Album Review - The Brooklyn Cowboys: Dodging Bullets
by Michael Toland
Dodging Bullets, the second album from Nashville gang-twang the Brooklyn Cowboys, is country rock the old-fashioned way—no alt.country, no punk influence, just plain ol' revved-up country and twanged-out rock & roll. A group of Music City studio vets (Dylan steel player Buddy Cage, keyboardist/mandolinist Michael Webb, Amazing Rhythm Aces bassist Stick Davis) built around the songs of guitarists Walter Egan (yes, the "Magnet and Steel" guy) and Brian Waldschlager and drummer/producer Fredro Perry, the Cowboys worry less about fashion and authenticity and more about tunes. Guitars, honky-tonk piano and Cage's virtuostic pedal steel carry the music while Egan and Waldschlager's twang-drenched vocals get the sentiments across with little fuss. The songs themselves are just the right amount of clever and clear, using sardonic humor to deal with the usual shattered hearts and broken promises. "I Was Wrong," "The City is Different (Without You In It)" and "What You Call Love" will bring bemused eye-rolling as well as sad smiles. The sound is bit too plain, perhaps, which can lead to listener fatigue before all 14 songs are through; cutting a couple-three numbers would've benefited the record as a whole enormously. But if you're looking for unpretentious country rock from veterans who know their craft inside and out, the Brooklyn Cowboys are your team.
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