Jeff Rowe sharpened his teeth in the punkrock outfit BoxingWater, before getting his ass over to Richmond, Virginia. After spending night after night on a front porch with a couple of empty bourbon bottles around, he picked up his acoustic guitar and started writing the songs that would make up “Barstool Conversations”. At least, that’s how I imagine it all went down. What do I know? I live in Belgium.
The album is off to a timid start with “Passenger”, a song that doesn’t exactly leap right at you. But it does show that Rowe is a very apt and descriptive lyricist. “Kate” is up next and finds Rowe strutting around with more confidence and the help of piano, drums and Smoke Or Fire’s Joe McMahon.
The album highlight comes halfway through the album in the form of “From An Island’s Point Of View” and is followed a bit later by “Service Of Hardship”. These are songs that Frank Turner hasn’t written yet and the album would’ve been even better with a couple more songs like it. But overall, “Barstool Conversations” is a pretty decent release by an honest guy I wouldn’t mind sharing a few beers with.
Score: 7 out of 10
http://www.anchorlessrecords.com
http://www.gunnerrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/jeffrowemusic
No comments:
Post a Comment