Starting my day out right with London's "Suburban Dirts"

Suburban Dirts (I think)

By 'Rebel' Rod Ames

You know, since I began blogging about music about five or so years ago it has been so gratifying.

I have been turned on to so many great musicians, received hundreds, possibly thousands of digital files and CD’s some good, some not so good, yet always indicative of extremely hard work, and every now and then, something very, very special.

Probably the most surprising thing has been the wonderful music that has arrived from across the pond. More specifically, from jolly old Great Britain. Jack Cade completely blew me away with his unique American sound; his voice is something special and fitting to his music like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Dave Woodcock and The Dead Comedians are another band that tapped into those American music roots and came up with something all their own, earning the first spot in my latest blog segment simply entitled, ‘Band To Watch”.

This morning I woke up to an email from a Mr. John Wheatley, asking with that legendary English politeness to listen to his band, “Suburban Dirts”. I cannot write about the band other than they have been around about a year and have opened for various bands across the British countryside. There was little to no bio that accompanied their Sound Cloud link.

Mr. Wheatley asked me to listen to this ten-song collection so that I may give him some feedback. I was, as always, in the mood for some good music, but was not prepared to hear the quality of music that was soon to emit from my computer’s Altec Lansing speakers.

Their music is heavily influenced by the likes of American music greats and legends Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, Justin Townes Earl, and many others. You can hear these influences in this collection of tunes, but they do what great musicians do – they add their own particular flavor to the sound. In this case, the lead singer, who I will assume is Mr. Wheatley, resonates splendidly on every single tune.

From the first track, “Tacho Breakdown Blues (part II)", which was reminiscent to some very early ZZ Top to this Texas boy, to the Bob Dylanish-from-his-Blonde-on-Blonde-Highway-61-Revisted era sound of the final track, “Tacho Breakdown Blues (part I)", the listener’s ears are blessed with the sound of pure American Roots music, and they could not have book-ended the album any better than this. What lies in between these two superb bookends is some truly amazing music.

One thing for sure, Suburban Dirts has not only earned a “Band to Watch” spot on my blog; they have earned a spot on my radio program as well.

To Suburban Dirts – Thank you for making my day! 

Suburban Dirt's music can be purchased via iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. 

 

'Rebel' Rod says - check it out!