If we\u2019re being real, and I think we should, the winkingly-named Dirty Knobs are Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers fame, and three other guys who are just happy to be here. Which is no knock on Jason Sinay (guitars\/vocals), Lance Morrison (bass) and Matt Lang (drums\/vocals); they\u2019re solid pros who support Campbell\u2019s songs with muscle and flair. But realistically, most people are going to pick this one up for the sole purpose of hearing what Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Campbell sounds like fronting his own band.<\/p>\n
The answer is pretty damned good. The first question when any notorious guitar-slinger steps to center stage is always the same: yeah, but can he (or she) sing? Plenty can, to be sure, but more common is a case like Keith Richards, whose solo albums feature that familiar biting guitar tone and curled-lip sass in support of a voice that succeeds mostly in making you miss Mick.<\/p>\n
Campbell\u2019s voice is solid enough\u2014definitely a cut above Keef\u2019s\u2014but what\u2019s fascinating to hear is how 40 years of standing next to Tom Petty singing his (and in many cases, their) songs has influenced Campbell\u2019s vocals. Time after time, inflections creep into his phrasing that snap your eyes wide open as you realize he\u2019s singing the song just like Tom would have. And that is remarkable, and touching, and kind of wonderful, because it doesn\u2019t feel at all like an imitation or even a homage; it\u2019s just that the two spent so many years on stage and in the studio together that Campbell instinctively attacks a lyric with that same idiosyncratic flair. They were musical brothers for 40-plus years, and in a very real sense, they still are.<\/p>\n
With that as preface, let\u2019s get to the songs on Wreckless Abandon<\/i>, which unsurprisingly\u2014and thankfully\u2014lean hard on Campbell\u2019s muscular, fluid, often stinging guitar. The opening title track has the warm, familiar feel of a big-boned Petty-Campbell rocker, pulling you in with some of those familiar stop-starts and drop-outs before the album takes a sharp left turn for a swampy-fun novelty tune featuring guest Chris Stapleton (\u201cPistol Packin\u2019 Mama\u201d). \u00a0<\/p>\n
Batting third, \u201cSugar\u201d features the big, crunchy, playful blues-rock sound heard on Petty tunes like \u201cHoney Bee\u201d and \u201cCabin Down Below,\u201d a nod to these Gainesville boys\u2019 musical cousins just up the Delta. Campbell proves again that riffs are his strength when he rhymes \u201ckitchen\u201d with \u201citching\u201d in a lyric that\u2019s a pure goof, but if fun is what you\u2019re after*, you\u2019re in the right place. (*And guitar\u2026 lots of guitar.)<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthern Boy\u201d continues the bruising licks, adding a boogie rhythm section as Campbell revisits his roots, name-dropping Jacksonville FLA while channeling Petty again at the mic. Airy, thundering blues ballad \u201cI Still Love You\u201d delivers sledgehammer riffing and powerhouse solos before \u201cIrish Girl\u201d eases back on the throttle for a delicate acoustic ballad. \u201cFuck That Guy\u201d is a straight-up lark with a spoke-sung lyric that had me imagining TP laughing his ass off as Campbell demoed it for him, and then trying to figure out how he could use the bass line in some other song. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever wondered how enthusiastic Campbell was about Petty and the Heartbreakers\u2019 2010 album Mojo<\/i>, which leaned heavily on hard blues and Texas boogie sounds, \u201cDon\u2019t Knock the Boogie\u201d feels like your answer, sounding something like John Lee Hooker (who\u2019s referenced in the lyric) sitting in with ZZ Top. It\u2019s basically a spoken-word piece over a backbeat until Campbell calls out to the imaginary band he\u2019s been describing, cues its guitar player, and rips out a raging solo. \u201cDon\u2019t Wait\u201d is a similarly gritty blues-rocker featuring a wailing, extended solo that goes off like a hand grenade, and too many Petty-isms to count in Campbell\u2019s snarly lead vocal. By contrast, on acoustic ballad \u201cAnna Lee,\u201d he layers his vocals with reverb, plays it straight, and sounds like nobody but Mike. <\/p>\n
The final quarter turns up the volume again as we move through another pure lark, the mid-tempo blues rocker \u201cAw Honey\u201d (featuring fellow Heartbreaker Benmont Tench on piano), and blazing closer \u201cLoaded Gun,\u201d where it sounds like Campbell shares lead vocals with Sinay. The album finishes with a sly P.S. in the form of a brief but playful acoustic reprise of \u201cDon\u2019t Knock the Boogie.\u201d<\/p>\n
In many ways this feels like the extra-greasy Southern fried cousin of the Mojo<\/i> album. The lyrics aren\u2019t likely to win any awards, but we can\u2019t all be Shakespeare (or even Tom Petty). The songs are all delivered with grit and fire, the arrangements and production are strong, and the guitars are fantastic. Wreckless Abandon<\/i> is frothy, boisterous fun, an afternoon in the clubhouse with a quartet of talented guys who just love to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10640],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46129","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-dirty-knobs","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46129","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46129"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46129"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}