Band of Heathens offers clichéd country sounds

review

By: Shaina Zucker

Posted: 3/7/08

It may have been the fact that country music eats away at me from within every time I hear it or the band itself, but the self-titled CD from Band of Heathens just didn't cut it for me.

The local Austin group will put out its first studio album May 20 after being dubbed "best new band" at the Austin Music Awards last year.

There are some country singers whom I can respect because their music has meaning and direction. They are trying to tell a story about something that filled them with enough passion to write a song. Those types of country songs aren't my cup of tea either, but at least they demand respect from me.

They don't contain the clichéd topics conveyed in many bad country songs. Some of those topics include cowboy boots, a heartbroken man or a stretch of road that seems endless.

Unfortunately, this album has all of those things, which only reiterates my point.

The song "Cornbread" particularly stung my ears. It was about exactly what the title implies - how the singer likes his cornbread.

His scratchy voice tells us all he likes his cornbread with "a little bit of butter" and on the back porch swing. "My baby's corn bread makes me want to come home." Classic.

Some may classify this song as lighthearted, but I only see it as a tune to hear while riding in a truck bed.

The song "Maple Tears" talks about a girl. "She could have been from Oklahoma if she didn't live so far away." That line alone was a little confusing, but with an open mind, I continued to listen.

Then the song proceeded to call her a "prairie girl." If the song is supposed to be as serious as the rhythm and title would imply, then I think the band should have done a better job to make the overall tone follow suit.

I felt like the chord progressions were predictable as far as country music goes. The band calls itself country mixed with rock and blues, but all that I could hear was the slide guitar and twang in the singer's voice that screams country music.

Those things, in collaboration with meaningless songs, add up to a clichéd country album. They may enjoy that type of thing down in Austin, but in Denton, we've had more than our fair share.