Artist: Ingram Hill
Listenability Scale: 91%
Released By: Rock Ridge Music
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
I will say that I didn’t know a thing about Ingram Hill (It’s a band, not a person), when their press release came through my email, and I will also say that I didn’t read said press release, I just started listening to the tracks on their self-titled “Ingram Hill” release. I started tapping my foot, humming along, and somehow kept listening to it over and over, all the while thinking to myself, “Self, I really like them. They fit nicely into country radio these days. I can see nearly every song being a hit on the local country station, and if they would lose a banjo, maybe The Mix.” Then I read their bio, and I became a tad confused as most things about them referenced Southern rock, touring with the likes of Hootie and the Blowfish, Maroon 5, and Hanson, and about the only thing country referenced was how they are from Tennesee and they drift “much deeper into the tones of traditional country than the outfit’s more rock-influenced prior works,” and “it just naturally ends up sounding a bit country.” Guess I should have read the press release first, but damn, none of that really matters because I really like this record.
I have nothing with which to compare them in their repertoire, but as I stated, and they reflected in the press release, “Ingram Hill” is a solid record in the country vein, with some great storytelling about life on the road and relationships of cities, love, and craziness. The record opens with “Behind My Guitar,” a great look at being that dude on stage looking at the crowd, and continues into “Oh My,” probably the funnest song on the record, about a one night stand that turns into adventure when the girl’s man comes home – “So I grabbed my jeans, and hoped that I’ve seen, the last of old Mr. Right.” Things continue with a tribute to home in “Good Ol’ Dixie,” and we eventually get to “Those Three Words,” sounding similar, and as good, as anything Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney would put out these days, although, thinking about Kenny’s tendency towards drinking songs, “Yellow House,” where “all the drunkards go hang out,” might be more his ilk.
You get music about a city that just keeps letting you down (“Broken Hearted in Birmingham”) and songs about the right woman (“Those Three Words” and “Who Needs a Sunny Day”), but mostly you get a batch of songs with great stories, and sorry to the band if this isn’t where they want to go, but if Darius Rucker can shift from Hootie to country, Ingram Hill can easily switch teams to the country side as well as keep with the adult contemporary crossover, maybe even better than a Lady Antebellum has, because they are already schooled in a sound that can translate to both parts of the radio dial, they just would need to lose a banjo or two in a remix.
Out of the eleven tracks on “Ingram Hill,” there is only one I can take or leave, so I have to say that this was a most welcome press release as I think I have a new band to pay attention to, and hope their career jumps to that next level. 10 out of 11 leads me to a 91% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale for “Ingram Hill.” Download it and have a good time – that’s an order!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!