I must admit, until I saw some tweets from other artists I follow and respect I had never heard of Red Shahan. After this though I checked out his new album and have been going back to it every few days even with all the flood of good new music coming out.
A kind of concept album about West Texas is very cohesive even if you've never been. The sound quality is great even if Red doesn't always have the greatest vocals. There's a little rock, a little country and a little blues making for a diverse sounding album.
I am much more about sound quality and production than lyrics as long as they aren't horrible so your mileage may vary on this. Jason Isbell songwriting this is not, but there's also nothing wrong with the lyrics. "Memphis" and "How They Lie" are both expertly penned about family dramas and are both contenders for my year end list.
There's also a nice balance with some all out rockers such as "Someone Someday" and "Revolution". The latter with it's nice riffs and lush keys reminds me a bit of some swampy southern rock songs.
Not everything is great, but even some of the more generic tracks both in sound and lyrics are still passable and fit with the overall theme.
This isn't going to be everybody's cup of tea, but if you like a good mix of rock with your country, this will be a good addition to an album collection.
Best tracks: "Memphis", "How They Lie", "Revolution", "Hurricane"
Worst tracks: "Idle Hands", "Try"
Score: 8/10
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