Soul Gravy

n 2004, sound-alike drones in pre-ordained "commercial" genres such as nu metal, teenpop, and gangsta rap seemed to be the only acts to break through to the mainstream. So it was a breath of fresh air to see an old-fashioned roots-rock band that was several albums into a grassroots career finally hit it big. Oklahoma quartet Cross Canadian Ragweed already had a few indie albums and one for Universal South to their credit before SOUL GRAVY hit the charts. Their raw, unpretentious sound is that of musicians who grew up playing together and built an audience through lots of dues-paying.
Unlike the wan, affected, Gram Parsons acolytes that dominate the alt-country market, CCR (the acronym is not unwarranted) are first and foremost a rock & roll band. There's plenty of twang and two-step under the surface, but SOUL GRAVY offers the kind of good-time, bar-band rave-ups that bands like the Georgia Satellites and Bottle Rockets previously unleashed. Tellingly, the hidden track at the disc's end is a furious, unironic cover of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold".|