AmericanaRoots.com
CD
Review by Don Zelazny
The Atkinsons
American Gothic
I've been enjoying American Gothic
from The Atkinsons for several
weeks now.
Besides being nice enough to send the CD at my request, Jamie from the
band sent a follow up note to me which sums up the CD better than I ever
could.
If you don't
mind, I'd like to mention a couple things about "American
Gothic". My husband Dickie is the main singer/songwriter of the
band. He had come up with a couple songs that seem to tell a story
in his head and he went from there. He decided to put the songs
together in a "chronological" story order, that's why the liner
notes have each song as a "chapter". Except for the bonus
track, which was written by our mandolin player Jeff Williams, the first
10 songs tell the story of a nameless tragic hero who is first introduced
as the boy in "Caroline". Throughout the CD, you see him
grow from a little boy to adulthood. And through a series of bad
decisions and bad luck streaks, we eventually come to his death by the end
of the CD after dealing with divorce, alcoholism, and jail. Then a
new happier story develops with the diner waitress named Eileen in
"Best Thing". Although the lyrical content is dark, the
music and melodies are upbeat. "Rockin' Americana" is how
we depict our style, and we merge that signature sound with bittersweet
tales of woe and heartbreak. Our originals are written with a
hardcore honesty that chronicles America's lost and lonely souls and their
life struggles and turmoil. New fans of our music are always
surprised when discovering the deep dark story lines that lie beneath that
upbeat fun sound which simply can be described as rock with a
twang.
The
CD has roots rock sound accented with Mike Ferry's fiddle which is
frequently and effectively used to provide the "mood" of the
songs. This is especially true on one of my favorite tracks,
"Chapter One", Caroline. The next "chapters" are also powerful
tunes; Chapter 4, "Forever
Wanting You" has some
good old 'southern rock' guitar riffs you might hear in old Molly
Hatchet tunes. "Part of
Me" is a haunting acoustic tune that starts off with the
harmonica effectively mimicking a train whistle. Another standout
'Chapter' is "Move Along" which is a bit of of southern 'anthem' or jam
type tune with some nice guitar in the middle. The music is moody and
strong, and as you can tell by the quote above a great deal of thought
went into the album. Leader Dickie Wood sings lead vocals on the
tunes, and definitely has a twang to his voice- if twangy voices aren't
your thing, you'll still enjoy the CD- maybe listen to half at a time.
If you like powerful music and a twangy voice to boot, you'll really enjoy
this CD.
Their website is theatkinsons.us