Corey Hunt & the Wise – “The Storm”
Corey Hunt & the Wise have a new album, The Storm. This band is an outfit from that North Caroling that makes big twangy Red Dirt style country and heartland rock music – songs that are made for playing from the big stage, with lofty crescendos and electric energy. These are songs that make bold declarations about love, life, and fighting to survive, and back them up with rootsy gusto.
“Run With the Boys Tonight” take a dark moody tone in a rootsy rock / Southern rock style number that spotlights what can happen in a relationship when one person is out on the road, out on stage, and out running with the boys tonight: “it’s nothing you’ve said its nothing you’ve done, just sometimes babe, we gotta run, I know you think that something’s run, but this guitar wasn’t built to not play a song.”
“The Grass is Green” outlines that first time your heart gets broken but it leads you to realize the grass is greener up ahead – and it’s the same pattern again while your knuckling down to chase your dream: “up ahead, boy, the grass is green.” On “In Came You” we get to feel an honest tribute to a relationship that can pull you out of darkness and addictions.
On “Werewolf” it’s heartland rock in a song about a relationship where some folks don’t don’t understand the wild attraction. In “I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” Corey sings an ode to the challenges of fitting in with your sweetheart’s family – sometimes you’ve got to prove you’re for real. These songs delve into parts of reality that aren’t often talked about.
On the title track “The Storm” Corey’s vocals crack with honest vulnerability and this song is too far down in the mix. It’s a heavy-hitting winner, a song about the hurricane that devastated North Carolina, and a metaphor for so much more. It’s all here in the chorus: “they’ll say it was the storm that killed us, but they won’t talk about that long before that hurricane, long before the rain, we’d already drowned.”
Sometimes they pull down Stones energy. The electric guitar leads are excellent and the songs typically go past the 4 minute point with solos taking their turn in the mix. The energy is high and these are songs from folks who like to experience music together and feel big cathartic release, in the same ballpark with the Red Clay Strays or Chris Stapleton.
You can poke around their website here for show dates and more information: http://www.coreyhuntandthewise.com
The Storm was produced and mixed by Christian Hohn and Dustin Lohr with additional mixing by Kyle Mann; engineered by Eli Webb of Sonark Media; mastered by Eric Conn of Independent Mastering. Album photography was courtesy of Ashley Rose and album art was by Bear Rose.
Musicians on The Storm are Eric Wise on drums, scissors, percussion, and vocals; Todd Allmon on bass and vocals; Bear Rose on guitar; Jody Rosing on guitar and vocals; Corey Hunt on acoustic guitar and vocals; and Christian Hohn on vocals and keys. “Come On Out Tonight” features Tyler Hatley and “Werewolf” features Todd Allmon.
