Artist: Corey Crowder
Title: Gold and the Sand
Style: Roots Rock / Country
Website: http://www.coreycrowder.net
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Rating: 8.9 out of 10
By C.W. Ross
Corey Crowder has two previous, self- produced independent releases under his belt that have met with success. Those songs have received over 5 million plays on MySpace along with being featured on TV shows like, The Biggest Loser, One Ocean View, and MTV’s The Real World.
All of those songs Crowder penned while he was still a teenager, now he’s back in his mid-20’s with a more mature outlook on life found on his new release, Gold and the Sand on Tooth & Nail Records.
The music kicks off with the Southern rock flavored song, “Southern Way,” that’s also the first single off of the album. The catchy melody found on this song made it one of my favorites.
The next several songs keep that root rock vibe going with their up tempos. Another thing that you start to see as you listen more to this CD is that it’s much more then stripped down roots music, it’s filled with enough expertly placed instrumentation to form an orchestra. From standards like, guitar, keys, drums, harmonica, and bass to accordion, pedal steel, banjo, trombone, trumpet, viola, violin, cello, upright bass, resonator, and mandolin are all found in the songs.
You may notice in that list of instruments a lot of them are most known for their use in country music and Gold and the Sand has an undeniable country element found on it. That country flavor really starts to come out in the last several tracks building to nothing short of a country hoedown that’s found on the last track, “Lonesome Road.”
“Lonesome Road,” is 5 minutes in length. It’s at the 3:20 minute mark though that it breaks out into a stomp your feet, clap you hands, instrumental feast with each of the instruments taking a short turn in the song’s spotlight.
On this release Corey Crowder has a lot to say through the song’s lyrics. While if you listen closely to the words you’ll find a spiritual side to some of the songs for the most part they deal more with life in general. From the lyrics you can tell that Crowder has moved into the next phase of his life, that while still being hopeful, he has a bit of skepticism when dealing with matters and in the end it’s all about love.
The producer for Gold and the Sand is well known and respected artist/producer Aaron Sprinkle (Anberlin, Emery, Demon Hunter, FM Static, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch).
If you’re looking for some country flavored roots rock music then Corey Crowder’s Gold and the Sand should sooth your musical soul.
