Category: Music Reviewer - JohnM Hits: 649
30 June 2019
Alabama native Wesley Dennis made a dent on the country music charts in the mid-90s, but a slew of label troubles since then have kept him mostly under the radar for thew past decade or so. But with his latest LP, Then And One More Day, Dennis shows despite a little time away from the public he clearly didn’t allow any rust to settle in.
Across a baker’s dozen of traditional country tracks, Dennis reminds why that initial debut caused so much attention. And while a lot of the major label flash is gone (not to mention that whole 1990s neon Nashville vibe), his voice has grown into a satisfying, more relaxed delivery and his writing has grown immensely as well. While songs like the “This Hat Ain’t No Act,” were catchy and stand outs at the time, a song like “(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You,” the opening track off the new record or the driving “Halo and Horns” are far more impressive and have a much longer shelf-life. Curiously, crime plays into a couple of tracks here, like “Alabama Dreams” and “All My Friends Are Behind Bars,” with a great cameo by Chris Keefe (the latter being one of the strongest tracks on the record).
Dennis isn’t exactly treading new ground on his latest, but he doesn’t really need to. Across 13 tracks, he pulls together a deeply satisfying collection of traditional country music stripped of any pretention or any of the modern cliched bro country trademarks; just solid songwriting and an impressive delivery.
John B. Moore has been covering the seemingly disparate, but surprisingly complimentary genres of Americana and punk rock for the past 20 years.
Blurt/New Noise Magazine/InSite Atlanta/NeuFutur Magazine
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