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Usually, when a band mentions that they are returning to their roots on a new album, it is because their previous album was a departure from their signature sound and more than likely was below par. Aerosmith, for instance, followed up 2001’s mediocre ‘Just Push Play’ with the blistering blues-covers album ‘Honkin’ On Bobo’ – and produced their best album in years, albeit a covers album. Bullet For My Valentine went against type with 2018’s more radio-friendly album ‘Gravity’, and when that backfired they went back to the beginning for 2021’s self-titled effort and regained some of the credibility lost three years earlier. All of this makes Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown’s decision to go back to their roots on the new album ‘Shake The Roots’ more intriguing because the Nashville-based outfit scored big with their previous album ‘Pressure’, an album that many critics felt was their best release thus far. But, now an independent band once again, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown have done just that and gone back to their roots; with dazzling results.
The resonator guitar cradled by Tyler Bryant on the album sleeve gives a pretty clear indication of what awaits within the twelve tracks featured on album number five from The Shakedown. It’s earthy, authentic, and very joyous – freed from whatever restraints are involved with being on a label agrees with the trio of Tyler Bryant (guitar/vocals), Caleb Crosby (drums), and Graham Whitford (guitar). While there are still moments on ‘Shake The Roots’ that continue in the same vein as the aforementioned ‘Pressure’ (the sizzling ‘Ghostrider’ immediately springs to mind), the majority of the music sparks recollections of the 2013 debut ‘Wild Child which packed a bit of a Tom Petty-like punch (‘Fools Gold’ the best song that The Heartbreakers never played on).
The variety found on the album is staggering; the handclapping, feet-stomping opener ‘Bare Bones’ is manna from heaven and sounds like it was cooked up right there on the spot; ‘Ain’t None Watered Down’ (a beauty of a co-write between Bryant and his wife and one half of Larkin Poe – Rebecca Lowell) has an almost Gospel-tinge to it; ‘Ghostrider’ is full of fury and modern-rock fuzz-filled guitar; ‘Roots’ is a towering slice of country-rock that has Summer Anthem written all over it and features a cool tip of the hat to Whitford’s Dad’s band Aerosmith with a ‘Sweet Emotion’-like outro; the brooding, dust-filled ‘Hard Learned’ seems autobiographical; ‘Off The Rails’ is a balls-to-the-wall AC/DC-ish riff-rocker that sees the band (Crosby in particular) letting loose; ‘Good Thing’ has that classic-country music pacing and would put another wing on the Bryant/Lowell house if a country megastar such as Brantley Gilbert or Jason Aldean picked it up; and if you can listen to closing track ‘Midnight Oil’ without A: thinking of Elvis at his hip-swinging, lip-sneering best, or B: clap your hands, or stomp your feet in time – then you my friend are one cold-hearted sucker.
Bryant’s playing is at times inspired, and it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that on ‘Shake The Roots’ he is in the form of his life. The songs are well-crafted and performed perfectly, Bryant, Crosby, and Whitford are all on the same page and play with a certain closeness and understanding that normally only arrives when a band has been playing together for decades. An album to savor with a glass or two of Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whisky (Whisky spelled the way that God intended it to be, obviously).
Available now on the self-owned Rattle Shake Records, more information here.
Review – Dave
Photo Credit: Robby Klein
