[rating=3.00]
Hill Country Revue are at the vanguard of a new generation of Southern rockers and, like their illustrious forebears The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band blends blues and country music with hard rock hearkening to 60’s icons The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. HCR’s no-nonsense attitude makes the mix work without allowing themselves to slip into the caricatured stance that afflicted generic Dixie rock of the Seventies.
Zebra Ranch is their second full-length studio CD and marks a definite progression away from the rootsy aspect of their style into a more streamlined hard rock vein. “Raise Your Right Hand” should be a crowd-pleaser live if only for its title, but the hard-charging rhythm, buttressed by Hammond organ, will solidify the connection to any audience. “Chalk It Up” likewise finds the quintet, led by North Mississippi Allstars founder Cody Dickinson, will all pistons firing, fast and hard.
The title song goes somewhat far afield, however, with a lilt to the beat lifted and held by drummer Dave Mason and bassist Doc Samba. Meanwhile, vocalist Daniel Robert Colburn makes a place for himself with his harp prominent in the mix at the same time guitarist Kirk Smithart proves he can coax as much sweet melody from his instrument as he can the fiery likes of the licks that inform “Bottom $” and “Going Down.”
The latter tune, a standard of sorts once covered by the Jeff Beck Group among others, is one of two cover songs included on Zebra Ranch. The other is the bold choice of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” as much as “You Hold My Woman” and “ My Baby Don’t Know” are throwbacks to the previous Hill Country Revue album. This colorful track, featuring piano and organ plus a female chorus on the refrain, is a welcome departure from the cacophonous onslaught the band usually indulges in and excels at.
Along with “Idyll,” an unpredictable tune with overt pop overtones, the performance bodes well for the evolution of Hill Country Revue, as does virtually all of Zebra Ranch.
