You’ve got to give Lethbridge based Coal Creek Boys credit for ambition. Their latest CD, Rose Town is a two CD set entitled Whiskey and Wine for the more rocking country music and their more tender, emotional singer songwriting material respectively.
The Coal Creek Boys’ calling card is to tell the stories of coal mining in the Crowsnest Pass and Elk Valley ar
ea of southeastern B.C., where they grew up. And they do it very well.
Both CDs include captivating stories some impressive country guitar picking and frontman John Paul Smith’s booming voice which sounds like Bruce Springsteen singing about coal miners.
The first CD is eight upbeat country rockers with lots of superb guitar and fascinating stories which not only show where the band comes from musically, but also gives the audience a taste of their live show. The songs range from shorter songs like the Waylon Jenningsish “Bad Man” and “Carrie Nation,” two of the CD's highlights and longer jams like the seven minute opus “Rosetown,” which begins the CD and another outstanding epic, “Bootlegger,” which ends the CD.
His stories would be better served if Smith’s voice not only had less reverb on it, but was a little louder as he is often lost behind his guitar.
But as always on Coal Creek Boys, secondary instruments usually played by Dino Scavo, make the CD for me. In this case the sizzling mandolin solo on “Bad Man.”
I love the Ozark Mountain Daredevils flavour of “Carrie Nation” which has a vocal melody reminiscent of the Devils’ “Homemade Wine” and a chunking mandolin rhythm. Another highlight is “Summer Dress” of which the vocal hook is eerily reminiscent of Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.” Probably my favourite song on the first CD is the touching “G.I. Highway, which is reminiscent of Steve Earle.
Scavo’s accordion is always a pleasure especially on “ You’re No Boy Anymore.”
Smith plays a solid banjo solo on the last track “Bootlegger.”
The second CD is a lot more mellower and a lot more effective as far as hard hitting lyrics.
“Pittsburgh of the West begins with Smith saying “Are we recording yet,” followed by smooth mandolin intro. It also has haunting steel guitar and really cool acoustic picking, making it an immediate highlight.
A sweet acoustic instrumental of “Amazing Grace” follows that.
“ The Ballad of Fred Alderson” is especially touching as it tells the story of Alderson who died saving the lives of six miners in the 1910 Bellevue mine explosion.
He also tells the stories of a variety of other characters including bootleggers, the Depression era farmer who has to take a job in the city as his farm fails in “Right Behind You Dear,” another farmer who leaves his farm to work in the coal mines on “Rose Town,” and other more personal stories about addiction and songwriting on “ the Songwriter’s Gamble,” about the past year with the Coal Creek Boys which features another beautiful accordion solo from Dino Scavo.
They end on a hauntingly beautiful note on “ Today,” about addiction.The album art is beautifully done, featuring lyrics, the stories behind the songs and old photographs of some of the characters from the era.
Band: The Coal Creek Boys.
Genre: country/ folk
