Straight up hard edge southern American rock is what Black Stone Cherry (BSC) pump out and their fifth album, Kentucky, doesn’t fail to provide the band’s trademark mix of catchy hard rock tunes and radio friendly rock ballads. BSC may be relegated to the guilty pleasures list for many music fans due to the band’s simplicity when compared with fellow southern rockers, most notably the whiskey drenched, slow tempo Down, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Some catchy tracks include ‘Soul Machine’, ‘Shakin’ My Cage’ and ‘The Way Of The Future’ and there’s a pretty kickin’ surprise in BSC’s cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘War’.
There’s also truth to a couple of the bands songs such as ‘Cheaper To Drink Alone’ and ‘Born To Die’. But as said before, this isn’t an album for thinking to, instead it’s more for drinking to in a bar in a dusty, sand covered, tiny desert town you drive through on your way to, I dunno, Mexico, if Kentucky is on the way to Mexico. Basically, if this album is all about what Kentucky is then I’d be down for visiting. Closing track ‘The Rambler’ is a heart felt strummer that just begs to have cigarette lighters held up and couples dancing in front of the small stage in the bar.
Out via Mascot Records
Reviewed by Paul S Taylor
