By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: October 13, 2009

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – There are some terrific new albums out this fall that fans of Texas/Red Dirt/country music should consider snapping up from Jeremy Steding and Corb Lund, while we also take a look at last fall’s album from Texas-based singer-songwriter Jason Allen. All of these discs are great and worth picking up right away.

Jason Allen – The Twilight Zone (Smith Entertainment) 2008

While Jason Allen’s latest album The Twilight Zone has been out for about a year, we here at Red Dirt Report felt it was fresh enough and good enough to be reviewed.

And after listening to the disc, which Allen co-produced with Tommy Detamore, this cowboy singer takes us not into an otherworldly, sci-fi zone, rather, Allen reminds listeners that there are some current country crooners who have a sincere appreciation for the smooth sounds of classic country music. Fiddles, steel guitar and guitars of various shapes and sizes abound.

And The Twilight Zone does not disappoint. Allen is amazingly talented and versatile. On “Dance With Me Baby,” the Texan has fun with a jazzy, Big Band-styled song that will win over fans of Michael Buble or Harry Connick Jr.

The title track is hauntingly beautiful, with Allen’s incredibly appealing vocal sounding like something coming through a time traveling radio from 1960. Dig those chicks singing background “Ahhh-Ahhh-Ahh-Ahhh-Ahhh.” And the twangy rockabilly guitars are way cool.

“Jenny Lee,” Allen’s duet with Deryl Dodd, is a bouncy, country tune that sounds as if it had been a dusty 45 in a honky-tonk jukebox for the past 50 years.

Influences ranging from Buddy Holly to Roy Orbison are all over this album.  Just listen to the chillbump-inducing vocal on “I Can’t Hide This Heartache.” If Orbison were alive today, you can bet he’d be jealous he hadn’t written this one.

And speaking of heartbreak, listen to “He’s Still Dancing With Her,” a sad song about a man (Allen’s father, in this case) who goes out on the dance floor and dances alone to a song he and his late wife used to dance to. It's a heart-wrenching song and the best track here.

George Strait’s influence is evident on “Been There Done That.” While on “Elvis Tonight,” well, I don’t have to explain that one.

Or check out his stellar cover of Stevie Wonder’s Eighties classic “I Just Called To Say I Love You.” It really works well here.

There’s an undeniable urgency to “I Can’t Let You Go” that brings to mind rockabilly classics from the early and mid 1960’s. It's uncanny how Allen pulls off that retro country sound so well.

Don’t think Jason Allen is a novelty act. He clearly appreciates the good stuff and plays what he feels. A healthy appreciation Let’s hope Jason Allen stays on this course on his next album because this one is incredibly good.

For more information go to www.jasonallenband.net.

Grade - A

Jeremy Steding – A Damn Good Ride (Smith Entertainment) 2009

Hearing the strains of “Dixie” played on a fiddle right before Texas singer-songwriter Jeremy Steding begins singing “Let the Boys Drink Whiskey” gave me a quick indication that Steding was a different kind of Texas country musician.

And the rest of A Damn Good Ride proves that to be true. Steding loves classic country while giving it a modern and distinctive musical flavor.

Produced by Doug DeForest and Big John Mills at Lake Paradise Studios in Cherokee Village, Ark., A Damn Good Ride quickly gets your attention on songs like the dancehall throwback “Can You Teach Me How To Dance?” and “One Way Ticket.”

Indeed. With his rich-and-rugged baritone, Jeremy Steding and his band embrace a retro country style as evidenced on the twangy and clever “The Day to Day, Today,” with its influences that range from Marty Robbins to Merle Haggard.

Robby Springfield’s pedal steel and Big John Mills’ guitar really enhance the old-school “The Sand Panther Medicine Show” while Steding sings sweetly of a girl on “Auburn.” And on the Tex-Mex “South Texas Blues,” Steding makes the most of a bad situation.

A Damn Good Ride showcases Jeremy Steding as an up-and-comer who has a love for Texas Country. That should take him far.

For more information go to www.jeremysteding.com

Grade – B+

Corb Lund – Losin’ Lately Gambler (New West Records) 2009

Well-respected and the winner of numerous awards in his native Canada, traditional country-and-western singer-songwriter Corb Lund has just released Losin’ Lately Gambler on the Texas-based New West Records label and is likely to be the album that wins over American country music fans who may have never heard of him.

And I include myself among those who was previously unfamiliar with Corb Lund and his band, the Hurtin’ Albertans. In a recent interview with Texas musician Kyle Bennett, he noted how he stumbled across an old Corb Lund CD at a Fort Worth club and fell in love with “Time To Switch To Whiskey,” the song that opens Kyle Bennett Band’s terrific new album Grey Sunrise.

And for you Corb Lund fans out there, they feature a live version of “Time To Switch To Whiskey” along with the standard “Rye Whiskey.” A rousing song, to be sure.

But it’s the new material most of you will be interested in. Listeners get a real slice of the Canadian West on tracks like “Horse Doctor, Come Quick” and “Steer Rider’s Blues.” Yes, Lund is the real deal. He comes from a family of ranchers and rodeo people. As for Lund, he’s been on horseback since he was a boy and on this record he writes what he knows, like riding on the rodeo circuit.

And he also knows about losin’ at gambling, as evidenced on the folk-rockin’ “A Game In Town Like This,” where Lund was part of Edmonton’s underground card scene.

“Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues” brings to mind Bob Dylan’s amusing “Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues.” And while Dylan’s folk tune is a bit more fantastic, Lund’s tune is a bit more gory and realistic and amusing in it’s own way.

And being from Alberta, Lund does his best Townes Van Zandt impression on “Alberta Says Hello.” On the Waylon Jennings-esque “Chinook Wind,” a song about a bitterly cold weather phenomenon that shapes folks in Alberta, Lund says that wind “will drive a man insane.”

And that same wind blows across the home turf addressed in the simple folk song, “This Is My Prairie.” Lund tells us of simple prairie dwelling farmers lamenting the changes coming to their corner of Alberta – “They want a big pipeline right thru Pop’s grove,” Lund sings mournfully, “This is my prairie, this is my home.” And in true cowboy fashion, Lund sings that he may not have the government on his side but he’s “got this old rifle that my grand daddy owned.”

“Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues” brings to mind Bob Dylan’s amusing “Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues.” And while Dylan’s folk tune is a bit more fantastic, Lund’s tune is a bit more gory and realistic and amusing in it’s own way.

“It’s Hard To Keep A White Shirt Clean” is reminiscent of the music from the 1950’s. Lund’s vocals are great. Same can be said of “Long Gone To Saskatchewan” and the amusing “Devil’s Best Dress,” about a pistol-packin’ gal whose a deadeye with a Scholfield.

Corb Lund shows a lot of his fellow country singers in the States that Canadians have a cowboy and country music tradition as well. I just wish more of them were as articulate, honest and entertaining as Corb Lund. Losin’ Lately Gambler is a keeper, eh?

For more information go to www.corblund.com.

Grade - A

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