“Man vs. Machine CD Cover

CD Review by Sean Mitchell (Devot) Weiss. Courtesy photos

Bumps Inf — Man vs. Machine — God Over Money Records

Bumps Inf is by far one of the most open artists there is to date. He and his other colleagues have mentioned that the Christian hip-hop artist Bumps lacks this filter that most people have that says: “You probably shouldn’t say that.” But that really doesn’t prevent him from being less liked as an artist — it really makes him one of the relatable people when it comes to things like depression, suicide and divorce.

One of Bumps’ more relatable songs on his new album, Man vs. Machine, is “Prisoner,” where his talking about the struggles of fighting suicide and depression, but still trying to make it day-to-day.

He also touches on the subject of beauty in the song “Beautiful,” where he is mainly talking to the insecurities that most women have now. If you tell a woman she is beautiful now, most of them will just snicker and blow it off like it meant nothing. He sends that reassurance of Who made us and what image we uphold. Lust and temptation is a struggle that most people have, but never mention, Bumps dedicates a whole song to that moment that could have

Bumps Inf

ended badly at a local bar in the song “Desperate Measures,” but shows how he was able to listen to God at the moment to get himself out of that situation.

When Bumps isn’t opening up to us, he is showing his growth as an MC in most of the other songs. He proclaims his faith in “Logo” and “Solo Island.” He wraps up the album with a lyrical earworm “#Barz Outro” where his is gives three minuets of metaphors and similes.

Over all, this album touches on the negative struggles people go through daily. Bumps is able to bring light to all of them and show the outlet through Jesus Christ. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to relate to the album as a whole; but because of the wide range that Bumps talks about in his music, it would be nearly impossible to find at least one song that anyone could relate to.

J. Cole CD Cover “2014 Forest Hills Drive”

CD Review by Sean Mitchell (Devot) Weiss

J. Cole: 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Dreamville, Roc Nation, Columbia Records

J. Cole has really put together a whole package in this album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, that takes you down some roads that are at times relatable, but also very personal into his life. The title, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, is actually the street he grew up on and he takes you on this lyrical journey through his early life all the way up to the beginnings of his major music carrier.

Cole lays out the album very well. The first half talks about his early years and his realization to life facts like race, sex, music, death and more in the songs “January 28^th,” “Wet Dreamz,” “03’ Adolescence,” and partly from “A Tale Of 2 Cititz.”

You can really hear the growth in Cole’s music with songs like “Apparently,” “G.O.M.D.,” and “Firesquad.” These songs let you hear J. Cole stretching his lyricism and his ability to perform with veteran artist like Eminem, Macklemore, Ice T, Iggy Azeala, and more. Cole talks about what he sees his value of life is and how you can find your own happiness in the song “Love Yourz.”

This is by far J. Cole’s best work to date. He is so transparent in talking about the personal stuff in his life and shows his growth and confidence as an artist. He has put together an album that really flows from one song to the next and it is almost like watching a movie.

First printed in the February 2015 issue of Buddy Magazine

The Bodarks

The Bodarks

Independent Release

The Bodarks, a genre-creating string band from around the Metroplex, opens their first and self-titled CD appropriately with “Life Americana,” and then adds 12 more songs which prove they have developed their own unique Americana music.

This is a freshman CD for The Bodarks, made up of Jason Bell on mandolin, washboard, guitar, kazoo; Jeffrey Brooks on banjo, guitar, accordion, and harmonica; Brian Kelleher on stand-up bass and kick-drum; and Shelly New on fiddle. All add vocals, although Brooks takes lead most of the time.

Bawdy drinking songs make up most of the jive-i-er, porch-stompin’ ditties. Throughout it all, the fiddle sings, swings, and soars, sometimes in haunting fashion, as in “Old New Orleans,” sometimes ghostly as in “Little Green Men,” and, whines bluesy-que, on their string version of an original blues song.  Brooks’ harmonicas add rootsy depth in a couple of tunes. And it’s worth a close listen to the hand-crafted washboard rhythms.

Their one cover is of the Red Dirt Ramblers’ “Idabel Blues,” which they recorded live at a McKinney venue, as was their clever “Birthday Suit.” There might not be as many of these 13 songs considered radio-releasable on this project because, as they noted on ITunes and Amazon, some are “explicit.” But that’s only minor ‘explicit,’ no hardcore 4-letter words uttered. Major stars have uttered worse and gotten airplay.

“It ain’t got law and it ain’t got order, It ain’t got a flag and it ain’t got a border… Life Americana is just a state of mind.”

The Bodarks is available on ITunes and at the band’s live shows.

— Mary Jane Farmer, Scene In Town

True country music lovers — here’s a great combination of Classic Country meets Yesterday’s and Today’s Singers. First printed in the February issue, Buddy Magazine.

Jim Ed Brown, In Style Again, Plowboy Records

Octogenarian Jim Ed Brown recently released his new, 13-song CD recently, In Style Again, the first solo album he’s recorded in more than 30 years. The title cut was co-written with Texan songwriter Austin Cunningham II and produced by Bobby Bare. The irony of this recording project is that Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer almost immediately after he began working on it. Yet, his vocals are quartz clear and filthy rich, just as when he started out in the crazy business called country music in the 1950s.

Brown, apparently not a songwriter himself, sensibly relies on his friends in the business to provide him with great songs. They did! He also relied, here, on numerous other country music icons, including Vince Gill, The Whites (Sharon and Cheryl), Helen Cornelius, and Bonnie Brown, to add dimension to his vocals. They did!

The first release from In Style Again is already at the radio stations. “When The Sun Says Hello To The Mountain” is a sweet love ballad. His sister, Bonnie Brown, sings backup on this, and, according to the liner notes, taking both her own part and the part that their other sister, Maxine, would have sung as well. “Laura,” another love song, has an Irish lilt to it. But, in general, the songs are about life as seen through the eyes of someone who has lived it. “It’s a

Jim Ed Brown, courtesy photo

good life, blessed in so many ways. It’s a hard life, it’s been tough some days. It’s a sweet life that comes my way… It’s been a long life, I couldn’t count the days. It’s been a short life, time has slipped away.” “Older Guy” is a quasi-comic and yet convincing look at the advantages of being older and in a relationship. And there’s the romantic ballad, born of decades of love between husband and wife, “(I’d Choose) You Again.” Again, a true-love account of love in “The Last One.”

Brown and Cornelius are truly together again in the Jim Reeves classic “Don’t Let Me Cross Over.”

And humor in lyrics meshes with reality in the “Am I Still Country?” The singer lyrically explains that, though he grew up in the country, he now lives in the city, drives a luxury car, would rather play golf than hang out in a bar — well, you get the picture. “When I hear other singers say how country they are, it makes me wonder — am I still country, or have I gone too far?”

The instrumentation on In Style Again is a simple, stunning blend of steel and other guitars, fiddle, organ and piano, and drums.

In a video that Brown posted after his first chemo treatment (September 2014), he said, “I’m going to beat this little thing called cancer. See you next year!”

Mary Jane Farmer, Scene In Town

Ralph Stanley & Friends, “Man of Constant Sorrow” Cracker Barrel

Ralph Stanley
Courtesy photo

Old Country Store

It seems that when a true musical icon, such as Ralph Stanley, goes into the studio, those people he’s influenced over the decades want to go into that studio with him. Man of Constant Sorrow is the pleasant proof of that loyalty. Stanley, or as he’s dubbed, Dr. Ralph Stanley after receiving an honorary doctorate degree in 1976, has led the Clinch Mountain Boys over decades of award-winning bluegrass music. That band joined him in this project, as did the Old Crow Medicine Show, with musical accompaniment. Then, there’s Texas’ own LeeAnn Womack joining him on “White Dove,” bluegrass picker Ricky Skaggs on “Sweethearts in Heaven,” and his grandson Nathan Stanley on the classic “Rank Stranger.”

Bluegrass usually includes a good mix of gospel music, too, and this CD is no exception.

Look for this CD at Cracker Barrel Country Stores

Josh Turner adds some vocals on “We Shall Rise,” and trailblazers Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale are with Stanley on “I Am The Man, Thomas.”

Back to bluegrass, Stanley and co-singer Del McCoury have managed to ‘bluegrass up’ the Jesse Winchester classic, “Brand New Tennessee Waltz,” originally released as a folk song by Joan Baez. And it’s solid Appalachian bluegrass in “Pig in a Pen.” Others sharing the mic with Stanley on the 13 songs are Dierks Bentley, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Old Crow Medicine Show, Gillian Welch, David Rawlins.

Stanley took two solos on this collection. “Hills of Home” is the first, and he dedicates this to his late brother and co-Clinch Mountain Boys leader, Carter Stanley. Prepare to shed a tear during the narrative in this song. And on “Man of Constant Sorrow” the fiddle lead is a great introduction to Dr. Stanley’s vocals, the age heard in the voice, but the passion and every note right on spot, just as is his claw-hammer banjo through the collection.

Mary Jane Farmer, Scene