Almost 10 years have passed since the debut of this still young band, today we are at the fifth record and the water under the bridges is really a lot. Tyler Bryant from Tyler, Texas has achieved with his group the true success, what all young artists dream of: important record contract, records that make the bang and tour with the sacred monsters (AC/DC, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Aerosmith, Tom Petty). The music proposed by the trio (completed by Graham Whitford on rhythm guitar and Caleb Crosby on drums) has always been an electric shock, that blues of the past wrapped in a metal casing that upsets your guts and live is explosive. Tyler becomes the new hope of american rock, a guitarist with exceptional talent who makes his hands travel on the ropes like the greats of the past. The endless tours that also cross the Ocean and arrive in Europe, the success that puts you on the map of the great bands and that wears you out, takes away inspiration and maybe when you look in the mirror you no longer recognize what pushed you to the life of the musician, artist’s. This and much more after 14 years of life of TBTSD, led the band to make a decision that seemed a gamble, a leap in the dark and uncertainty that is the salt of life: leave the record company and become independent. A choice that lately many bands decide to do and often with excellent results, as happened with this Roots, whose title is explanatory on what these guys were looking for in their new vision of artistic life: their roots. Founded their label, Rattle Shake Records, the next step is a new album and the 12 songs that make up the record are pure adrenaline, And the cover photo suggests that the guitar in Tyler’s hands will be very important in this process: a resophonic guitar, like a bluesman from Louisiana. The record starts immediately with an electric discharge, Bare Bones is slide, it’s resophonic, it’s groove that never leaves you. Tyler’s voice is perfect, rock and intense, but the secret is the choirs that give him a soul blues imprint from juke joint. The next Ain’t None Watered Down is my favorite album, written with his wife Rebecca Lovell (singer and guitarist of Larkin Poe, another emerging band you’d better keep an eye on) it’s a blues from Louisiana, and on its way it crosses Tom Petty’s rock, dragged, dragging, and bloody dirty. The resophonic guitar is a treat for the ears, the groove wraps around you like a warm blanket of wool, while static electricity shakes you all. You don’t have time to enjoy the sensation and here comes Ghostrider who is pure hard rock, an unbridled energy that reaches the soul and makes you imagine that live this piece will ignite the stages of half the world. These guys show that the future of blues and rock, the future of the bands that with sweat and passion carry on their ideas, is more than rosy. It’s been hard to get out of the garbage that mainstream radio (and reality TV) continue to shoot 24 hours on 24, but when bands like Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown come out the sky brightens up and quality music lovers can rejoice. Listen to Hard Learned, that blues-flavored guitar, but wrapped in the dust of the desert, that captivates you. So vintage, but so fresh and current, the song has in itself the epic of a western film and the beauty of a blues song of the Fathers. The electric shocks that cross the listening of Shackles are devastating, they furrow the air and shake it, the rhythm gets heavy and even here you touch hard rock, but always with a watchful eye to the roots that explode in all their dazzling beauty in Tennessee. Resophonic guitar, fun rhythm and that blues that embraces country with the beautiful voice of Tyler that guides us on the journey from Louisiana to Tennessee. Beautiful. Exciting and disarming beauty also Good Thing, melancholy and wrapped by a fantastic guitar sound, the groove is not lacking and the vocal performance of Bryant is the icing on this cake that wraps with electric guitars and explodes in the finale. Never banal or verbose, everything fits perfectly, as in the following and ironic Sell Yourself, still guitars, still groove and melody as in the best 70’s hard rock songs. The record closes perfectly, as it began, with Midnight Oil, with a killer blues rock, the ghost of Tom Petty hovers here too approving a piece that demonstrates even more the ability of Tyler Bryant not only as an excellent guitarist, not only as a singer-songwriter with unique talent, but also producer from the ear up. You don’t miss an arrangement or a sound and you go straight to the goal of making a record with a swampy soul, but with an electric heart, with a groove of sparkling beauty even if dirty with mud. They have learned the lesson of the great bands with whom they have shared the stage in recent years and have customized it, becoming their own label, you go and discover a band that will not leave you indifferent and if you love quality rock do not linger any longer, Press play and let yourself be shaken, excited and electrified by a record that deserves to be among the most beautiful of this long and fruitful 2022.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link : https://www.ticinonotizie.it/tyler-bryant-the-shakedown-roots-2022-by-trex-roads/ )
