No Depression Review

Brent Daniels pursued life and life took him to a path as an electrician. He left his music behind, so he thought. But once music is in your soul, it stays in your soul forever, just waiting to be awakened. Three years ago Brent’s music in his soul was awakened. Thanks to famous producer, Robyn Robins (the founding member of Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band), he was discovered through one of his best friends at the university.

This latest release is not what you’d expect from just any newcomer on the scene. It’s honest, it’s fresh and it’s relevant. He is an excellent singer and a very good songwriter who has chosen the right people to work with to get off the ground. One thing it takes to be successful is being a good musician, be a star or not. Both come together on “Every Road Has A Turn,” as the CD kicks off with “My First Friday Night,” and I suppose you can look at it like his first album. It’s all trial and error, some good, some not so good as it all unfolds. This is a good opening track with a soothing vocal delivery as he does so well. It’s a winning opener that makes good way for some hotter and some colder numbers.

“My Truck’s Bigger Than Your Truck” could either annoy or completely please whoever it may be. It depends on your sense of humor but it’s again delivered with relish. You can take or leave something and still like it or not. I choose to take this with a grain of salt on a full platter. I can say the next track is one of the albums best. It’s a rocking good track with tons of energy and wit. “Party At The End Of The Road” has all that Brent Daniels is made of, as much as any other track around it. I love how this one turns out and which turns on the road he takes from this point on. “Long Way From leaving” is a great country tune with some James Taylor influence thrown in, and that is never a bad thing. I like this one as much as anything here as well. Great stuff that really hits the spot if you like country music with a soft rock angle.

You will also like “Love You Down” with its very 70s singer/songwriter style and a classic familiarity to Warren Zevon and others like him. This is another track I like as much as what’s going on at the beginning of the record. It’s one of the more profound moments, an outstanding point. And “One Big Party” on the other hand is just okay and probably takes a point away at the end of the day. But it’s never a worry with Daniels, as he once again makes up for it on “Young Wild and Crazy” with some daring lyrics and a change in the tempo, mood and structure. It’s another one of the better tracks, and actually a lot of fun to listen to. So, he shows his peaks and valleys by now and loses nothing in the process.

“Everything About You” is one of the more filler moments. It just doesn’t do a lot for me, but again it’s all part of the former description of that. Ups, downs and all arounds. But “Hold On’ is a folk influenced track that comes in at just the right time and draws you right into the haunting sound of “Hold On” and heals all wounds of the previous bite. Another nick of time track steps in with “Need A Little Love Right Now,” and shows that timing is everything. This is another track that has all that Daniels is putting over. It’s more icing on the cake with a lot of great filling. A cake which comes to an end with “Different Just The Same” bringing the whole CD full circle. Not a lot more than ‘bravo” can be said about the artist, producer and the product itself.