Album Review- Garrett Boys- It Runs Deep

If you have an old timey picture for your cover of your Americana album, it’s probably gonna be good. Think of The Band’s self-titled or Willie Nelson’s Red Haired Stranger. So I think immediately the Garrett Boys knew what they are doing. 

Stephen Garrett is joined with his brother and his son in the Tennessee trio. Steve Earle joins them on the opening track and it’s a fitting collaboration as their music reminds me a lot of Earle with its hints of folk, bluegrass and country music. Also fittingly, the album is produced by Ray Kennedy who has produced Earle and Lucinda Williams. Kennedy co-produced that string of Earle records from 1996 to 2004 (which are some of all my time favorites). He also co-produced (with Earle, Williams, and Roy Bittan) the seminal Williams 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. In recent years, he has reunited with Williams to coproduce her last three albums. Earle is a good comparison especially since Kennedy produced that amazing run of Earle albums from I Feel Alright to The Revolution Starts Now.

It’s the same style and then you have similar topics- if it’s booze (Wildcat Whiskey) unemployment (God Forsaken Town) bad jobs (Back to Akron) or murder (Pond Ridge). The Earle song is a fantastic ditty but so also is the title track and “Who I Am”. Catchy upbeat numbers that would sound great on radio if such a station to play these songs existed. There’s plenty of songs about heritage, family and the land. “Me and this Land”, “It Runs Deep” and “Who I Am” have the pride that still can be found in even the most outlawish of country outlaws.

 I like this album a lot. I saw a local public radio station was playing a lot out of it too. This album deserves attention.