
Caleb Veazey – Keep Your Love in Reach
Similar artists: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Band
Genre: Folk rock
Why do people even want to become rock stars these days? Is it because of the ever-more unlikely prospect of becoming rich and famous? Yeah, that must be it. But, as every fairy story has taught us, you’d better be careful what you wish for. Because in the event that all the stars align in your favour and conspire to make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams, what will you end up singing about?
If you’re honest, you’ll force yourself to write some songs that will inevitably be about the difficulty of choosing the right car to match your jacket. Those are…ahem… not exactly the kinds of troubles that most people have to deal with. And other than modern rappers whose audience is ready to celebrate rags to riches stories, rock n’ rollers lose their audience the minute they insist on telling them how much they earn.
How about real songs for real people? How about tunes about the kind of guts and energy it takes just to get by in the world? Caleb Veazey is banking on this for the single “Keep Your Love in Reach.” The words provide an earnest Bob Dylan meets Dr. Seuss lyricism, while the music recalls Bruce Springsteen’s acoustic records and pleas toward the New Jersey fateful to continue believing in a better tomorrow. Real songs for real people.
Sam Singer – Two Trees
Similar artists: Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Tré Burt, Songs: Ohia
Genre: Folk, Alternative Rock
Some things are over, some things go on. There are genres of music that never stood a chance of becoming staples of pop. They had their time in the Sun, and everyone, even the people responsible for making the music, knew that this wouldn’t last. All that was needed was a few years and some changes in the way that trends came and went.
Those genres became retro, a curio for those who wanted to peek into a different time. From then onward, these songs would be used in movies whenever a director wanted to remind you that you weren’t looking at modern events. Or, perhaps, if the music had been accompanied by some fashion trends, you could hear it at themed parties.
Some types of music lend themselves to thinking about the past. Sam Singer’s “Two Trees” manages to do that. This is not to say that the performance is not excellently balanced here. The vocals ring out like those of crooner Frank Sinatra. The groove follows an old-timey waltz ¾ time. And the arrangement brings to mind Tom Waits’ work for theatre. But it’s how it should be. Just close your eyes, and you won’t be in the same time and place as you were when the song started.