In 2011 John David Kent released his self-titled debut album as a Texas (Country) Music act. While the album cover which depicted JDK as some longhaired-bearded Cowboy in a long dust coat, the music was not western-style, but contemporary rocking Texas Country style, stressing the Country-part of it. I put it on my wish-list but it never really ended up in my buying cart.
When I stumbled across the release of his sophomore album on one of my 'music-discovery-internet-surfs' and listened to the track excerpts, I was immediately grabbed and this time, the cart was succesfully filled.
"Before the Sun Comes Up" shows a different image, when looking at the cover: driving down the road in a Mustang with the windows rolled down, a pretty girl in the passenger seat, stretching her legs out of the window to supplement the carefree atmosphere. Gone are the Cowboy hat, the long hair and the western attire, the music packaging now translates into 'young, free and optimistic'.
With the opening track "Country Twang", the mood is set: a thumping rock swagger to a country story about the hottest girl in town, who doesn't like hip-hop music, but rather likes to dance to something with some country twang.
The title track perfectly translates the mood of the album cover with references to Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen songs, creating some kind of heartland feel with images of lost highways and guitars passed around a campfire crowd.
While the album mood is very much midtempo, the electric guitars often create a brooding sound, building up to emotional outbursts driving the chorus. "Leaving Without You" is one of the few songs more toned down, but with an excellent guitar solo, which supports the songs' images about running away and never looking back.
With a voice actually a little reminiscent of Tom Petty, just a little stronger and fuller in my ears, John David Kent remains recognizable throughout all songs, never being drowned in the instrumental mix, rather exquisitely complementing the guitar driven sound.
The main theme of the majority of songs on the album can be found in the lyrics of "Until We Turn Around": ... it was you sittin' next to me, you had your bare feet hangin' out the window, had the pedal to the metal, we were goin' nowhere, just tryin to get there, laughin' and lovin' and livin' right now ...
With this universal theme and 8 out of 10 tunes self-written, John David Kent delivers a great album for all fans of driving rock-country sounds! This is modern, this is fun, this makes for a perfect soundtrack on those long drives down some lost highways.
The only downside may be that it may fall down the cracks between country and rock and does not get enough radio / commercial exposure, which would definitely be a shame!
To me it is one of my favorite purchases of recently and I give it 5 stars out of 5.
Artist: John David Kent (http://www.johndavidkent.com/)
Album: "Before the Sun Comes Up"
Release Date: Sep. 30th, 2013 / Producer: Dwight A. Baker
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