Search - Junior Brown :: Junior High

Jimi Hendrix at the Grand Ole Opry?

dev1 | Baltimore | 06/10/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a big fan of AM country radio, country TV videos and country top-10; bypass Junior Brown and search elsewhere for black-hat, salon-manicured, honky-tonk wanabees. Junior's baritone is as sincere as that of Ernest Tubb (That's Easy For You To Say). And speaking of commercial country, what ever happened to goofy hillbilly music? Whatever happened to "Don't step on my blue suede shoes" fun? Try `My Wife Thinks You're Dead' with the line "cause you're wanted by the police, and my wife thinks you're dead." Junior plays some sort of morphed electric slide guitar which allows him to pick strings while sliding alone the neck of the steel guitar. The combination is dazzling (My Wife Thinks You're Dead). `Lovely Hula Hands' is a sweet melodic ride: Junior's loving baritone with romantic and oh-so-gentle slide guitar chords. The surprise on Junior High is the instrumental `Sugar Rag.' Here, Junior sets the country two-step ablaze with Jimmy Hendrix and Jimmy Page freak-out gusto. The CD contains just 5 cuts - 5 compositions with a stylistic homage to the Grand Ole Opry, all delivered in the spirit of rock'n'roll."