JESSE DAMON – Southern Highway (2016)
Former Silent Rage frontman JESSE DAMON is presenting today his brand new solo album, “Southern Highway“, produced by melodic rock legend Paul Sabu. This is Jesse’s sixth solo effort and features 10 brand new studio tracks. According to Jesse: “Southern Highway is a melodic driven southern rockin’ hell of a good time!”
Known for his songwriting plenty of infectious hooks and hard rocking melodic sensibility, according to the press release, Jesse has redefined his sound this time around infusing a southern blues style straight out of Nashville while still maintaining the highest caliber melodic style his fans know and love.
Well, after listening opener ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ I was expecting the worst. The song is an old style uptempo rock n’ roll with twangy guitars, cool, but not what I expect from Damon. This will be an album ruined by the ‘Nashville way’?
Fortunately not.
Track 2 ‘You Got Me Rockin’ put things in the right place with a melodic rock foundation that easily could have been recorded by Bon Jovi circa 1986. Sure, the sound is ‘Southern’ infused with acoustic guitars alongside the electric but rocks greatly.
Then you have the catchy ‘Backstabbin’ Lover’, which feels like Warrant 1989, with a nost to Cherry Pie and an infectious chorus. The slow-burner ‘Let It Slide’ brings to mind Richie Sambora first solo album just with some slide guitar on it, and it’s another strong song.
Damon is in fine form vocally, slightly raspier than before which suits the material really well.
Title track ‘Southern Highway’ rocks good with a rough yet melodious riff, then ‘Outta My Mind’ adds a deep bluesy touch, but the heart of the song is melodic rock. Also the atmospheric ‘Devil Down the Road’ has a charm with its midtempo, dusty vibe.
There’s a couple of other tracks like the honky tonkey ‘Foolish to Me’ which are just ok.
On “Southern Highway” Jesse Damon has done what many rockers wish at some stage of their career: get back to their roots. Or rootsy rock is you want. This looks evident for the musicians accompanying Jesse as well, as drummer Kurt Markham used to play with thrash metallers Overkill.
The songs are fun, entertaining for the most part, but honestly I would have preferred a melodic hard rock record from Damon. Sabu’s production is quite poor in my opinion, as happened with some recent works with him behind the desk.
Al in all, “Southern Highway” is a cool collection of songs, so if you liked what Bon Jovi did in Wanted Dead Or Alive, their New Jersey album (the rootsy songs), Sambora solo, etc, this is for you.
01 – Who’s Your Daddy
02 – You Got Me Rockin’
03 – Let It Slide
04 – Foolish to Me
05 – Southern Highway
06 – Devil Down the Road
07 – Backstabbin’ Lover
08 – Starting Right Now
09 – Outta My Mind
10 – Just Another Fool
Jesse Damon – vocals, guitar, bass
Kurt Markham – drums
Chris Tanori – bass
BUY IT !
www.jessedamon.com/music-store.html
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