Jason Boland & The Stragglers – The Last Kings of Babylon
The Oklahoma-born Jason Boland’s been kicking his original musical dust around for 25 years. It’s been a puree of classic country mixed with rock, punk, bluegrass & folk. With this LP Jason (vocals/rhythm guitar) & The Stragglers return to where they kneaded their first efforts in their dough with producer Lloyd Maines. He helmed the dashboard for their debut. So, maybe they resurrected their original musical atmosphere with all its stylistic nuances.
The 10-retrospective tales on The Last Kings of Babylon (Drops March 14/Thirty Tigers/Proud Souls Entertainment/37:20) make up their 11th album. Recorded in Texas, the tunes are based on their journeys, what they’ve been looking for, what they found & what still needs to be explored.
The CD art is packaged in a pleasant earthy pastel brown like the 2nd LP by The Band & it suits the musical content. The lead track for “The Last Kings of Babylon” is an upbeat heavily countrified piece “Next To Last Hank Williams” which reminds me of groups like Big Back 40’s “Been So Gone,” “Blood” & some early C. Gibbs (Group) efforts like “29 Over Me,” & “Cut My Spirit Dry.”
This new LP is well constructed. Each song possesses its spell. “Truest Colors” is another energetic outing with fiery mandolins, tight beats & pristine guitar all holding the tune together like superglue. The 3rd cut “Drive” has a nice mandolin that spills forth assertive notes. The vocals are equally penetrating. That’s it, that’s the word to describe this music – penetrating & punctuated by a Waylon Jennings type vocalizing strength. There isn’t a lame melody among the ten. Each has muscle, clever lines, the tunes coil around the brain & squeeze. That’s why your toe is tapping.
The secret to this band is simple. They’ve been around long enough to get all the bugs out of the woodwork. It helps to have superb arrangements & they do. They’re instinctive musicians. There are no more Band albums & very few Little Feat & Goose Creek Symphony ones – so, anything by Jason Boland & The Stragglers would be a treat. At least this album certainly is.
It has rural drift, long dirt roads & rain on the roses, an atmosphere that’s homegrown as they chain smoke notes from fiddles, mandolins, keyboards, guitars & drums. There’s little to suggest this cast of players are entrenched in an old country tradition as much as they’re interpreting & shaping a country-rock uniquely their own.
This music’s out on bail — catch it if you can.
Highlights – “Next To Last Hank Williams,” “Truest Colors,” “Drive,” “High Time,” “One Law At A Time” & “Irish Goodbye.”
Musicians – Grant Tracy (double bass), AJ Slaughter (pedal steel/electric & resonator guitars), Nick Cedra (fiddle/mandolin/tenor guitar/banjo), Andrew Bair (keys) & Jake Lynn (drums/percussion/harmony).
Color image courtesy of The Stragglers website. CD at Amazon + https://thestragglers.com/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Jason Boland and the Stragglers in Forth Worth
