If you follow the publications like No Depression and all others that have something to do with alt-country, country rock, or just plain old country, you’ve definitely come across the name of the Allen Thompson Band. The band’s new album, Brace Yourself has been awaited since sometime last year but just hit the stalls recently. No big press, no fancy interview, unless you count in a single mobile telephone conversation with Thompson himself quite a few months ago appearing on quite a few sites.
The reason might look like a PR ploy but is a bit more serious. Both Allen Thompson and another band member, Clint Maine, broke their backs in different accident situations. Actually, that is where the album name came from, giving it quite an ironic tone.
Nothing ironic about the music. When you look at the cover, you might get the impression that it is an unused draft for the Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks series. So you might think you’ll encounter something akin to the sound of that great band. You’d be partly right, particularly if you have in mind the band’s more countrified outings like American Beauty or Workingman’s Dead. But, the sound of Brace Yourself owes more to the southern fried sound of the Allman Brothers Band, particularly circa The Brothers And Sisters album Judging by the killer lead guitar on Last Passenger, Duane Allman is not forgotten either. After the recent passing of Greg Allman, the album’s accidental timing couldn’t be more fitting.
Still, just simply lumping the Allen Thompson Band as an Allman Brothers Band or Grateful Dead replica (Seasick would fit nicely on the above mentioned Dead albums, though) would be oversimplifying things. Yes, Thompson’s guys have their musical debts to these (and other) great bands (in the interview Thompson fittingly quotes Keith Richards), but with Brace Yourself, accidents or no accidents, they have found their voice and a specific sound and have come up with an excellent sounding album. Something for your summer afternoons.
