Welcome to the EvO:R Independent CD Reviews Section.
I would like to take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to everyone. The EvO:R review section features reviews from various independent musicians that submit material for our consideration.

I wanted to let you know a little about our review teams collective thoughts on music. It's important to let the people that we review know how we think of their music and how we listened to their creations.

First of all, we strongly believe that if your music stinks then the world should know about it! After all, you have the nerve to charge as much for your stuff as the majors do so it better be pretty damn good. If your material is good, we'll be glad to tell the world. I We will hold nothing back! That is a promise.
The EvO:R CD Review Team

This CD is a blend of country western and southern rock, with a bluesy feel. There are references to Johnny Cash, and a bit of rap thrown in. Country-Rap? Maybe a new style? I don’t know. The production is crisp, Dave Spangler plays a nice harmonica and is the ‘spoken word’, man. Casey Cannon is the lead vocalist, his voice is a good blend of country and rock, as you would expect. The band is tight, the harmonies are well done. David Raven is the drummer, and he doses a good job, Xavier Gonzalez is the lead guitarist, and rounding out the band is Josh Jones on bass.

All these musicians do a good job of presentation and performance.
I guess my biggest issue with recordings of this genre, are that there are a LOT of them. It becomes difficult to find that standout track, or band that sets them apart from the others. Having said that, there is nothing BAD about this recording, In fact, Spangler does have a flair on the harmonica, the rhythm section enjoys some nice boogying moments and there are a lot of moments where you find yourself tapping your foot along no matter any preconceptions.

My favorite track was “Last Call”, there is some very nice hoedown type stuff on “California”; “Inside but Left Out in the Rain” is another track that is probably the ‘standout’ on this album for me. Nice slide guitar by guest Mark Christian on this one, with additional lead voice provided by guest John Raney help this one a lot.

The rest of the CD moves along as you might more or less expect, Gonzalez does a respectable job on the guitar, never overstating anything, Good use of different guitar sounds helps a lot, some over driven power chords here and there help give it the rock feel, but there is a plenty of that ‘clean’ telecaster type sound to please any country purists.

Jones’s bass playing is as good as one can expect for this type of music. Individual music is not the point in this style, obviously. I have no idea if in his spare time Jones might play improvisational jazz fusion. Suffice to say that he, and his bandmates, perform well, with the material they have created.

One more note. Spangler did the CD artwork, while Jessica Anderson designed the album. All songs penned by Cannon and Gonzalez.

My grade: B (I liked it, but that one track that would have done it for me just wasn’t there. Still a worthy effort, this band is probably a lot of fun live.)

Joel Pirard...EvO:R Reviewer.

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