Josh Thompson was yet another artist whose in-depth material was new to me this year, and naturally amidst the chaos of bro-country, I was worried that with titles such as ‘Cold Beer With Your Name On It’, ‘Drink Drink Drink’ and ‘Hillbilly Limo’, they would slip straight into that narrative without apology. Luckily, we avoided that scenario, meaning that what Josh produced was a rather pleasant surprise and certainly one that exceeded expectations.
In fact, what’s immediately apparent about ‘Turn It Up’ is that it doesn’t really feel the pressure of commercialism. Sure, there are a few tracks on the album that would work well on country radio, such as the infectious, mid-tempo, heartbreak and regret-themed track ‘A Little Memory’, and the lead single ‘Cold Beer (With Your Name On It)’, which sports a familiar melody and structure. What unifies these is the approach to key and the way in which the production smoothes over the overall sound, but equally there’s a roughness, a rawness to Josh Thompson’s music that’s quiet intriguing. For a start there’s a strong southern rock influence evident, from opener ‘Down For A Get Down’ (despite some superficial electronic and R&B sounds thrown in for good measure), the minor key, flattened melodies, and jangly yet twangy instrumentation give it all the signs of rockier inspiration, simply without the fuller production and harsher sonic ethos.
Of course, Josh knows how to rock, but he holds it in for much of the album, showing us peeks with ‘Drink, Drink, Drink’, which shows the modern rock interpretation of the honky tonk theme, and closer ‘Hank Crankin’ People’, which begins ever so gently and turns into an anthem akin to 1980’s southern rock. It comes complete with organ, acoustic guitar playing drone while being illustrated by electric riffing and off-beat rhythm, the party-themed lyrics not appearing anywhere near as trivial as they might set to a drum machine and surrounded by auto-tuned rap. The same is the case for ‘Hillbilly Limo’, which upon hearing the title made me cringe in fear, but actually it takes an old-school approach stylistically to offset lyrics that at times tend toward the cliché.
Another key theme of ‘Turn It Up’ is the front porch feel that provides an acoustic, soulful base for many of the tracks. One such example is ‘Wanted Me Gone’, which later delves into the classic southern rock but not before stabling a twangy and authentic origin. The title cut also fits this mould, its fairly sparse production lending itself to the by-the-fireside atmosphere, and bluesy slide guitar adding a level of psychedelia to its twang. What’s more, the almost anti-melodic style of Josh’s voice adds an extra touch of “raw” to all the recordings, his laid-back delivery at its best on ‘Firebird’ (one of my favorites).
‘Turn It Up’ was not the record I was expecting to hear when I saw the track list, of course it wasn’t. And I am extremely glad of that fact. Because in actual fact what Josh offers up here is a sound unique on the country charts of today, a southern rock-infused twang that has just as much potential to be plenty commercial as it does to occupy the honky tonks and dive bars of the south. I just hope it has enough fire power to take on the bros.
