US sensations get UK release
Originally released in January of 2016, the debut full-length album by Maryland duo TJ and John Osborne. If being the same state as Clutch isn’t enough, “Pawn Shop” got them sales of getting on for 100,000 back home. Add this to the almost 750,000 singles they shifted too, and they are fast becoming ones to watch.
Now, getting a UK release on Spinefarm (Eric Church, Whiskey Myers, Cadillac Three) its been repackaged with a load of bonus tracks, similar to the Eric Church record reviewed yesterday on these pages.
That’s not the only thing they share with Church either. His Producer Jay Joyce is here too, and although they might be a little more pop orientated, they share the same brilliant flair for songwriting and sense of fun.
The opening “Dirt Rich” is a pretty good example of the type of thing on offer throughout. Acoustic driven, but with a wonderful hook and a chorus that has its eye firmly and squarely on arenas, it is old time country updated with the 21st century. Which generally sums up the Brothers work.
“21 Summer” is a warm slice of pop music, which might be seen as an insult, but isn’t meant to be in this context. The massive US hit “Stay A Little Longer” is even more unashamed of its enormous chorus, and to these ears anyway the title track is a kind of country take on Nickelback’s “Rockstar”.
There’s a southern slamming appeal about “Rum” which is similar to that The Cadillac Three looked for on their last record, but perhaps better is the trad country “Loving Me Back” which features some fine vocal work from Lee Ann Womack.
(Nearly) everything here is a potential hit single. “American Crazy” wraps itself round yet another mighty hook, but is a plea for unity and “Down Home” might come at things in a rather more Lynyrd Skynyrd type of a way (and not just because it namechecks Curtis Leow) it is no less a slammer of an anthem.
“Heart Shaped Locket” is perhaps the biggest departure, sounding rather like Bruce Springsteen circa “Magic” and possessing the same insistence as “Radio Nowhere,” but there’s a real tongue in cheek feel elsewhere.
“Greener Pastures” hails the, ahem, “Sweet Leaf” but it is “Ain’t My Fault” that really steals the honours. And if the Sons Of Anarchy were looking for a soundtrack to the next party in the Charming clubhouse, they could do worse than stick this on.
The bonus tracks are interesting too. “Love The Lonely Out Of You” is darker perhaps, than most of the rest here, while “Shoot From The Hip” casts the two as gunslingers over a visceral slice of rock n roll, while “Arms Of Fire” is the type of blue-collar thing that latter day Steve Earle does for fun.
Whether this record does for the Brothers Osborne in the UK what it did in the US, only time will tell, but it would be foolish to bet against them doing what The Cadillac Three and Whiskey Myers have done. There is enough here to suggest a crossover appeal. And it will pay to shop around.
Rating 8/10
