Ken Will Morton – In Rock N Rolls Hands
Atlantas Ken Will Morton formerly slung axe with well-regarded power-pop punks Wonderlust, but it wasnt until he hooked up with roots-garage merchants the Indicators that his gifts as a tunesmith became fully evident. On that groups second album, Kill The Messenger, Morton wrote five of the fourteen songs, among them the Replacements-like thumper Eye Spy and the Tom Pettyish Im Gone.
Further evidence of his song-writing proficiency now arrives, barely a year later, with Mortons solo bow. And while In Rock N Rolls Hands isnt as front-loaded with classics as Kill The Messenger Morton and the Indicators other songwriter, founder-guitarist Mike Goldman, definitely complement one another in the band context it more than passes the audition.
A number of songs fall directly into familiar Morton pop-anthem territory. Lesson In Dying Love recalls Paul Westerberg at his most yearning and melodic, and as a singer, Morton can summon up raw-throated passion with the best of them. Hes intent on branching out stylistically, too, demonstrating as much on Daylight (country-soul, with organ, banjo and harp) and the title track (faith-seeking gospel folk).
Throw in a patented Steve Earle move or two Unbreakable Heart huffs and twangs like some bastard offspring of Copperhead Road and The Devils Right Hand and youve got a debut that bodes well for Mortons future both as a solo artist and as half of the Indicators creative braintrust.