Listening to Akron-based band Lo-Watt Radio is both simple and complicated all at once.
It is complicated because you hear the melding of bluegrass, country, folk, and some old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll into something all its own and might have a hard time figuring out what genre to call it. But it’s simple to say that they cut their listeners a big ol’ piece of Americana with the release of their first full-length LP, Thousand Days of Rain, which is an accessible collection of songs that will please a lot of people who like all kinds of music.
The opening track from the album, “Alabama Avenue,” comes at you with slick, finger-picking guitars, layered on top of timely drumming and great vocals. From there, the album shifts to classics like “The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd” and “Lie To You,” which harken back to the days when country music was about telling good stories and having fun instead of trying to tell people how you bought your son a Happy Meal. (I won’t name the song, but it was the premise of a very popular country songs a few years back.) Other tracks like “Falling Down” and the title track, “Thousand Days of Rain” will make you want to round up your friends and family for an old-fashioned hoedown.
Though there isn’t a great sense of musical ebb-and-flow from track to track, which slightly detracts from the album as a whole, it shouldn’t detract from the fact that every song on this album is very polished and a blast to listen to. So pack everyone you know in one place, bring your dancing boots and get ready to enjoy this barn-burner for all ages.
