Totally professional Indie Americana Joe Hardin – COME ON, HIGHWAY: When my pal Joe Hardin sent me the “rough tracks” for this new, and totally professional Indie Americana album, I didn’t know quite what to expect (which is a “good thing”, by the way)… way back in the day, I used to watch Joe perform live down in my adopted home (at that time) of Huntspatch (that’s Huntsville, Alabama, for the uninitiated). His keyboard work back in those days was a lot more focused on jazz & boogie-woogie… over the course of a few years, he and I recorded a spot of music together, but it was nowhere on the professional level that Joe plays on this superb release… just scope out the back-road strains of Route 66 on the 5:08 “Oakland Farm” & you’ll be as much of a believer in his high-talent energy as I’ve been since we first met… a KILLER tune; PLUS, he does all the instruments (and, as he says on the album cover – “noises”).
On “Shady Grove“, he’s woven some beautiful strings in, around, over and under his excellent keyboard and strong vocal… Joe “tells the stories” with his magnificent lyrics, and he’ll hold you spellbound for the entire 3:57 length of the song.
The opener, “Decatur“, features some ultimately cool harmonica, and I get nostalgic for “the Bob” (as in Dylan) as I listen to it… how one man can pull all those instruments together & still sing with such spirit is beyond my skill level… Joe is a songwriting genius – for SURE, peepz!
The song that “turned my krank”, so to speak, is one of the shorter tracks… “Gotta Get That Money” has everything a great song needs… “attitude”, “hooks” & (of course) a SWINGIN’ organ that makes your ears sit right up & take notice! This is my personal favorite of the ten Joe offers up, & I can easily see it winding up in radio rotation across the country.
I give Joe a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of a (perfect) 5.00 – meaning it also gets my “PICK” for “best original indie album”. Get more information via Joe’s website. Rotcod Zzaj
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