- Label: 'Frontiers Music s.r.l.'
- Genre: 'Rock'
- Release Date: '30th May 2025'
Our Rating:
In the name of classic rock, many American bands continue to rehash old school riffs and spout tired platitudes while stridently avoiding any references to the political shit-storm that is happening all around them.
I do not know the voting habits of the six members of ‘The Speaker Wars’ but their silence of the state of the nation speaks volumes.
The album was recorded in Denton, Texas and the band are signed to Frontiers Records. The studio location and label name serve as further red flags.
The band was formed by Stan Lynch, long-time drummer and founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Lynch bailed out of the Heartbreakers before the passing of Petty citing creative differences. The sentimental piano ballad, The Forgiveness Tree, is most probably inspired by this rift (“Angels whispered from high above”).
After leaving The Heartbreakers Lynch moved into studio work and his CV includes production credits for The Eagles, Don Henley, Tim McGraw, The Mavericks and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. A case of the bland leading the bland.
While in Nashville, Lynch bonded with Texas singer-songwriter Jon Christopher Davis. Davis abandoned a solo record and didn’t waste the material he’d written. Instead, he and Lynch formed a band and recruited Jay Michael Smith on guitar, Brian Patterson on bass, Steve Ritter on percussion, and Jay Brown on keyboards.
The ten songs on their debut album checks all the boxes for roots rock, blues, and country. So much so that listening to the record you would be forgiven for thinking we had travelled back in time to the mid-1970s.
On Trader's South. in full nostalgia mode, Davis wistfully sings “Those days are long gone, but a few of us still live ‘em.” Living in the past means being studiously oblivious to 21st century concerns.
Self-deception is the thrust of the opening song - You Make Every Lie Come True - which consists of a list of dreams that will never come true: “I’m gonna write like Bob Dylan /I’m gonna rock like Johnny Cash / I’m gonna stand on the Grand Ole Opry /Sing my songs while the cameras flash.”
We hear how ”time stands still on grandma’s porch" on Sit With My Soul. Unfortunately, while Granny takes a blissful trip down memory lane, the planet burns and hawkish masters of war circle the White House.
The last track is called I Wish You Peace as final proof that irony is well and truly lost on these crusty dudes.
