Texas is a bit of a dream for all country and independent music lovers.
Both for the artists, who can find thousands of legendary venues in which to perform and try their luck, and above all for the fans.
Music is part of the culture of this state and, especially in certain areas, is as important as food and air.
Children grow up listening to local legends, going to see them live and, who knows, dreaming of becoming a musician like them.
I will make a dream of mine come true by going there for a few days in May, as a guest of a friend, and I hope, among the many independent musicians I know, to see this artist live: someone who plays real outlaw country, someone who writes and arranges songs with a really amazing talent.
I met Drew Moreland by chance a few years ago, through a Texan friend who is also a musician who I have often spoken about: Kayla Jane.
I reviewed his excellent self-titled debut from 2018 (find the review here: https://ticinonotizie.it/ascoltati-da-noi-per-voi-by-trex-roads-drew-moreland-drew-moreland-2018/) and after years spent performing up and down his Texas and beyond, after an EP in 2020, here we are finally at this second fantastic album.
The album was recorded thanks to the crowdfunding that Drew organized and I must say that those who believed in it undoubtedly did a service to the world of country music.
It would have been a mortal sin to leave these 9 songs in a drawer gathering dust. They must be played at full volume: what are you waiting for?
The work begins with an emotional and beautiful ballad: Down in Alabama.
The guitar whips through the air, sweetly accompanied by pedal-steel, but it is Moreland’s powerful and intense voice that completes a truly successful song: great arrangement and a first-rate band behind it, Neon Hustle.
The title track is Texas country to the core: violin, guitars and a voice made to tell true stories.
Sobriety is a little gem, a song that could be on an album by the great Cody Jinks. Intense, fast and exciting.
The intertwining of the rhythm and the violin and guitar solo is top-notch stuff.
I remember that on the first listen, which I was able to preview as a contributor, I said on Moreland’s page that it was definitely my favorite piece, but I didn’t know it had been written jointly with the great Michael Shane, who I already knew because he was the author. of many beautiful independent pieces.
This moved me because the piece was written after Shane lost his younger brother to suicide. A fantastic song.
The album continues with the whipping guitars of White Dove, which then flows into a ballad where Moreland’s voice demonstrates why it is one of my favorites on the independent circuit and his band is no different.
This guy deserves to have greater success friends: singer and songwriter of the highest level.
Another intense and beautiful ballad is Heartbreak Is Slow, country like few people know how to play today and which should be among the most beautiful ballads of 2024.
If you want to know what a Texan country song sounds like from the music to the lyrics, from the boots to the cowboy hat: here, listen to You Wouldn’t Know Country at full volume and you will have your answer.
The following Rowdy Country Song is no different, but adds rock guitars and a ride on an immense highway to the recipe.
This song is country at heart, but covered in sharp, powerful and corrosive rock.
The solo and the bridge scratch the speakers, while accompanying us to the closing of the album with an acoustic ballad: Highway Through This Town.
Drew Moreland’s voice is equally at home when he’s galloping into the sun or telling us stories around the campfire. Another little jewel that excites and seduces the stomach.
A truly wonderful second album that will be a real treat for anyone looking for true independent country music: 9 songs, one more beautiful than the other, which don’t invent anything, but give the world yet another quality Texan product.
Drew Moreland deserves to add to his success and deserves to be among the most talented songwriters of modern Texas outlaw country.
Here there is no place for the lights of television awards that are so popular today on social media, here there is real music, really played, with lyrics that talk about everyday life: in short, everything we love about independent music, if then it’s a Texan soul, we’re in Heaven.
Happy listening,
Trex
