*** My Review of my first listen of Tennessee Pusher ***

The fine folks at Amie Street send me the album today for review and all I can say so far is WOW!

This album really attacks you, not in vigorous raw speed but more in depth and subject matter. It's pretty heavy. Each song seems to pose a question and is asking it staring right into your eyes. Are you ready to party? What regrets do you have and wish you could live over and right? What can we do about the drug problems of the south? Are you a racist? Are you ready to party some more?! Each song really gets your attention and doesn't let go until it's on to the next.

Yea it has drums and organ and not alot of fiddle tunes, but this very much sounds like an Old Crow album... a damn fine one at that! I really like how it's produced. It's very dense. Alot of layers of sound but your can easily pick out an instrument or voice and focus on it if you want to. I think the drums are a tad strong on Meth and Crazy Eyes. They get in the way a little but not horribly.

Man, it's SO GOOD to hear Critter again! Him, Ketch, and Willie's voices meld together so well.

This album is so dang moody man. I love it! Such a warm sound to it too. I'm talking the warmth of being a kid in Elementary School and hearing you dont have to go to school cause of a ton of snow that fell through the night.. getting excited.. looking through window at the snow...jumping for joy.. then jumping backing into bed and covering up with an electric blanket to sleep for the rest of the morning type of warmth! Oh so cozy.

Shooo... dang goosebumps on Meth and Lift Him Up! Lift Him Up has seemed to be condensed but I like it. I think Greatest Hustler drags a little..it's 7:05 long. Still awesome though. I'm finishing up now with Caroline and can already tell this is an album that will not leave your player for months! It's got that repeatability that OCMS had.. where you're like "It's already over?!"

Wow. It's done playing. I dont really know what to say except I really know why I go to all the shows and check this site every minute. Ya'll are gonna be happy very very very happy. This is gonna sound cheesy but it's got me a lil misty eyed picturing all ya'll and how much you're gonna enjoy this record. No joke. Can't wait to see Old Crow again and hang out with all ya'll some more. Great nights of some of the finest music and people a man come in contact with. Great times ahead of us for sure!

What a life.

I'm not particularly good at writing record reviews, but here are some of my impressions of Tennessee Pusher so far:

The new CD is heavy on the slow and mid-tempo tunes. For better or worse, there are no straight-ahead full-speed fiddle tunes (e.g. Union Maid or Tear It Down).

One of the faster tunes is Alabama High-Test, which opens the CD. The stop-and-start strumming in the verses reminds me a little of CCR's Travelin' Band.

Mary's Kitchen is another fun upbeat tune, a country shuffle with Gill singing lead. It's about as ribald a song as we've heard from the Crows, with the chorus: "C'mon into Mary's kitchen / If you want your sausage ground"

My favorite tune on the disc so far is Next Go 'Round. a lovely, simple melody w/ understated vocal harmonies, in the same vain as Take 'Em Away.

I don't have high praise for every song. Humdinger, writen and sung by Kevin Hayes, begins with the lyrics: "Party of the century / No cops allowed!". I'm all for a good party song, but this one is just a little too crowd-pandering for me. I don't need for every Crows song to be all high-minded or anything. And it's not a bad song. It just goes for the lowest common demoninator, IMO.

All in all, the new CD is a solid collection of tunes. It's good to hear some new material from my favorite band.

["Caroline"] it is a great upbeat song with lyrics that don't seem to realize how sad they are.

how are the liner notes? pictures? lyrics? any funny we would like to thank ______?

there's a dozen pics in the centrefold of the booklet and full lyrics, plus who did what on each song.

The tear it down / raise a ruckus nature of their other releases is just lost on this record and to be honest, this record wont see a lot of time in the playlist as there are plenty of records I can listen to while driving or by myself but not alot work in social situations. OCMS was a band you could always throw on at a party or whatever and even the jazz snobs and metal heads appreciated it... this one has already failed in that aspect.

Agreed. I'm very much a traditionalist (Old Crow is pretty commercial for me), and this is definitely not what attracted me to OCMS. But for what it is, I love it.

I wish they'd make another album like Eutaw, almost all traditional songs with traditional instruments. But I also wish Bob Dylan would release another album of mostly traditional songs like his first one, and that sure as hell ain't going to happen. He moved on to almost all original material, and that worked for him. He even did go back in the early 90s and came out with two albums of traditional songs, which are both excellent.

The old Bluegrass players like Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers started out playing almost all traditional songs. but as they matured as musicians, they began writing more and more of their music. Same with the folk revivalists like Dylan, some even switching genres completely. Even great rock bands like Zep, the Stones, and the Beatles started out with very little original material, and evolved into mainly original acts. It's a natural progression in a musician's career, and as long as they make good music, I'll listen to them.

This may not be what attracted me to the Crows, but I like it.

-Tyler

I can see where youre coming from. Good point. I wouldn't call TN Pusher contemporary though. It just seemed to jump up a few decades from the 20s/30s to 60s/70s