If
Nashville is the home Country music, then one could make a
compelling argument that the West Coast is the home of Americana.
Try these names on for size - Bakersfield, The Byrds, The Eagles,
Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, The Eagles, The Grateful
Dead, The Flying Burrito Brothers, just to name a few. There was a
time when the West Coast was synonymous with the country rock
movement which provided a fundamental musical foundation for modern
alt-country and Americana.
It should therefore come as no surprise that one
of the most intriguing Americana releases so far this year comes
from a band with its roots firmly entrenched in the music clubs and
nightspots of Southern California. Honey and Salt is the
debut release from Dead Rock West - a San Diego band founded by
vocalists Cindy Wasserman and Frank Drennen. The CD will be released
by Populuxe Records on February 20.
Admittedly, it is unfair to call Honey and
Salt a country rock CD. The recording embraces a variety of
musical styles and breaks any conventional concept of country rock
in much the same way Gram Parson’s "Cosmic American
Music" defied the same labels.
The opening track "Highway One"
sets the pace with a laid back groove anchored by the tight
harmonies of Wasserman and Drennen. "On The Outside"
is a straight-ahead rocker with the pop and country sensibilities
one might expect from The Jayhawks. From there the CD rotates
between aggressive power pop like "Rocket From The Crypt"
and gentle but passionately-delivered songs highlighted by "Desert
Rose." "Telephone" sounds like a long-lost
recording from The Long Ryders (another West Coast band), but in
reality it is a re-worked song from Drennen’s days with his
previous band Loam.
Drennen tells Americana Homeplace that the CD’s
lyrical content is reflected in the title. "‘Honey and
Salt’ is a different way - in my mind - of saying ‘Beauty and
Loss,’" Drennen notes. "And I actually stole the title
from a Carl Sandburg poem. It struck me after we had the collection
of songs all together that the songs are all about beauty and loss.
They’re all about finding love and losing love in one fashion or
another."
Drennen believes that part of the appeal of Honey
and Salt is the natural and organic feel of the recording which
is a reflection of the recording process utilized by the band.
Recorded at Grandma’s Warehouse in the Echo Park section of Los
Angeles, the band relied on older recording methods using a 2"
tape, 24 tracks, and no click tracks or pitch correction machines.
"We made a conscious decision to limit ourselves by being in a
room together and playing together all at once," Drennen says.
"I think the advantage is that if we were incapable of
performing something, it didn’t make it to tape. We’re not lying
on that record. It’s straight from the heart."
And the result speaks for itself. This collection
of finely-crafted songs illustrates the potential of contemporary
rock music when it’s not inhibited by the restraints of the major
record labels. Dead Rock West has given us a recording that’s far
more "Honey" than "Salt."
(For more information about Dead Rock West and
their debut release Honey & Salt, check out the band's website.)
