July | 2019 | redeyegin

for fans of the allman brothers band, this is something worth checking out. featuring gregg allman’s son devon, dickie betts’ son duane, and berry oakley’s son berry jr., this is an impressive outing of mostly original songs that slot strongly in the southern rock framework – a swampy mix of blues, country and gospel. the only cover is a take on tom petty’s ‘southern accents’. although they have known each other since their teens and have crossed paths musically many times, the potential of their fused legacies did not really reveal itself until 2017, when devon put together a concert at the fillmore in san francisco to memorialize his father after his death. it was essentially the debut of his new band, the devon allman project. duane betts made a guest appearance, and then his band served as the opening act on their tour. duane would join devon’s band for a few songs, and then do some allman brothers covers for their encores. it became clear to them that it was time to take it to the next level, and so they started thinking about making an album together.

recorded in 2018 at the legendary muscle shoals sound studio in muscle shoals, alabama and produced by grammy award winning producer matt ross-spang (jason isbell, margo price, john prine, elvis presley), it was cut live to analog tape on vintage recording gear – no computers or digital editing.

without a doubt my favorite cut is a nearly nine minute ‘autumn breeze’, a mostly instrumental and uniquely allmanesque offering that is reminiscent of a live ‘whipping post’ or ‘les bres in a minor’.

the band’s first performance was march 26th, 2019 – fifty years to the day that their fathers first performed in jacksonville florida. they are touring heavily this summer, and will be here at the house of blues august 27th. see you there.

this is bruce’s first album in five years, and it has a sound like nothing else in his immense catalog. he is the first to acknowledge that he drew his inspiration from the ‘countrypolitan’ style of glen campbell and jimmy webb in the late sixties. the overall composition is a mixture of bruce’s typical characters and themes, embellished with a backdrop of music that evokes the expansiveness of the american west, and dressed up with lush strings in many parts.

the string arrangements can be a little over the top sometimes, but that is really my only cautionary advice when approaching this new output from him. the songwriting is right up there with some of his best, and his vocal delivery is still spot on, considering he is approaching 70 this fall.

maybe my favorite track is the shortest, and starkest. ‘somewhere north of nashville’ is a tale of a failed songwriter who wonders if all the sacrifices he made chasing his dream was really worth it. a realization of how quickly you can lose everything.

the title of ‘western stars’ is a phrase that comes from ‘ulysses’, a nineteenth century poem by lord tennyson that springsteen has drawn from before. the poem is narrated by a hero approaching old age, returning from a long journey only to realize he really rather prefers being on the road. and so he heads out one more time.

see you on the road, bruce.