By Marco Piazzalonga, BluesNews.ch
Randy Lee Riviere offers a good 65 minutes of diverse, laid-back roots rock on his fourth solo album. Produced, co-written on about half of the songs, and engineered by Tom Hambridge, someone who knows where Bartli gets his musical juices. A handful of select Nashville artists contributed to the studio. “Downtown” opens the album with ZZ Top-esque sounds, while “Dovetail Joints” closes it as a melodic rock ballad. In between, there are excursions into Hill Country blues, dreamy, folky realms, and country ‘n’ western-inspired rock.
Further inspirations include the Stones and singer/songwriters like Neil Young, JJ Cale, and Tony Joe White. With his distinctive, sonorous voice, Randy Lee Riviere sings his stories, moods, and experiences, captured in poetic words. A truly well-rounded offering!
Randy Lee Riviere (voc, g), Doug Lancio (g), Bob Britt (g), Michael Saint-Leon (g, harm), Mike Rojas (keys), Robert Kearns (b), Tom Hambridge (dr, perc, backing voc)