CD Review: THE STEEL WOODS – OLD NEWS – by Joe Kidd for Country Music
International Magazine & Radio Show
All Of These Years
Without You
Wherever You Are
Blind Lover
Compared To A Soul
Old News
Anna Lee
Red River (The Fall Of Jimmy Sutherland)
The Catfish Song
Rock That Says My Name
One Of Theis Days
Are The Good Times Really Over
Southern Accents
My dear mother was born
and raised in Kentucky, just a few miles from the Cumberland Gap. She lived in the hollers and on the sides of
mountains for the first part of her life.
My father was born next door to a coal mine in West Virginia. My grandfather spent more time inside that
mine than he did at home with his 10 children.
I wish they could all hear this album.
Sometimes a band of
musicians seems to come from nowhere and everything they say just seems right
and true. When it happens you wonder how
it happens, just when you think the music industry is hopeless.
The seeds of this band
were planted in the 1970s by the creators and heroes of Southern Rock. We all can hear the influence of Allman
Bros., Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, ZZ Top, and my personal favorites
Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Steel Woods have
courageously picked up the burning torch that was lit on that fateful night of
October 20 1977, and carried it high into the future. But that’s not all. If you listen closely you will hear echoes of
Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and even Woody Guthrie & Hank
Williams.
Brothers & Sisters,
this is Americana, this is Folk, this is Rock Music cooked up on the iron stove
in the kitchen of the heart and soul. If
you are curious about the reality of the true south, how the people live, what
they value, how they think, then listen here to this record. This band will rile you up, break your heart,
remind you of the importance of your heritage, and at the same time, defend
your truth.
From now on when you
think of Country Music, you will think of these fine musicians and
songwriters. You will no longer focus on
the make believe glitter and glut that has become the blonde haired New York
Hillbilly glamour that you are force fed by the media.
This is one of the most
breathtaking and essential records I have heard in years. There is no filler, every song is a
masterpiece. It comes at a time when it
is most needed. Not just in the USA, but
in every country that may hear it.
The Steel Woods play it
in the city and in the trees without prejudice, without judgment. Their music is the medicine of the hills,
where the Irish & the Cherokee played the fiddle, the flute, and the drum
together as one.
The redemption of Country
Music has arrived, and it is made of
Steel and Wood. Hallelujah!
Old News was released in October 2019 by Thirty Tigers Records.