Drag The River CD Review
Drag The River
It’s Crazy
(Suburban Home)
Aside from the mistake where band and album name sound like one entity, Drag The River are an obvious, though compelling mix of Son Volt, Drive-By Truckers, and big drums.
In fact, rarely is the percussion element so front-and-center as it is on It’s Crazy, as though Dave Barker won the bet and the right to the good mic (see “Me & Joe Drove Out To California” for evidence). Perhaps in the same yard as Richmond Fontaine for combining small city, big town Southern life to a non-cliche embankment, It’s Crazy still labors through sincerity. There’s always something troublesome about Skynyrd-less Bible belters, yet the gritty tones (“Cousins”) make for willing kin.
— Steve Forstneger
