Massachusetts-based The Stone Coyotes might be more famous right
\nnow than they ever could have dreamed of, thanks to novelist Elmore
\nLeonard. After hearing the band play in a Los Angeles nightclub,
\nLeonard utilized the concept of the band – and some lyrics from
\ntheir songs – in his book
\nBe Cool<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\nBorn To Howl<\/i>, the third CD from The Stone Coyotes, suggests
\nthat this family-based band has some chops to build a level of
\nsuccess on, but that more development needs to occur – and that
\nmight mean expansion of the band.<\/p>\n
The group – vocalist\/guitarist\/pianist Barbara Keith, her
\nhusband Doug Tibbles on drums, and their stepson John Tibbles on
\nbass – often is reminiscent of Talking Heads, with Keith’s
\nAlanis-meets-Joni Mitchell delivery of her vocals. Musically, the
\nband goes all over the map, mostly staying in a heavier
\ngroove-laden rock pattern, but not afraid to skirt the edges of
\ncountry (by covering Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”) and folk (“Death Of
\nThe American Song”).<\/p>\n
There are plenty of moments on
\nBorn To Howl<\/i> that leave no doubt as to why listeners like
\nLeonard have fallen in love with The Stone Coyotes. Tracks like
\n“Torn Asunder” and “Rock It” have everything needed to capture the
\nlistener, from a powerful guitar line to a catchy chorus. “American
\nChild” even calls on two legends of rock from different times –
\nJerry Lee Lewis and the late Joey Ramone – to create a cry against
\nthe state of rock music in 2001.<\/p>\n
Yet there are times when
\nBorn To Howl<\/i> nearly collapses under its own weight. Part of
\nthe problem is that the three band members just try to do too much
\nthemselves. By relying solely on vocals, multi-tracked guitar, bass
\nand drums, it leaves little room for musical expansion. Adding in
\nsomething as simple as piano on “Detroit Or Buffalo” helps to
\nassure that this track becomes something special – a touch that
\ncould have been used on a few other numbers like “Shake” and “Four
\nTimes Gone”. Possibly adding a second guitarist or a keyboardist to
\nthe group full-time would help free Keith up to more finely hone
\nher skills.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, Keith’s songwriting skills do show that they need a
\nbit of sharpening. “Shake” is not a bad track until you get to the
\nrather plain, repetitive way of bringing the refrain to an end.
\nLikewise, “Four Times Gone” falls apart as Keith continuously
\nrelies on counting to hammer the point of the song home – kind of
\nlike swatting a fly with a Volkswagen. And the less said about
\n“Call Off Your Dogs,” the better – this is one track that needed at
\nleast one more coat of paint.<\/p>\n
Despite these flaws,
\nBorn To Howl<\/i> is a disc which grows on the listener, and
\nsuggests that The Stone Coyotes are only getting better. Here’s
\nhoping their next disc does their fans – and Leonard – proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7654],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39555","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-stone-coyotes","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39555"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39555"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}