Is It News

Doyle Bramhall | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 18, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B000I0QKUG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,847 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This may be the best roadhouse-rock-and-blues-guitar album a drummer's ever made. But then again, this 40-year-veteran Austin songwriter's always had an affinity for guitarists. His first band, the Chessmen, featured Jimmie Vaughan and opened for Jimi Hendrix. Bramhall cowrote nine tunes with Jimmie's brother Stevie Ray. And his own son, Doyle II, is a six-string star who tours and records with Eric Clapton. So when the disc opens with charging chords and tremolo riffs atop a big Bo Diddley beat and closes with a prickly Texas Stratocaster serenade from Bramhall's fellow former Chessman, that's not surprising. Producer C.C. Adcock, Dylan guitarist Denny Freeman, and the junior Bramhall also get their licks in. What's unexpected is how far Bramhall stretches the genre's limits, setting "Tortured Soul" to an ambling drumbeat and atmospheric slide guitar arrangement that wobbles amiably into Tom Waits's turf. And "Chateau Strut" is a flat-out fusion instrumental, while "Cryin'" sounds like a lost doo-wop classic pinched from David Lynch's jukebox. Bramhall directs all this with his authoritative punch on drums and a dry, unadorned singing style that keeps his third solo disc direct and soulful all the way through. --Ted Drozdowski

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a long-lost treasure from a forgotten future, November 17, 2007

By 

andrew mullin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Is It News (Audio CD)

before i heard this cd, i knew i'd like it... i'm a doyle fan is all there is to it. that said, i was totally unprepared for the kind of sound and vibe that doyle and cc adcock put together on this cd. it's like the sort of thing one might find in the back stock room of some funky old new orleans record shop... hmm, what's this? pick it up, dust it off, put it on the player, drop the needle... wow... i've heard this before... but i haven't, but damn, it sounds so familiar... i know the voice, but these songs, they elude me. they must be hits from some obscure regional label of the, uh, late fifties to mid-seventies? that's a soulful vibe, and the band sounds coherent yet totally different one song to the next... these are gems, polished, held up to the light for inspection, they are the real deal.

bottom line: "birdnest on the ground" and "fitchburg street" are great, but they don't really prepare you for the kind of great that is found on "is it news"... this just seems to be happening in a different dimension, a larger spectrum, some kind of tangible but incomprehensible quantum shift forward, both in terms of musical expression and integration of songwriting, playing, and production. check it out...

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doyle's best yet!, October 18, 2007

By 

Jack F. Kolb "jack" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Is It News (Audio CD)

I have been a fan of Doyle sr. for a number of years. I had heard about him hooking up with CC Adcock on this project and had high expectations. This is one of the years best! Doyle's singing is great and the song are super cool! The guitar talent is first class. Buy it now!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now buy this!, November 24, 2007

By 

Flute *rangler (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Is It News (Audio CD)

D.B.'s got it all: punchy, rockin', with a sweet side that keeps on givin'. I got mine, get your own!