Search - Bonedrivers :: Roadhouse Manifesto

The Bonedrivers "Roadhouse Manifesto" Reprint from Maverick

Blues Mama | San Francisco, CA | 12/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Bonedrivers

Roadhouse Manifesto

Blue Black BB5326

****

Country, rock, blues and everything in-between in a great roadhouse tradition

If you're going to announce yourself to the world, then you might as well do it in style. And the explosion of rock'n'roll that is Who Burned My Building Down? ROADHOUSE MANIFESTO's opening track, means that this band and album you'll not forget in a hurry. While it and Evil Twin Sisters cast more than a nod in the direction of the great Jimi Hendrix. If that was all there was, then ROADHOUSE MANIFESTO would be a short step to the band performing Hendrix covers in an attempt to entertain an audience who wished the real thing was in front of it. But there's a whole lot more to the Bonedrivers. Hailing from Northern California the band plays Live to Ride, a wind in the hair, sun on the back anthem, with a freedom that would make many a more illustrious name proud.

The band utilises the talents of two distinct vocalists, Johnnie Callerton and Keith Karloff. Unfortunately the liner notes don't differentiate between the two, an omission that doesn't spoil the enjoyment but would have been nice. It means that the band can change its colours from the out and out country-rock band of Light In The Morning and Lou Ann to the gritty, earthy blues outfit of the near-ten minute epic Macon Bacon. An album entirely of one style would be fine, to be offered both is an unexpected but very welcome delight.

Listening to ROADHOUSE MANIFESTO it's easy to accept the band's claim that

the music was road-tested in taverns and that anything that didn't grip an audience was discarded. The beat of Get It would be rattling glasses at the back of any bar, this is not an album that fades into the background or is easily ignored. ROADHOUSE MANIFESTO demands and gets your attention. MM"