Album Reviews

The Dustbowl Revival

The Dustbowl Revival

Artist:     The Dustbowl Revival

Album:     The Dustbowl Revival

Label:     Signature Sounds Recordings

Release Date:     06.16.2017

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An eclectic group of eight musicians combining a sound of New Orleans’ French Quarter, The Dustbowl Revival offers an engaging upbeat, old-school, Americana swing sonic pallet. Their new eponymous release on Signature Sounds Recordings finds the Los Angeles-based collective evolving and refining their music to reveal a more soulful, funky side that exudes profound sentiments and taps a more modern sensibility.

The album’s opening track, “Call My Name” gets an infectious groove from drummer Joshlyn Heffernan and bassist James Klopfleisch, with trumpeter Matt Rubin and trombonist Ulf Bjorlin providing brass hits and riffs. The dynamic Liz Beebe’s sexy, warm vocals lay down the melody, with a dirty trumpet solo for an emotionally-charged opener that foreshadows the infectious music to come, chock full of superb singing, vocal harmonies, creative string work and growling horns.

The project has several acoustic numbers, like “Debtors’ Prison.” Z. Lupetin takes the vocal lead on this one, singing about the struggle to survive in today’s economic times. Beebe’s harmonies blend very nicely with Lupetin, and together they serve up a timeless slice of honeyed, unctuous acoustic soul. Tunes like “Leaving Time” feature a funky interplay between the horn players and the string players to create something familiar, yet stylistically fresh.

The Dustbowl Revial is moving in an exciting new direction. Energizing Americana with a shot of soul, funk and roots-infused rock that evokes the work of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and classic Stax recordings, and yet fits the band alongside such contemporaries as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and St. Paul & the Broken Bones.

— Sylvannnia Gartuch

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