Single Review: Rob Georg “When I Make It Home For Christmas”

Singer-songwriter Rob Georg is currently making a lot of noise down in Nashville. While there haven’t been many foreign-born artists that have chosen to follow in New Zealand-Australian singer, songwriter Keith Urban’s footsteps to make a name for themselves in the Country Music scene, one such artist is German-born cowboy/singer-songwriter/guitarist Rob Georg. Down in Nashville, Rob Georg has been releasing his songs and gaining a following because of his music. Having already released several singles that have garnered him praise such as making it into the US National Radio Hits AC Charts Top Ten for the song “This Ain’t My First Rodeo,” Georg is in the middle of completing his debut album which will be released sometime in 2020. But as for right now, Rob Georg is promoting a track perfect for the 2019 Christmas Season. Rob Georg’s new Christmas single is entitled “When I Make It Home for Christmas”. For this Christmas-themed track, Georg is joined by two other individuals: Corey Lee Barker (NACMAI songwriter of the year 2012) and Kristin K. Smith (writer, producer and vocal coach). Together, the three individuals created the track called “When I Make It Home for Christmas”. The song is not your usual Christmas fare as the lyrical content is not about Jingle Bells, Mistletoe, Sleigh Rides… This song is about so much more. This track is about spending time with your family for the holidays. More specifically, this song finds the main focal point of the track longing for the Holidays as he makes his way home from overseas, where he has been stationed as part of the military. The soldier in the song sings of the things he plans on doing once he makes it home to the one he loves, including covering her in kisses. Combining their efforts, Rob Georg, Corey Lee Barker and Kristin K. Smith have created a track that follows the more traditional Country feel to the music. Meaning that this track would fit in more with songs from Classic Country artists from the fifties, sixties and seventies rather than the artists currently creating Modern Country music with its Country/Rock blend. The track features a gentle pace as well as a soft musical approach with a strong Country feel to it. The mandolin and acoustic guitar at the beginning of the track set the pace as the rest of the instrumentation create that Classic Country feel. The piano and soft electric guitar on the track help to add depth to the track. “When I Make It Home for Christmas” from singer-songwriter/guitarist Rob Georg contains enough traditional Country feel that it could easily feel right at home among Bing Crosby’s “Jingle Bells,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” from Frank Sinatra, even “Tender Tennessee Christmas” from Amy Grant.

For more information, check out Rob Georg’s PR firm of Whiplash PR & Management by clicking on the logo for the company.

Find “When I Make It Home for Christmas” from Rob Georg HERE.

CD Review: Story Book Road S/T

The band Story Book Road is a Texas-based group that contains four musicians who have spent many years performing in the Texas area. The band consists of Mike Coker on lead guitar /vocals, Trevor Reifel guitar/lead vocals, Art Elder bass guitar/vocals and Bruce Randall drums/vocals. Having each gained plenty of experience on their own, the four members came together to play some straight-out Country music. Together, the band that was created draws from different eras of Country music and has started to create their own music. Just recently, the band created their first EP of music.

Story Book Road begins their self-titled release with the track “Cabin in the Woods”. The band’s influences come through as this track blends together some Rock and Roll flavor with some Country music. The track of “Cabin in the Woods” finds the band creating a track that brings to mind music from the likes of Chris LeDoux or early Garth Brooks. The track contains mainly a Country vibe, but the Rock and Roll feel of the electric guitars on the track is what makes the song. “Cabin in the Woods” from Story Book Road would fit well on today’s Country Music radio formats.

The self-titled release from Story Book Road continues with the track “Carmen Miranda”. With this track, the band takes their music back to the sixties or seventies as the song seems to have that sort of vibe to it. With the addition of the horns that are rather prevalent in the music, the track ends up having a nice Latin flavor to it. When combining the Latin influence with the retro feel of the music, what results is a track that sounds as if the band took equal parts of “El Paso” from Marty Robbins and “They Don’t Dance Like Carmen No More” from Jimmy Buffett and created a song around that mix. “Carmen Miranda” from Story Book Road would have felt right at home on AM radio back about forty years ago as the track’s musical blend is much closer to that era than today’s Contemporary Country music.

“Get Out Tonight” is the third track on the new self-titled release from Story Book Road. For this track, Mike Coker, Trevor Reifel, Art Elder and Bruce Randall create a song that contains a stronger Rock and Roll influence than the previous songs. In fact, the track is closer to Rock and Roll than Country. The music features a strong electric guitar approach and the organ in the background helps to add some Rock and Roll feeling. While the earlier songs on the release bring to mind nothing less than Country music, this track feels as if it would have been right at home on the radio being played alongside artists such as Bob Seger. In fact, you could easily imagine “Get Out Tonight” being played right after Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”.

For the band’s next track, Story Book Road adds a little more Rock and Roll influence to their music. The track “It Don’t Mean Nothing” is a track that features a strong electric guitar presence. The presence of the electric guitar and the groove that is created by the band ends up making a sound that brings to mind the same type of musical delivery that came from the duo known as Loggins and Messina. The musical delivery on the track not only brings to mind that duo, it easily brings to mind the duo’s song called “Your Mama Don’t Dance” from back in 1972. To go along with the Rock and Roll approach on the track, the song contains lyrics about being in a relationship and knowing what you have. Just like the music of the track, the lyrics also feel like they would have come out of the seventies.

Story Book Road continues their new EP with the track “Sister Sally”. Just like the previous track, the band focuses more on the Rock and Roll side of their personality rather than the Country side. In fact, the track has a bit of an influence from The Beatles to it. While it doesn’t follow the song exactly, “Sister Sally” from Story Book Road has a sound that is rather reminiscent of the track “The Ballad of John and Yoko” from The Fab Four. Obviously, there are differences between the two tracks. However, the musical feel of the two tracks are very similar in nature.

For the final track of their six-track EP, Story Book Road brings back some of the Country flavor that was so prevalent in the first two tracks of the release. The track “Window of Your Soul” once again features a musical blend of Country and Rock and Roll to create a style like most modern-day Country music. With the dual vocal delivery on the track, the song brings to mind the feel of music from the likes of Brooks and Dunn. The more current feel of the track brings the new release from Story Book Road to a close on a more modern note.

As you listen to the tracks that make up the self-titled EP from Story Book Road, you get a very good indication of the various influences that flavor the band’s music. The inclusion of influences such as Garth Brooks, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffett, Marty Robbins and makes Story Book Road’s music easily accessible. Whether you’re a fan of Country, Rock and Roll, classic sounds or more modern influences, this six-song release from this talented musical ensemble is truly worthy of being added to any musical library.

For a taste of the music from Story Book Road, check out the band’s video to the track “Carmen Miranda“.     
    

For more information, check out Story Book Road’s PR Firm, Whiplash Marketing & Whizkid Management. Click on the logo below to visit their site.

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  https://www.whiplashprandmanagement.com/

CD Review: Annette Larsson “Leave Me Behind”

After spending time as a singer in several bands, Norway’s Annette Larsson decided she needed to express her own feelings in her own way and so went solo. She came to the United States and made her way to Nashville where she was able to find the ideal situation for the direction she wanted to be headed in.

Annette Larsson’s dream was to create an album of Country music, a genre of music she fell in love with while living in Norway. With the musicians she met in Nashville, Larsson began recording her debut album. Along with Larsson, the rest of the musicians who have brought her music to life include both American and Norwegian musicians who came together to create a unique musical blend that is unmistakably Country while still containing a slight international edge to the music that makes up Larsson’s debut release. That album, entitled Leave Me Behind, is now available.

Leave Me Behind by Annette Larsson begins with the track “Sucks to Be You”. In the song, Larsson sings of breaking free of a relationship that was very one-sided and now being happy to be able to breathe once again. The track begins with a mix of mandolin and violin that combine to create the basis of the music of the track. That musical basis has a very folk-like feel to it before the track transitions to a more modern-day Country feel. The unique musical approach mixed with the lyrics about being an independent woman should easily appeal to listeners of today’s Country music radio formats.

The album continues with the song “Mean As You”. The song features a large amount of modern Country-Rock sound with the electric guitar playing as big a part in the track as the fiddle while still containing an equal amount of classic Country flavor of songs from the late sixties/early seventies. The slight duet sound of Annette Larsson singing with Wes Hightower also gives the track that classic Country flavor familiar to fans of songs that feature duets between Tammy Wynette and George Jones and/or between Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner.

The feel of the album changes slightly on the title track of the release. “Leave Me Behind” will remind many of music from Bonnie Raitt. The music of the track has a very Bluesy feel to it while still retaining the Country flavor that the listener has become accustomed to from the previous tracks. The Blues/Country combination comes courtesy of the electric guitar from Brent Mason and the steel guitar from Paul Franklin. The alternating of the two sounds from Mason and Franklin along with the addition of the keys from Asbjørn Nørgaard help to give the track a lot of depth to the music of the track and that helps make “Leave Me Behind” one of the highlights of the new release from Annette Larsson.

Annette Larsson’s Leave Me Behind continues with the song “Hot Headed Woman”. The song easily reminds you of something that would have been released by Dolly Parton several years ago. The music has a classic Country style that goes along with lyrics that have a timeless feel to them. This is one of the tracks that prove that Larsson can hold her own in today’s Country music scene.

While “Hot Headed Woman” takes Larsson’s music back to the time of classic Country music, the track “If That Ain’t Country” sounds like something that would definitely fit with today’s Country music radio formats. The song sounds like something that Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood or even Reba McEntire would have recorded for one of their releases.

Like many Country artists, Annette Larsson’s new release also comes complete with a track that could easily end up being a “crossover” track. The song “Leave Me Behind” has just the right sentiment that Country fans, and music fans in general, could get behind. The song could easily fit right beside Dolly Parton’s version of “I Will Always Love You” or Whitney Houston’s version, depending on format.

Throughout the ten tracks that make up Annette Larsson’s album Leave Me Behind, there is plenty of music that will satisfy fans of Country music. And just like Keith Urban before her, Larsson proves that you don’t have to be American to create Country music that sounds authentic.

Reviewer: Matheson Kamin Rating: **** (four stars)

To hear just a taste of Annette Larsson’s music click here.