From The Mud...To The Sky
by: Tom Coerver & Goin' South
Tom Coerver is back with his fourth album, his second accompanied by his band Goin’ South, and quite possibly his best work yet. As has been Coerver’s M.O. in the past, he blends original songs with covers. And might I add, an eclectic mix of covers.
Opening the album is “Both Feet On the Ground,” a rocking Coerver original with an obvious tip of the hat to the great Little Feat of the Lowell George era. The track is infectious, and is already receiving air play on radio, both satellite and internet.
Tom does a fine rendition of The Flaming Lips' (good ol’ Oklahoma boys) “Ego Tripping at The Gates of Hell,” and digs deep into his bag of surprises to whip out The Drive By Truckers’ “Angels & Fuselage,” from their epic Southern Rock Opera. The band does an excellent job with the tune, which bookends nicely with Coerver's take on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Saturday Night Special,” a balls to the wall cover if ever there was one. Kind of like Marcus Miller (Miles Davis Band) playing bass with some crazy wicked Ricky Medlocke style slide guitar. Bring all my mules out here and kick ‘em one time!
Of course, Tom is at his very best when performing his own songs, like “The Christian Life,” a quasi-contemporary-Christian outing with some amazing lead guitar soloing on his electric 12-string Rickenbacker. There is also a beautiful tune here called “In The Dusk” that follows that same spiritual theme
Another one of my favorites is “Forward in Reverse,” a spacey pop song reminiscent of 60’s and 70’s sounds, a sort of Pink Floyd meets The Steve Miller Band vibe. Of course, “Best Day of My Life” throws down some real blues with a lyric about the day Tom got married. Pretty cool.
Closing the record is “Fat ‘Lanta Strut” a fun instrumental with a lot of a Dickey Betts vibe, blended with some Little Feat funk. Just plain fun.
Tom Coerver and Goin’ South have the Louisiana Southern Rock and blues vibe perfected. My recommendation is get a copy of the CD, crank it up and enjoy one of the most eclectic and downright good CD’s of the year.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
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