![]() ![]() Irresistible.Įlsewhere, Baptized By The River is brooding swamp-rock of a kind which would send the reanimated corpse of John Fogerty lurching across the cornfields, if he wasn’t still alive and ruining the image. This guy doesn’t need tattoos, the words to Sweet Home Alabama are clearly engraved directly onto his liver. Good Ol’ Boy (yes, there is actually a song called that) is an almost perfect marriage of old-fashioned Southern values and bruising rock riffs, which actually manages to namecheck not only Lynyrd Skynyrd and the bar he used to drink in, but also the jukebox – and that’s only the first verse. If that opener makes you think you’re in for a diet of Outlaw Country, that idea is quickly quashed as a string of rocking southern stormers follow it up. Kenny Rogers would kill and hide the bodies to get a song like this – but thank the lord he didn’t… ![]() If ever a song absolutely screamed to be a hit, this is the one. If there’s been a better line this year than ‘You’re gonna have to pay up front if you’re drinking to forget’, then I haven’t heard it. facing down his demons with a menu of ‘well whiskey, two-for-one draft beer and discount cigarettes’, because he ‘can’t afford a main-brand heartache’ is cast-iron guaranteed to put a smile on your face (in stark contrast to our hapless discount hero). With a chorus so catchy it could set off another pandemic, this rip-roaring tale of a guy having to drown his sorrows on a budget is an absolute joy. The first track, Well Whiskey (Discount Cigarettes) is pure, unalloyed country-rock, and it’s a gem. 38 Special, then come on in and listen to the preacher. If, however, you love a bit of Skynyrd, Outlaws, Allmans and. It has to be right for you of course – if you were after that avant-garde jazz fusion we were speaking off, then take your sax and your immaculately trimmed goatee and polo-neck and get out, because there’s nothing here for you. That’s a given right from the get-go, and nearly every track here reinforces it. I’m going to cut to the chase here, before looking at the individual tracks and lay my cards on the table (poker, of course) – this is a fine album. Fortunately, I’m quite partial both to a dose of Southern Rock and also a portion of Country Rock on the side – so let’s sit down and pile in… Sometimes you do get what it says on the tin, which in a way is strangely reassuring. Let’s just say that if I’d put my house on ‘Southern Rock with a touch of country’, I’d be writing this in a bigger house right now. Now, right away I’m thinking that ‘avant-garde jazz fusion’ is likely to be off the table. Looking further, we see him in a T-shirt reading ‘Whiskey Helps’, sporting a large metal belt buckle standing in front of a beaten-up old Ford, while another photo has him in a field with a horse. ![]() The front cover shows a guy with a full beard, a work-shirt and a baseball cap sitting at a table with an open beer and an open book on it. ![]() First, the album is called Bar Stool Preacher. Let’s take a look at the evidence concerning Jacob Bryant here. Sometimes, of course, you can be completely blind-sided – whereas other times you’re right on the money. Sometimes, when something lands on your listening pile which you’re unfamiliar with, the first thing to do is to have a go at working out what it’s going to sound like before you slip it into the player. If you like the Outlaw end of country, if you love the way the Allman Brothers Band could just kick back and rock for a 25 minute jam without leaving third gear, if you get your rocks off on The Outlaws kicking out Green Grass And High Tides – if you tick any or all of these boxes, this album is waiting on the jukebox for you in your favourite bar with a cold one and a whiskey chaser… ![]()
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