As you know, if you read the pages of my blog, I never measure the beauty or greatness of a band or an artist by the success they have.
However, when it happens that a band, which I have followed for many years and from the moment they took their first steps (when they were not even a “name” in the States), reaches a success that to define as explosive is to belittle it, it makes me so happy that I cannot express it in words.
The 5 boys from Mobile, Alabama (as the leader Brandon Coleman emphasizes introducing the concert) are an oddity in the music business for two simple reasons (in my opinion of course): they signed for a major, but remain independent (and it shows every day) and they have become “viral” with absolute merit.
This “social” success has projected them like a bright comet in the dark sky: sold-out shows in a few minutes (even in Europe), albums in the general charts and guest appearances on television shows.
Their debut as main artists in the legendary “Mother Church” of Nashville country music, the Ryman, in 3 dates had to be celebrated as it should be and this album does it in style.
The Red Clay Strays have two albums under their belt (2022’s Moment of Truth and 2024’s Made By These Moments) and therefore a live album draws from a few songs and there is nothing new.
But these 11 songs performed in front of an ecstatic crowd are the most beautiful testimony for the band and that is to say it seems to listen to them on their two studio albums.
With this I do not diminish the crazy live performance, I only pay tribute to the incredible ability to play “live” even locked in the 4 walls of the recording studio: it is no small feat, trust me.
The greeting to the crowd that introduces the wild rock of Ramblin’, as I was telling you is a proud vindication of their origins and their career, but Coleman goes further and asks the audience to scream and sing as loud as they can. An invitation accepted immediately.
The next Wanna Be Loved has a thrilling emotional power, it slows down and the crowd follows its execution almost in religious silence.
The song that made them viral is instead sung in every single nuance by the crowd: Wondering Why is a rush of emotions that cannot be ignored and Coleman‘s voice is a gift from Heaven: a masterpiece.
It seems early to propose their “workhorse” song in a concert, but the band’s ability to set the audience on fire does not depend on a single song, they are “in rhythm” from the first second.
The blues soul of Drowning envelops the walls as if we were in a small club, but the rhythm increases, the guitars scar the air and the fantastic voice penetrates the soul.
The solo is a jewel that breaks the tension.
The throbbing bass of Stone’s Throw increases it, Coleman‘s voice tries to be overwhelmed by thousands of voices singing every single word: exciting when the singer lets them vent in front of his microphone.
No One Else Like Me is another blues that touches the soul with that voice that caresses you, but then the song is an explosion, an instrumental jam that amazes for its control and intensity: each member of the band can take center stage and the audience is so ecstatic that the band lets them vent for a few seconds, as if to take the deserved applause after years of toil up and down small smoky venues.
The Red Clay Strays are one of the greatest modern expressions of how much beauty there is in the music of the South and especially of Alabama: a mix of emotions, religiosity, rock, country and soul.
An album that confirms the band as one of the most beautiful realities of American music and helps, as I mentioned before, to understand its greatness closed in a recording studio: same strength, same emotional fury and same mastery of the souls of those who listen.
The 5 boys from Alabama are a gift for those who want beauty and emotions and in these 11 pieces performed at the Mother Church you will find all this and much more.
Enjoy listening,
Trex
