Search - Walkers :: And at the End

If Contemporary Country Sounded Like This, It Wouldn't Suck

the anti-critic | Boston, MA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Walkers were a five-piece combo originally from just outside of New England who only released this five song EP/mini-album, but what an incredible disc this is! The tunes were written by guitarist Patrick Newbery and singer/guitarist Manny Verzosa, and would predate everything from "new traditionalist" country to alt-rock country, although the latter would be an unfair assessment. Walkers music did have a modern edge, but there was nothing alternative about the band's sincere affection for the heart-wrenching patois of folks like Merle, Patsy, Waylon and Willie. They wore their hearts proudly and unashamedly on their sleeves, but never came across as navel-gazing narcissists. All five tracks on this CD shine, from the breezy opener "Coffee On The Dashboard" to the jaw-dropping beauty of "Boundaries" - a tale of loss and longing that is made all the more eloquent by its simplicity: "Message machine with the sound of your voice/ Expressions are present, but send me back/One step, two step, three and four/I know that I can't stay here anymore..." The track flows seamlessly into the raucous "Anna (You're Right, I'm Wrong)" - which puts into words the feelings of every man who has had to acquiesce for the sake of being in love. "Deny" follows, another simple tearjerker for the heartbroken, accentuated by a gentle cello which weaves through the melody like wind through the cannebrake on a warm Summer's night. The disc concludes with my personal fave, "Attitude To Match", where a conceited lover gets her comeuppance from Verzosa's matter-of-fact declarations: "Does this all mean to be important?/With an attitude like that, you think you're heaven sent......Lord!" But just when the driving guitars and strident rhythms make you wonder if the singer is being cocky, the melody slows, and Verzosa quietly croons: "I've got nothing to say to you/I've got nothing to sell to you/I don't need introducing/I've seen your kind before/That's not what I came here for" and suddenly the pain bubbles to the surface. Folks, this is what today's country (from Toby Keith to Kenny Chesney) is lacking in my book - the conviction that their angst isn't more than mere artifice painted with a pedal steel and fiddle, served to great effect for those with neither the understanding of country's true legacy or the criteria to discern manufactured country from the genuine article.

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