‘Good Light’ is the sixth album release from Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, the East Nashville, Tennessee Americana band. Drew is described as being “a Tennessee born, French speaking, bourbon drinking, 1st edition book collecting, golf playing, Eagle Scout with a Masters degree in Divinity." If this sounds like the CV of a regular guy, certainly he's a regular guy capable of fashioning a special album.
Opening with ‘Another Man’s Shoes’, this album hits the spot right from the off. This is a lovely southern country-flavoured track, which comes across as an easy mellow intro to the band. The lyrics basically enforce the message that you can never really know someone unless you put yourself in their position: -
“Play your rock ’n’ roll on the stereo. Push the cruise control, disappear into the groove/ Take the photograph, try to make it last, then the awkward laugh doesn’t make it true/ Everyone’s got their own set of troubles; everyone’s got their own set of blues/ Everyone’s got their own set of struggles. Walk a mile in another man’s shoes”.
Following on from this is the title track, ‘Good Light’, a lovely slice of melodic Americana, featuring some excellent keyboard work. Once again, the lyrics have a message: - “Wasting time and wasting money. You’ve been acting like a fool/ You spend your whole life fighting for a guarantee/ When all you really need is a friend.”
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Drew and the band cite their influences as Tom Petty, Tom Waits, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and this is evident throughout. In fact, ‘Nothing But Trouble’ is musically very akin to what Bob has been doing with country music on his last few releases. The lyrics here concern a relationship, and Drew manages to pull out some nice imagery: - “Midnight angel, blue eyed baby, you’re the queen of my afternoons/ Roller coaster, rock ’n’ roller you are the perfect broken melody/ I got nothing but trouble, baby. You got nothing but time/ And so we’ve got two hearts beating for a good ride”.
Overall, this is an intensely likeable album, and one that should grace any self-respecting Americana fan's record collection.
Buy 'Good Light' from Drew Holcomb online store
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