Somewhere Beneath These Southern Skies

Knoxville, Tennessee's have a classic Southern rock feel that sounds a lot like , or maybe , if had stopped dead at That throwback Southern sound, which do really well, is both a blessing and a curse on the band's third album and first national release, . The best of the songs here, like the joyous opener, "Can You Feel It," the, well, charming "Good Luck Charm," and the solid "Temptation," sound almost frozen out of time, like prized outtakes from some long lost or album project, and with lead singer 's soulful, emotional vocal approach, they'd fit right in to the set list of either of those earlier bands. Not that are a nostalgia act, or a tribute band, but a kind of facsimile frozen in a bottle out of time in the 21st century, representing and re-creating a classic Southern rock sound without expanding it or taking it anywhere new. Again, that's both good news on , and it's bad news. The good songs are timeless facsimiles that float out of another era's memory, while the rest of the album's tracks, while well built, recorded, and sung, seem like forgettable, hazy cliches from 30 years ago. are a good band, and they're dynamite live, but perhaps they need to take what they do so well and take a sharp left turn with it into some truly new and original territory. They have the chops to do it. ~ Steve Leggett