1999). Yet even though the material is sequenced chronologically and front-loaded with six Morning selections, the disc is remarkably cohesive. It helps that the program is framed by two tracks that celebrate new beginnings: the lilting opener “Firefly” and “Jukebox”, a barnburner that winds things up on a high note.