The other American states don’t complain to me, but all, or most, of the music I love and would like to pass on to posterity comes from the deep South, from Dixieland. The South has inside it the tormented and melancholy souls of country, the electric lashes of rock and roll, the sticky cheers of blues and soul, the dusty deserts of western and the wild dances of honky tonk. In the South there are artists who invented blues, rock, southern rock. In the South were the Highwaymen and the Outlaws. In the South there was the King and there was also a couple of brothers who merged all this into one genre and there was a band that promised to become the greatest southern band of all time, but that fate decided to tragically decimate. Well, the South of the United States has influenced American music so much that every band that comes from there has an extra gear. When the innate talent breathes that air, drinks that water and savors those feelings, usually something unique arises. Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton come from over there, from Mobile, Alabama and since 2016 are known in the music world as Muscadine Bloodline. A duo that wanted to break into the world of country music of Nashville, who tried for years since the first eponymous EP of 2016. Maybe those attempts had made them lose their identity, they had written and recorded songs with the best producers in the city, played with the best session-men, but they did not feel right with themselves. That’s not what they wanted to broadcast to the public. Sometimes you have to stop, disconnect and reflect if what you are doing is the right way, it is the way you seek. Everything that has brought with it 2020: the stop, not being able to play, not being able to go out, has allowed the two to make the decision to change everything. They would remain independent, they would do it their way, and they would talk to the world about things that they had experienced, real. In the end, audiences who love independent country music look for this: sincere people who talk about things they know, about real life. It is perceived when you are not sincere with your music looking for success at all costs. Last year the duo had churned out the beautiful Dispatch to 16th Ave., but it is with this Teenage Dixie that they reach an even higher level, as if they had dropped the mooring and having decided to be completely independent had taken a weight off their shoulders. No more session-men, but only the musicians who had always followed them live and co-producer Ryan Youmans to guide them as when recording in his basement. And you can feel it, of course you can hear it: the album is a collection of 16 songs that tell us about life in Alabama, about sentiment and life lived, almost a diary of these young people in the streets of Mobile until the search for dreams in the wrong way in Nashville. I won’t talk about all the songs, it would be unnecessarily redundant, but already from the title track you can understand a lot of this beautiful record that could be the soundtrack of any small city in the South of the United States. A beautiful voice and a beautiful sunny rhythm accompanied by a vibrant guitar and harmonica part. But it’s the second track, Pocketful of 90’s Country, that blows away the doubts: we are in the South friends! Lashing guitars and wild rhythm. And what about the text? A beautiful dedication to all the heroes of the country of the 90s, there are just everyone: Travis Tritt, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Shania Twain and many others. Very funny. Mention for the wonderful Me On You that starts with just the voice and then flows into an irresistible groove and a lot of rhythm, very southern. The work of the guitars is really remarkable, you can not stay still. Inconvenience Store has a western taste, dusty, while the lyrics tell us about a robbery in a store and the guitars scratch our bellies. Muncaster’s voice is perfect for telling stories that are so true that they look like films. You can’t not move and jump to the rhythm of pieces like Evinrudin’ or Cryin’ in a GMC and your thoughts go immediately to the versions that these songs will have live: hell will certainly break loose and these guys have shared the stage with people like Eric Church and Turnpike Troubadours, they play in a Pro League. The piece, in my opinion, more beautiful and that is the apex of this record and is a manifesto of the talent of these two sons of Alabama, is undoubtedly Devil Died in Dixie. The guitars, the rhythm that makes no prisoners, the dust and the swamps, but above all the words: here there is genius and courage. The song is the sequel to the legendary song Charlie Daniels: The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Finally the Devil has the end he deserves and the Muscadine Bloodline give us one of the most beautiful pieces of this 2023. The ballad Azalea Blooms is a little jewel, the delicate guitar and the harmonica, the enveloping voice that speaks of love in a romantic and real way. One of those pieces to play and sing in front of a bonfire and under a sky of stars, savoring the scent of azaleas. The final solo is beautiful. The album closes with the equally beautiful Shootout in Saraland and that sound of guitar friends! Dirty, electric and with that groove they know how to give in their songs. The lyrics take up the epic of the Hatifelds and the McCoys and demonstrate the duo’s lyrical-cinematic ability. A perfect way to finish a great record. An album that could become a TV series in 16 parts about real life in the South, in Alabama, an exciting series accompanied by all the genres that made us fall in love: there is southern, country, rock and roll and blues. So much narrative talent and no room for interference: independent without compromise and that God keeps them there so. If you love quality music, real American music, and for normal people, you’ve come to the right place, here we are in Mobile, Alabama: get ready to dance, move and travel on back streets and be part of the beautiful Muscadine Bloodline movie.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link: https://www.ticinonotizie.it/muscadine-bloodline-teenage-dixie-2023-by-trex-roads/ )
