| Rob Russell has spent two decades keeping stages hot from the Tri-Cities to Knoxville. His new release, "Lucky on the Side," with his band the Sore Losers, is rock-solid rock 'n' roll with just an edge of old-fashioned Southern rock. The years have done nothing to diminish Russell's energy, and his songs (Russell writes all the lyrics and co-writes music with the band) are the sort that can be written only with a little maturity. In "The Great Depression," Russell depicts a young woman whose alcoholism is only a symptom of a bigger problem: "The truth is so hard to swallow / You choke it down it comes right back up tomorrow / So you crawl inside the warmth of a botle / Drink to the great depression." Tracks, including "Hey Hey Hey" and "The Score," have bouncy hooks that keep clicking the repeat button. The disc's title comes from a song in which a longtime rocker wonders if he still has the stuff to be on the stage: "How am I gonna please a bunch of drunks like these?" Russell can accomplish the task even if the crowd is stone-sober. (by Wayne Bledsoe, Knoxville News-Sentinel, April 2005) |
