By GREG VICTOR, parcbench.live
Wyoming , the latest release from Randy Lee Riviere , is pure. It’s all about candor. Is it the imagery… is it just the bass line? Or, is it something more? Perhhaps Riviere’s utterly trustworthy vocals. The texture they provide are certainly enough. They provide an underlying atmosphere of openness to this collection of 13 original songs (backed by some of the best musicians around) that alerts the listener to the honesty at the front-and-center of the album’s songs.
Using music as a wake-up call, Randy Lee Riviere creates a blend of rock, country, blues, and soaring spiritually-driven instrumentals that give voice to the inhabitants of a diminishing Western landscape. He provides a necessary provocative point of view wrapped in welcome and familiar chords. There is a marriage of artist and material here that wraps the entire album in sincerity. This, in turn, takes the songs from mere stances into the realm of true inspiration. If music can have an effect, it is when the singer and the song are one… as is the case with Randy Lee Riviere’s Wyoming .
Vocals and Guitar: Randy Riviere
Drums: Kenneth Blevins
Bass: David Santos
Guitar, Piano and Organ: Kevin McKendree
Pedal Steel, Fiddle and Guitar: James Pennebaker
Lead Guitar on “Boys”: Yates McKendree
Engineered, Produced and Mixed by Kevin McKendree at The Rock House in Franklin, TN.