Mackenzie Rae & Buckshot Moon Lonesome and Free
Boulder based rock ‘n roll honky tonk band Mackenzie Rae & Buckshot Moon have a new album Lonesome and Free that’ll keep you company while you’re coming to terms with a solo life with plenty of electric guitar solos and powerful energy to help set you free.
“Pick Me Up Sober (Drop Me Off Drunk)” starts the album off busting out all the stops with a celebration of working your demons out in the dark bar scene: “I gotta get myself outta here, these four walls are closing in.” Next, the title track is again uptempo with the heartaches involved in leaving, a rockin’ rhythm, and touches of pedal steel: “lights in the rearview slowly fade to black, but my soul just won’t turn back.”
On “Two Doors Down” the tempo slows while the distortion echoes and the effect is more confidential: “I’m two doors down from where I want to be / no one left here to blame but me.” Mackenzie’s vocals are especially vulnerable here. And then on “Mule Creek Junction” her vocals shine again with classic country richness in a two-step honky tonk number.
Later in “Carry Me Home” the guitar tone and the rhythms are easy and welcoming with a longing feel: “drove real fast, talked real slow, cigarette hanging from your lip like James Dean…. Carry me home Virginia.” The album closes with the perfect wind-down choice of a hazy crooner, “Miner’s Canary.” This song is really heartfelt and lovely and might have been a good choice for placement earlier in the album so as not to be missed.
A lot of great bands come from Boulder, Colorado, like Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Yonder Mountain String Band, the Lumineers, The String Cheese Incident, and even Townes Van Zandt, who was not born in Boulder, spent some time and wrote some songs there. It’s rich with inspiration, which Mackenzie Rae & Buckshot Moon have clearly absorbed.
Their new album Lonesome and Free will set up your catharsis and commiserate with the loneliness you’re trying to outrun – and the freedom that isn’t quite as comfortable as it should be. All the while Mackenzie’s vocals hold a sweet vulnerability that’ll pull at your heartstrings.
Find more details here on their website: https://www.mackenzieraemusic.com
Musicians on the album are Mackenzie Rae on lead vocals, piano, electric piano, organ and percussion; Todd Redmond on acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, baritone guitar and high-strung guitar; Ryan Parker on bass, vocals, high-strung guitar, and piano; Chris Eagles on drums; and Christopher Wright on drums and percussion. Additional musicians on the album are Bret Billings and Charlie Rose on pedal steel.
Lonesome and Free was produced by Mackenzie Rae & Buckshot Moon; engineered and mixed by Christopher Wright; and mastered by Michael White. The songs were recorded at Couple Studios and Work It Bird Studios. Album photography was courtesy of Glenn Asakawa with graphic design by Rick Davie.
