Country rock and soul combine to fine effect on Ben Chapman’s latest release.
In 2019, David Hepworth published the latest in his excellent sequence of books about rock music, and the stars and rascals who purveyed, promoted and produced it, entitled A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives. The LP may have saved lives, but it also fulfilled another purpose. It enabled adventurous explorers of the racks at their local record shops to be exposed to music from across all spectra; pop, folk, blues, rock, jazz, soul, country, R&B and the rest, in a way which had not been possible before. The consequence of this was the development of popular music, which mixed some or all of these elements together. Indeed, that could stand as a sort of loose definition of americana.
The early(ish) adopters in the country-rock field included, of course, the likes of our old friends Neil Young, The Byrds, The Band, The Allman Brothers, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. And their influence lives on, as this latest release by Ben Chapman forcefully demonstrates.
He hails from Lafayette, Georgia, and there is something of the southern drawl in his passionate, committed vocals, but he is now based in Nashville. He has a strong songwriting pedigree, with songs for Hayes Carll, Shelby Lynne, and Brent Cobb, among others, under his belt. Feet On Fire is Chapman’s fourth album, and it is produced by Grammy nominee Anderson East, who provides backing vocals and also shares guitar duties with Chapman on the record. The rest of the band features Phil Towns on keyboards, Darren Dodd on drums and Greg Garner on bass guitar, while Meg McRee (Chapman’s wife) and Elliot Russo contribute background vocals. East also co-writes some of the songs with Chapman, while on other tracks Chapman collaborates with Meg McRee, Andrew Petroff, Bryan Simpson, Pat McLaughlin, Aaron Raitiere, Jay Knowles and AJ Babcock. So, plenty of input in addition to the main man.
How does the album sound? The immediate comparisons which come to mind are with Neal Casal, Jonathan Wilson, Israel Nash, and, perhaps, Delbert McClinton. The music has that relaxed, confident, rocking and melodic flow. The songs hit a groove which might have Deadheads, and lovers of the Muscle Shoals sound, nodding appreciatively. Country-rock soul would be an apt, if clumsy, description.
Ben Chapman describes himself as a “road warrior“, and it is evident that this band, and these songs, have been well road-tested before being committed to disc. The playing, as you would expect, is excellent.
Chapman and McRee have recently had their first child, and he asserts this has made him grow up, as well as liberating his creative juices. There is certainly a welcome range of music on this album, from soulful ballads like Baby Blue and Missing You to more country-rock-oriented tunes like All Day and So Long. Some of the songs have a laid-back feel, like Takes a Dreamer and You Say Jump. The centrepiece is the somewhat Pink Floyd-like Feet on Fire, and one can imagine this being stretched out even longer than its nearly 7 minutes in a live context, with its spacey, psychedelic jam feel. Don’t Give It All Away is another guitar-led, atmospheric track.
Meanwhile, Lucy is not a lady but a small town in Alabama, from where Chapman is urging Trudy (who is a lady) to come on down, get high, drink wine and stay the night. And it is the ladies who provide the theme for most of the songs on the record. This is not a state-of-the-nation address. Ain’t It Hard laments the difficulty of getting over a relationship: “Moving on, ain’t as easy as it seems”. Don’t Give It Away charts the concerned jealousy of watching a dancer girlfriend driving the punters wild: “Now she’s dancing and taking off/They’re howling like hungry dogs/At every move that she makes”. And I Don’t Feel Like Missing You has a lonely Chapman wanting to patch up his romantic problems: “I’m kinda over not being over you/Yeah and I’m kinda sick and tired of being lonely too”.
On Baby Blue, things get more relevant to his current personal life as a husband, and now father. “The robins are working on building a nest/And I reckon that we are too”. And the gentle Out In The Country is a hymn to rural freedom where “You can take your clothes of/Out in the country/Nobody sees”.
All in all, then, this is a fine, highly listenable record, full of good songs, with plenty of variety – it’s highly recommended.
