Sean Riley & The Water – Stone Cold Hands
This album uniquely explores a celebration of dancehall days, communal feasts, all-night hoots & tints some of it with the lows of life, the grief, fears & our unavoidable losses. Sean Riley’s tunes will poignantly touch upon emotion, unleash some rock n’ roll energy, tears in the beer nostalgia, down-on-your-luck country blues & the value of self-worth & optimism. Seems Mr. Riley covers a lot of bases.
The 10 nimble fingers on this set were produced by Dean Zucchero (bass) & recorded in New Orleans. It includes a nice 12 pp colorful insert with lyrics & credits. This is Sean Riley’s (vocals/guitar/dobro) roots-heavy showcase. A musical tribute to New Orleans & Southern folk traditions & first full-length offering on Stone Cold Hands (Drops March 8/Pugnacious Records/35:00).
The repertoire that makes up this new CD starts with a Cajun blend musically with a nice upbeat foot mover in “Dance Me One More Time,” that’s doesn’t follow the recipe – it has substance, rock n’ roll tonality & a 60s Bobby Rydell backup singers that infuse the tune with lots of pop sensibility. Love it. And Sean Riley’s energetic, entertaining voice drives the tune home with authority.
Riley has a rather distinctive voice – part Dr. John part Leon Redbone – the tradition is wispy but evident in how he pronounces certain lyrics, especially in pieces like “Go Easy On Me.” The music that follows is always fluid & though the songs have more style than substance they will stick in the ear & isn’t that what a good tune is supposed to do if it’s not moving your feet down below?
Riley goes balladry & bluesy with some hearty harmonica on some tunes but it’s the clarity of the instrumentation & arrangements that shine best, especially with a stellar backup that doesn’t intrude. What’s also interesting is how Sean tells his lyrical tales – quite original, with a tidy marrying of melody & words.
Melodically, there’s nothing different from any other polished zydeco-oriented Cajun, New Orleans Mardi Gras-type band but Sean Riley adds his necessary mainstream touches which make the music attract the flies of an audience that wouldn’t necessarily notice such tunes. Infectious renderings are what runs through the material. His music is honey left out on a picnic table, unsupervised. Yeah, watch the arena of honey fill up.
Highlights – “Dance Me One More Time,” “Go Easy On Me,” “Stone Cold Hands,” “High & Lonesome,” “A Losing Hand,”
Musicians – Mike Barras (drums), Phil Breen (organ), Bruce Barnes (accordion/harmonica), Waylon Thibodeaux (fiddle), Tiffany Pollack, Megan Harris Brunious & Whitney Alouiscious Sanders (bgv),
Color image courtesy of Pugnacious Website. CD @ Amazon & https://www.pugnaciousrecords.com/sean-riley & https://www.seanrileyandthewater.com/
