Bourbon Express 'Cry About It Later' - A strong country bar jam [REVIEW]

Cry About it Later by Bourbon Express is great for the nostalgic twang of the everyday. The album paints a picture of humble as pie American life, from the guy you met at the bar and had one too many drinks with to hymns of love and fast pace pick me up guitar that can get you to string your boots. Simply they effectively relay the heart of country truth with strong foundations. But there are a few things Bourbon Express could have done with their album.

The Band is headed by married couple Katie and Brendan Curly with an ensemble of invited country musicians, and hopefully, they jam out a new album in the future. Cry About It Later is Bourbon Express' debut studio album, and is available to pre-order now, you can get it off their official website, and it is good to buy April 20. The band worked with Cowboy Technical Sevices Recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is where the couple lives, but both are originally from Washington, Tacoma from a town called Home. (Coincidently, they met first in Brooklyn.)

THE GOOD

The best songs on the album probably are "Pick Me Up," "Ten Gallon Hat," "Dilly Dally," "Blame it on the Hangover" and "Cry About It Later."

The reason they are the better songs out of the twelve is that the harmony between the singing and the band clicks and whisks you to a place where you're sitting out in open space, looking back at the life lived and learning from both the joy and sorrow of it. And this is the better part of the album, which is the message.

They give it a good ole country bar scene vibe. I'm sure they're good at a live venue such as a pub. The guitar technique is dreamy and languid and simply satisfying (sometimes). The catchy melding of the every day is properly captured.

The album also has many truths, like "Ten Gallon Hat" and mistakes made leading to damage control or "Dilly Dally's" pleasant and relaxing piano in tune with the serene guitar, talking about how it's good to just live life and take your time.

Bourbon Express is sound on foundation and within the genre of country, it's pretty solid. It tells you the story and keeps you thinking about life, or reality, and the small pleasures one can enjoy, like drinking or being with loved ones.

It also is sincere, for example with "Pick Me Up" it is really genuine simple but that's what's good about it. Plain-spoken the song is "this week has been enough for me, I need a Pick Me Up."

This band is great for a discreet venue viewing that not everyone goes too where you can chill out and think about that love of yours or talk about how every day is its own challenge.

Also, the female vocalist has a great voice, and the instrumental is played how it'supposed to be played and therefore they stuck the talent landing. But there is still more room for growth.

The Bad

While great for country, and with songs that are actually good to tune out too, the band re-hashed an old and quite frankly overused genre, that while sounds good, does not make it great. Certainly, country fans can listen to this and would rank it a seven maybe even an eight, but Bourbon Express does nothing to bend the genre experimentally and it is self-contained. You might think since the band is based out of Brooklyn they would go in several directions. But they went country, and they went country, and nothing else.

For example, "Devils Angel" could have been better with some kind of electric, maybe a cowbell or some electric fiddle? Sure you can go the route Johnny Cash or Dolly Parton went but it's been done and done again. The next step should be to add something no one else is doing.

Not only that, it is repetitious and sometimes one song sounds exactly like the other. Some musicians do this and the reason it get's done successfully is when the cycle you are repeating is one with several variations and cycles in it, plus the unexpected. There is no unexpected in "Cry About It Later."

For example, with Black Sabbath, a lot of their songs sound the same, but the cycle of sounds like the heavy grunge and metallic screech is ultimately worked within several varied cycles of sound within the music. Rap also does this a lot. It has too. How many times can you create a brand new variation of bud beats and synthesized bombasts? The way forward is to work within a larger picture and to bring outside influences with edgy tweaks. Also, fresh styles still work within the genre that birthed them. If you want a superb country album you have to do something new (yes, use the good foundations here also) and say what is no one else doing that I can do which can be creatively expanded upon. (Still, it's their first studio album)

I'm not saying this because Bourbon Express is using a road tour tried and true country formula. I'm saying it because it doesn't reach outside of it.

On top of this, while they have talent, they have to get more impressive with their techniques and sound, either pushing the vocal variation or getting more impressive musical tricks in.

A good way to progress also is that Bourbon Express could explore Indy or electrify their sound of that nostalgic and sentimental truth they tell. Thinking about what has been done in country, including Indy might be a good next step since that vintage sound they bring can in my mind be paired with the Indy Genre.

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