If white men can play the blues, there’s nothing to stop northerners playing southern rock. Or even Midwesterners like this Toledo, Ohio five-piece.
When you notice that one of the tracks is entitled Whiskey Woman, you probably know roughly how it sounds before it starts. But that’s no bad thing in SHR’s case – this is proudly traditional, post-Skynyrd stuff, and on riff-driven, sinewy grooves like She’s A Shaker, it delivers in some style.
Kevin Chez’s barroom-belter vocals help in that pursuit, as do the twin guitars of Bill McCullough and John Keller. Thankfully, they also possess what too many heavy blues bands lack – a real Muscle Shoals-style feel to their playing. All of which makes penultimate track Northern Boogie a statement of intent you can believe in. It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at./o:p
