Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Andi Rae Healy & The Back River Bullies
Andi Rae Healy came to me in a Bandcamp e-mail blast. It was hard to ignore the striking album cover, its title--"Last Time I Checked, This Was A Free World and I Wasn't Anybody's Girl"--or my least favorite part of a musician's bio, the part that begins "Brooklyn based singer songwriter...," which almost always means, "from Wisconsin, but has been sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint with three other people." As someone who has grown up in Brooklyn, went to high school in Brooklyn and still spends a good amount of time in Brooklyn, I can understand the brand if I was in Madison, Wisconsin and someone dropped "McDonald Avenue" as a way to sell me some pizza. But I usually don't jump at honky tonk country and western music because it is based one block from the "L" train.
But I digress.
I'm here to push Healy's new record with the Back River Bullies because it sounds like the album cover, and that is what I wanted. The songs are smart and none of them try too hard to be any one thing, but instead, offer just the right amount of twang, girl group, and rock and roll to keep everyone interested. Both the opener "Come Get Me" and "(this is not a) Sad Song" are sheer joy. As a matter of fact, all of Side One is absolutely terrific, and there is some really fine guitar playing throughout by "Gowanus Canal based" musician and the album's producer, Jeff Litman. Don't worry, he doesn't go for that "Gowanus Canal" sound on the record. This is good stuff.
If you dig these two tracks, you can get the rest over HERE.
I'm really enjoying the hell out of it.
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8 comments:
Sounds good to me, so I ordered it. Thanks for the tip!
"just the right amount of twang, girl group, and rock and roll" -- right in my wheelhouse!
Thanks Sal
Great stuff! Ordered the vinyl.
Totally agree with Jayessemm.
Sal, thanks for the heads up (again).
My heads up for today for everyone is Nicole Atkins - "Italian Ice"
Ran across her working with Robert Harrison from Cotton Mather.
Randy
Jeff Litman has a pretty good record out himself.
Listening now and loving it. Don't know that I'd characterize it as "honky-tonk country," though. Strikes me as more in the Neko Case lane. Which is a damn good lane as far as I'm concerned.
But damn, this woman needs a publicist or something. I've lived in Brooklyn for 20 years (okay, maybe not one of the cool neighborhoods you mentioned, but still), and I love and support country music. This is her fourth album and I've never heard of her... so thanks for putting this in front of me.
I think you live in one of the cool neighborhoods, Ken.
To be fair, I didn't call the record "honky tonk country." (I think "in the Neko Case lane" nails it.) I was just trying to point out the pointlessness of the overabused Brooklyn brand when it has zero to do with what the album cover, or for that matter, the music within is about.
I guess "from Brooklyn" now tells you about as much about an artist as "from Nashville," "from Austin," or "from LA" does.
It's just where they get their mail.
Thanks for posting this. I too have never heard of her before but I definitely plan to at least purchase this album on Bandcamp and I will check out her other releases there as well. For people who complain that there is no good new music being made anywhere this is just one more proof that great new music is all around us if we know where to look.
I also want to give a shout out to Bandcamp. I buy a lot of downloads on BC. To the best of my knowledge they give the bands a fair deal and they are a great source of music.
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