CD Review-Micky & The Motorcars “Long Time Coming”

Mary Jane Farmer | December 8, 2019 | Reply

Photo by Mary Jane Farmer

Micky & The Motorcars, Long Time Coming. Thirty Tigers

First printed in Buddy Magazine, December 2019 issue

It’s been out about a month now, this new record from Micky & The Motorcars called Long Time Coming. And the songs on this project will be around for a long time.

Long Time Coming is the Idaho-turned-Texans’ first recording in three years, and for this they changed up two things — they used some Nashville musicians and Gary Braun, who along with his brother Micky Braun, fronts the popular group, wrote many more of the songs on this than in the past.

It was Micky who co-wrote with Courtney Patton the lead song, “Road To You,” and it says ‘I love you’ without ever saying those words. “I’m a little bit north of the heart of Texas, But I’m carryin’ yours with me.” Relatable lyrics.

This reviewer’s favorite has to be “Lions of Kandahar,” written by Gary and a first-person account of military action. It’s got a personal feel, since I have a grandson going into the U.S. Army right after Christmas. The background is a vibration that gives emphasis to the stress of the deadliest battle in Afghanistan. And yet with the stress, the songs brings out the strength of the units as they fought. “Raining hell down on those men as we advance again,” “Civilian life ain’t easy after what I’ve seen and done. I still hear the choppers coming and still hear the thumping of those guns…” and the despair “When I close my eyes at night, I’m right back in the fight, with the Lions of Kandahar.”

Micky & The Motorcars, at Hank’s Texas Grill
Photo by Mary Jane Farmer

The depth of feeling — whether the feeling is true love, despair, joy, sadness, hope — is abundant in every lyric in every song on this project. The two best dance tunes here are probably “Road To you” and “Break My Heart,” and the others, while danceable, are extra food for the ear, the brain, and the heart.

Micky & The Motorcars will be playing January 3 at Magnolia Motor Lounge in Fort Worth.