Page 111 - Classic Rock (February 2020)

REVIEWS

‘The riff of First Time
suggests they are

Not quite ‘a thousand’ indeed here to rock.’
horses: (l-r) Bill Satcher,
Michael Hobby, Graham
Deloach and Zach Brown.

A Thousand Horses

London 229 The Venue

Country rockers bring a lil’ piece of Nashville to the capital, and
attempt to answer big questions at their album release show.

You could probably write a PhD about the they can play the O2 as part of the annual
Michael Hobby:
average British rock fan’s difficult relationship C2C hoedown, where hen parties in pink
tipping hats and
with music from the American South. Sometimes stetsons sing Rhinestone Cowboy and line tunes to Skynyrd.
it seems that the more closely we identify with dancing is de rigueur.
heartland, denim-’n’-leather rock, the less likely Which is all a roundabout way of trying to figure proclaims singer Michael Hobby, talking about
we are to enjoy the unfiltered country sounds we out where A Thousand Horses fit. Their intro tape tells their upcoming record, recorded in Nashville (natch)
associate with Nashville. It’s as if the only way we you where they want to fit: it’s AC/DC’s Are You Ready with Dave Cobb (natch). Livin’ My Best Life, the first
can truly enjoy Southern music is when we hear followed by Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back In Town. As single, is as slick as engine oil, and tips a hat to
our own influence reflected back at us. We like The far as signals of intent go it’s pretty transparent, and Skynyrd with the line: ‘I’ve been breaking in the jukebox
Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackberry the opening First Time, with a riff from somewhere in with a little Curtis Loew’. Preachin’ To The Choir prompts
Smoke because we can hear Led Zeppelin’s the Street Fighting Man ballpark, suggests that they are the first serious arms-a-waving from the audience,
ambition and bombast in their sound. We like The indeed here to rock. They’re surprisingly ragged – for while another newbie, Define Me shows the band’s
Black Crowes because they hold up a mirror to the much of the first half of the set, guitarist Bill Satcher is tender side. Burn Like Willie could be Big & Rich, and
Stones and The Faces. It’s definitely a thing. plagued by various electronic buzzes – but in a Crazy a thudding My Time’s Comin’ is enlivened when
On the other side of the Atlantic they have their Horse way, where it’s not sloppy but feels like it Satcher somehow manages to tangle his guitar lead
own country conundrum. Blackberry Smoke are wouldn’t take much to tip over into chaos. New songs in his tuning pegs.
a band as capable of playing pure country as country Broken Heartland and Drinking Song up the cliché The band’s enormo-hit (20 million YouTube views
rock, but Charlie Starr will tell you how unwilling the quotient, and Tennessee Whiskey takes it further, and counting) Smoke kicks off the encores, with
Nashville cognoscenti is to embrace them. On the but they’re all good – hang around in Nashville long Hobby’s reedy southern drawl soundtracking an
right side of the tracks (as far as said cognescenti is enough, and you either get good or go home – and audience now fully committed to the on-stage action.
concerned) are Midland, a country act not a million they’ve got that country gift for rhymes that sound Yet we’re no closer to answering the questions: Are
miles from the bands we’ve mentioned, but whose much better in song than they read on paper, coupling they country? Are they rock? Does it matter, when
KEVIN NIXON schtick is more traditional: truck stops, beer and lonely ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ with ‘Did you miss me?’. “We just everyone’s having such a good time? Probably not.

hearts. It means they don’t pull a UK rock crowd, but
made a fucking record like a band’s supposed to do,”
Fraser Lewry
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