There are some folks down in Athens, Georgia, who think their Star Room Boys are a kind of cure-all for slapdash Americana, an honest, hard-country substitute for the irony-riddled music of other fringe alt-country bands w... more »ho advertise their sources like steamer trunks covered with travel stickers. The Star Room Boys have two of the finest instrumentalists on the scene in pedal-steel man Johnny Neff and guitarist Philip McArdle, while lead vocalist Dave Marr, who founded the group in 1995 and who writes most of the material, knows how to deliver unpretentious country novellas. Still, on this sophomore disc they do not avoid all of the pitfalls of the aforementioned alt crowd: every now and then they stick their chins way out with a lyrical bent that is painfully overwrought and overwritten, and Marr's voice can devolve into an irksome sameness. Yet when it comes to music that makes you at home at the end of the bar at the end of the night, you could do far worse than the Star Room Boys. --Henry Cabot Beck« less
There are some folks down in Athens, Georgia, who think their Star Room Boys are a kind of cure-all for slapdash Americana, an honest, hard-country substitute for the irony-riddled music of other fringe alt-country bands who advertise their sources like steamer trunks covered with travel stickers. The Star Room Boys have two of the finest instrumentalists on the scene in pedal-steel man Johnny Neff and guitarist Philip McArdle, while lead vocalist Dave Marr, who founded the group in 1995 and who writes most of the material, knows how to deliver unpretentious country novellas. Still, on this sophomore disc they do not avoid all of the pitfalls of the aforementioned alt crowd: every now and then they stick their chins way out with a lyrical bent that is painfully overwrought and overwritten, and Marr's voice can devolve into an irksome sameness. Yet when it comes to music that makes you at home at the end of the bar at the end of the night, you could do far worse than the Star Room Boys. --Henry Cabot Beck
"The second LP from this Athens, GA based band continues the stellar country-rock balladry of their 1999 debut. Lead vocalist and songwriter Dave Marr either has a lot of ghosts to exorcise, or a vivid imagination; possibly a bit of each. His songs string together a nearly unrelenting trail of rainy days, punctuated by only the most occasional, (and fleeting) burst of overcast.From the opening refrain, "White Lies, blue tears, red eyes, black fears," Marr stares down his sorrows with a disarming directness. He's not the first to find poetry in misery, but the empowerment emanating from his contemplations is surprising and promising. He's not so much sad or scared, or even resigned, as he is dutiful. Faced with lost loves and busted relationships, he mulls them over until he find some shred of hope to hang on to, often little more than the very process of calling out the demons.The band's laconic tempos are the perfect base for Marr's melancholy. The downbeat balladry brings to mind tunes from bands like Luna, The Velvet Underground, and Green on Red (especially their "Gravity Talks" LP), but with a twang. Johnny Neff's pedal steel and Phillip McArdle's guitar provide especially eloquent embroidery throughout. "Cocaine Parties" has the sort of dragged-out tempo reminiscent of Gram Parsons. "When I'm All the Way Down" is even further down-tempo, dragging along on an end-of-the-line rhythm that suggests several too many drinks and a long cigarette ash about to sleepily fall to the floor. The album's one upbeat lyric, "Daydreamer," finds Marr rolling down the road towards happiness, yet not quite there.Whether you're commiserating with a fellow downtrodden soul, or simply feeling better in comparison, the lyrical bleakness, and the matching tempo and timbre of the accompaniment, is surprisingly un-depressing. This is a fine album, whose charms grow with each repeated play.4-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings."
Nice stuff
Hillis | Chicago, Il. | 03/05/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Subtle vocals,tight timely instrumentation,and lyrics sometimes stark and unsparing as that moment when the lights go on at closing time(try Cocaine Parties or When I'm All the Way Down).These songs of experience are not for the belly button,songs-R-us set,but if you've been around the block a few times,you just might like them.A beautiful honest disc."
Best since Haggard
Kevin M. Waltman | 02/26/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Dave Marr has to be the best country singer since Merle Haggard. This album's every bit as good as their last one, and "Cocaine Parties" is the best song I've heard in a long time."
Good, but not their best
Kevin M. Waltman | Tuscaloosa, AL United States | 06/15/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The day the Star Room Boys called it quits was the worst day for music in the last few years. Bless these boys.This isn't as great as their debut, though. While "Cocaine Parties" and a few other tracks are as heart-breaking as country can get, it doesn't have the relentless excellence as "Lonely Men and Women." I remember attending the release show for this ... what a great live act the SRBs were. If you like good, old-timey, heartfelt country, get this ... but not before you own their brilliant debut."