Mine are not reviews in the strict sense and in fact this is a Trex Tale.
The name distinguishes the two things: I am not a “music critic”, I do not have this claim, but I let myself be guided by the emotions and passion that I feel and for this reason I do not write “reviews”, but “tales” and stories.
I love discovering artists when no one knows them and letting myself be guided by my instinct that tells me: “this will not remain unknown for long”.
Tony Logue is part of these artists and has now become a “digital” friend, distant, but close.
I discovered his music with a story now dated 2021 (his debut “Serpents & Saviors“) and today he has arrived at his fourth album with a well-defined artistic maturity and an exceptional band behind him.
Today I can say that I was right when I spoke about him in enthusiastic and hopeful terms, but above all when I compared his music in recent years to the beginnings of one of his favorite artists (you can read it in the Indipendent Interview he did with me some time ago).
This Dark Horse could easily be mistaken for an album by the first Bruce Springsteen.
I am not blasphemous and I know what I am talking about: I loved those sounds and that ability to put small films into words as if he were a rock director or screenwriter.
Tony Logue, together with the winning team of the previous The Crumbs (2023) and that is the producer Sean Sullivan and his band the 184, gives us a true gem of American rock music of the author like we have not heard for years.
The 12 pieces that make up this work are the demonstration that we are in front of an artist who is making “his” Kentucky proud, a purebred singer-songwriter.
The band I was telling you is pure quality: Jason Munday on drums, James Lindsey on guitar and Kyle Robertson on bass, with the addition of an all star of independent country music including Tammy Rogers.
The single Cinnamon Blonde opens the album as if we were on a rock highway: guitars, rhythm and a movie before our eyes.
The similarities with the music that marked his life, that of the Boss par excellence, begin to be felt strongly.
The rhythm of The Dawn is a classy rock, the arrangement enhances a text so true and so vivid that you can see it before your eyes.
The guitars embroider a splendid piece, but we are only at the second and you will discover that it is valid for all these stories in music.
The title track is a majestic piece of pure American rock: rhythm that pulsates and guitars that scratch, but the text friends is pure poetry that has something (a lot in my opinion) of autobiographical.
A lot of work, a lot of determination, never giving up even if you feel almost invisible and that no one notices you, have led him to be considered one of the best independent singer-songwriters of the latest generations.
Grindstone is a killer riff of those that would have made the great Tom Petty proud. A ride of elegant and rough southern rock at the same time.
A dirty and intense embrace: Kentucky embraces Alabama.
With the following Honey Suckles we ride with an energetic ballad that seems to come from Darkness in the Edge of Town: the text is painted before our eyes and Tony‘s voice is intense and narrative, a fantastic singer-songwriter.
The powerful So Help Me God deals with an important and not easy theme such as mental health problems, anxiety, the sinking of thoughts into darkness.
It is a true, powerful song that touches the soul as only the greats can do.
Comin’ Home is a rock song with a blues soul and the lyrics seem to be the story of every independent artist on the road for 300 days a year away from his beloved family.
Autobiographical and true, with a spectacular arrangement and yet another frame-worthy performance by his band.
If there is a Tony Logue sound you can definitely hear it in Yellow Rose: intense, rock, emotional and with a story to tell.
If I may venture, an invisible red thread ties it to Broken Window Serenade by Whiskey Myers, almost the same story, but from another angle.
The stories are so powerful, but also the sound has never been so vibrant and rock.
Listen to Savanna and you can hear the echoes of the E-Street Band descending the Appalachian valleys: the same poetic fury, the same emotional desire to tell stories.
I arrive at the poignant ballad that closes the album, Thorns, which brings back the sound of Tony Logue from his early days: a poet with his acoustic guitar.
I don’t remember if I mentioned all the songs of this wonderful musical journey, maybe not, but I didn’t want to be long and take away the pleasure of discovering these 12 jewels.
An album that confirms Tony Logue as one of the best American singer-songwriters: writer, street and real life poet and musician of the highest level, supported by an exceptional band.
The 3 previous albums had put him on the map and had shown how much quality there was in his pen, in his fingers and in his voice, this Dark Horse is on another level.
This album has nothing to envy the first works of what was one of his favorite artists: the Appalachians have their Boss and all lovers of quality American rock should know him and spread the word: it’s a moral duty.
I’m honest, as a writer, I’ve always envied the ability to “write a book or a film” in a few lines like the first Springsteen did: well, Tony Logue has that ability and thank God he shares it with all of us.
Enjoy listening,
Trex.
