Success. Something chased by so many artists, some look for it in an unhealthy way and often come out with broken bones. From my point of view, very romantic, it is not something to look for, but something that reaches you if you create magic and you have talent, passion and constancy. Well, the artist I’m talking about today has never sought success, never put it as a priority while devoting himself to his passion, but he would deserve it and planetary for his talent and ability to create music and poems of real life. Adam Hood is a native of Opelika, Alabama and has within him the soul of Southern music, that feeling that allows him to create lyrics that reach the heart, enriched by musical sections that surround the soul. He was discovered by chance in Texas around 2007 by one of the most iconic country artists of recent years: Miranda Lambert, she opened the doors of Nashville and is now her friend from that key moment in her life, not only artistic. In these years, in addition to having released great albums by him (4 from 2009 to date, excluding this), he was almost more famous for his ability to write songs for others. And what a writer! You can see it in the album credits of Whiskey Myers, Travis Tritt, Anderson East and many others. Actually because of the beauty of his songs, both recording by him and other artists, it should have a much bigger success, but this is something that Hood really seems to care little. Indeed as you will hear in one of the songs of this album, Speed of the South wonderful soul rock song, the author still thinks happy to have remained true to himself without having ever really become a cartel name. A man of other times, times when music was not a job, but a passion that guided you to create works that could express your being, the fact that they liked it was a whole other story and did not affect the process. In this album, besides the collaboration with his friend Miranda Lambert in the melancholy ballad Harder Stuff, focused on the regrets of difficult moments when it was not easy to see the exit from the tunnel, we notice the presence of the southern rock band Blackberry Smoke. Not just any group of session men then, but a true legend of American rock today and you hear, of course if you hear! If you add to this that the disc is produced by another artist of absolute value (and quite similar to Hood in his quest for passion without looking at success) and that is Brent Cobb, a real champion both in front of the console, you will have 10 pieces of absolute value and sparkling beauty. A journey through the country of author, the groove of the people of the South, southern rock and the poetry of words that speak to the heart and soul. Press play and the sun of a walk in the sun will invade your speakers. The title track is like that, the slide, that taste of people’s music and that way of accepting life even in the difficulties that is typical of the Southern sound, we also find it in the last Whiskey Myers album. Business with Jesus is groove, is a mandolin that wraps around the sound of an organ, is a song with a religious flavor but that will capture the desire to sing and dance even the most atheist of atheists. Fantastic! A vibrant record and never banal, that touches the southern rock of the golden years with Flesh and Blood, I found there so much flavor of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the collaboration with Blackberry Smoke here from juicy fruits and so sweet. To be enjoyed all in one breath. Delicious riff of Don’t Do It, fun and sunny and with that groove that seems to come out of a jam session in a live club in Georgia, do not get tired of listening to it and let us wrap by this sound. The work closes with another quite southern piece like Livin’ Don’t Give a Damn, embellished with a fantastic solo. Grooves and guitars at very high levels and you can’t help but mention again the ability of Cobb and Blackberry Smoke, with which Adam Hood recorded a truly amazing album. An album that could be used to explain to children what is the music of the South of the United States, both in lyrics and in the fantastic sound. There you can feel the influence of the great ones like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Otis Redding, all enriched by the collaboration with Smoke and Brent Cobb, in short Hood gives us one of the most inspired, fun and original records of this 2022. After 4 years since his last album, after overcoming problems and addictions, a sincere welcome back to a great artist and his passion for music of other times, we really needed it.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link : https://www.ticinonotizie.it/adam-hood-bad-days-better-2022-by-trex-roads/ )
