New Friends – Josh Abbott Band
So a lot of different music lies under the umbrella of Americana music including folk, country, bluegrass, blues and for me there’s a special niche for music out of the biggest state in the lower 48, and that would be Texas and what’s called Texas Country music, which to me is a lot different than Nashville country music! Anyway, I’ve been a fan of this music since Jerry Jeff, Waylon and Willie started Outlaw music in the 70’s! Over the years the list of my favorites has grown to include musicians like: Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Pat Green, Jack Ingram and the Robison brothers Charlie and Bruce and many others! In the last year I’ve become a fan of some of the younger acts like Rich O’Toole and Casey Donahew and the band I listened to yesterday and today, the Josh Abbott Band! I downloaded and listened to their EP last year and enjoyed their music, so when I saw that their second full length CD She’s Like Texas had been released it didn’t take me long to go and download it and as soon as I heard the opening song “Road Trippin'” I knew I was going to like the album! On both the EP and this CD I enjoyed Josh Abbott’s vocals and the band has that great Texas music sound lead by Preston Wait’s fiddle and Gabe Hanson’s strong electric guitar. The band’s lineup consists of:
Josh Abbott – lead vocals and acoustic guitar
Preston Wait – fiddle and electric guitar
Edward Villaneauva – drums
Daniel Almodova – bass
Gabe Hanson – electric guitar
From their website (here) some comments about the band and their music:
And Josh Abbott-the founder, lead singer and chief songwriter for the ensemble-evinces a slight Steve Earle character: breathy, fiery, intense.
Those initial sounds set the tone for She’s Like Texas, the sophomore album from the Lonestar State’s best-kept secret. The project is deceptively simple in its approach, built around honest songs about real-life emotions with strong harmonies and winsome melodic hooks.
But it’s complex in its results. There’s a joyfulness in the sonic foundations of “All Of A Sudden,” “Brushy Creek” and “If You’re Leaving (I’m Coming Too),” an ease in the de-stressing “Hot Water,” a philosophical bent in the folksy “End Of A Dirt Road” and a reflective sadness in the closing ballad “Let My Tears Be Still.”
There are so many emotions tied into the album that the listener is guaranteed to feel something.
“The most important idea that I write songs with is that they’re autobiographical,” Abbott says. “Nearly every song I write is a true story of mine, or of someone I know.”
That truthfulness breeds passion for the material. And that passion comes through in the performances, both in the recording studio and on stage. It’s why the Josh Abbott Band has quickly become a Texas institution, selling out many of its shows in the region-and why its talents can’t be confined for long to the Lonestar State.
My standout tracks include the previously mentioned opening track “Road Trippin'”, “All Of A Sudden”, “Brushy Creek” (probably my favorite track) and “End of a Dirt Road” featuring Roger Creager (an artist I left out of the list of favorites) and the moving closing song “Let My Tears Be Still”
So once again, if you don’t know Josh Abbott Band check them out. As for me I have to go find their first full length CD Scapegoat and listen!
Originally posted at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries