ERICH McMANN
The Last American Songbook
The Red White And Blue – Redneck Hippie
2012 – My Heart Pounds When I See Your Face – Keep Me Loving You – Back
On The Farm – The Ghost of Senior Carmello – I Don’t Need No Woman To
Tell Me How To Drive – The Branson Missouri Summertime Blues – The Time
Has Come – The Last Song
The Last American Songbook is an audio snapshot of
America, its people, music, and culture. Written in a week by Erich
McMann, recorded in a day, it’s a young man’s landscape of Americana
through the many older styles of music we know as traditional country
music, some western swing, some cowboy music, some folk elements, some
trucker songs, some honky tonk and certainly a combination of all that
America has given us in these genres of music, even gospel. Much like
Karen Mueller of Kansas, this young guy was inspired by the sights and
sounds encountered on a road trip to America’s heartland. I really like
Erich’s close contact with traditional and classic country music. This
whole CD has a direct connect to the dance floor, just as it should,
and it also has a direct connect to what America still is, even though
major media, major recording companies, major music publishers, and
major radio stations do not even know we exist. But we do, and through
the words and original music of Erich McMann, we are going to continue
to exist, whether that big money enterprise wants us to or not. Erich
is not going to be quiet. He’s going to continue to BE TRADITIONAL
COUNTRY MUSIC. I say more power to you Erich. I really like the fiddle
kicking off some of these super good songs like “Keep Me Loving You.”
How in the world can young America make it any plainer, any more
sincere, than Erich McMann is doing it with songs like this? I guess
those of us who appreciate what he’s doing, is very much in line with
the Academy of Western Artists who nominated this song for their 2013
“Song of the Year.” This song is so much better than anything we hear
on the top-40 country radio, it makes those charts the most
unknowledgeable unaware unworkable ‘judgement’ of American music EVER!
Erich makes his home in Illinois, so he hasn’t been poisoned by the
so-called country music brand of Nashville that has removed the ‘true’
country music of America from the ears of the needy. Fear not, Erich
McMann WILL be heard whether those poison pens like it or not. Have to
take a minute to introduce you to the musicians, because the definitely
got into Erich’s really easy music to like: Bob Smith on drums; Ed
Mooney Jr. on steel; Sean Fried on guitar; Felipe Tobar on fiddle; Mark
Baler on Dobro; Eddie Torrez on accordion; Jeff Frio on harmonica; Bob
Dobro on piano; with additional vocals by Elisa McMahon and Ray Smith.
This is an all around very enjoyable music listening experience, and I
shall forward this CD to the Rural Roots Music Commission for their
listening pleasure, and see where they might take it. My favorite song
is “Keep Me Loving You” which is an easy pick, but I really also like
‘The Branson Missouri Summertime Blues’ mostly because of it’s truth.
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – www.ntcma.net