Miller, Jason Charles: In the Wasteland

Jason Charles Miller must have an extensive contacts section in his phone, although I equally suspect that this southern rock outlaw type probably doesn’t have much use for a good deal of the modern world. In the Wasteland was mixed and produced by Grammy Award-winner Matt Hyde (Jonny Lang, No Doubt, Deftones) and featuring drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellenamp, John Fogerty) and also includes guest performances from the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke and keyboardist Peter Keys, Soul vocalist Brenda Lee Eager (Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Diana Ross), Blackberry Smoke vocalist Charlie Starr, King's X frontman Dug Pinnick, guitarist Duane Betts (son of founding Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts), guitarist Adam Shoenfeld (Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean) and 'Cowboy' Eddie Long (Jamey Johnson.) Phew, with talent like that on board one might expect a bit of a winner and fortunately the album doesn’t disappoint.

As befits a man who has spent much of his career knocking out more industrial type music with Godhead, In the Wasteland is decidedly muscular from the start of "Hundred Pound Hammer" Booming is the adjective that I would choose to describe the vibe and the sound of the album in the same way that say, Skynyrd’s Gods & Guns boomed. That said, "Finding My Way in the Dark" is a surprisingly tender and affecting closing song given what precedes it. Pleasingly Miller at no point veers towards bro country, he stays very firmly in the manly country category and in a world where nearly all the Allmans are dead and Skynyrd are heading towards the retirement home Miller can be slotted alongside Blackberry Smoke, Black Stone Cherry et al in keeping all things southern alive.

Track Listing:
1. Hundred Pound Hammer (feat ‘Cowboy’ Eddie Long)
2. In The Wasteland
3. No Bridge Left Unburned
4. Get Thee Behind Me (feat. Dug Pinnick, & ‘Cowboy’ Eddie Long & Duane Betts)
5. Trunk Full Of Bibles
6. Riverbank
7. Old Scarecrow (feat. Charlie Starr & Rickey Medlocke)
8. The Line
9. Running
10. No More Reasons
11. Finding My Way in the Dark is (feat. Peter Keys, Brenda Lee Eager & Adam Shoenfeld)

Added: June 19th 2018
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 1018
Language: english

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