It’s time to take a break from reggae and change things up a little. This time I am thrilled to bring you my review of the fourth album by the Ron Nonyes Band: Dust Bowl Diary. For those that have never heard of the RNB, here’s a little back history for ya:
Formed in rural Concord, New Hampshire, the band fuses roots rock grooves and descriptive instrumentation with lyrics that “will freeze the blood in your veins” (Hawick News). The Ron Noyes Band grew into one of New England’s most acclaimed and talked about acts while their release “Something Else” was listed at #8 in Jam Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Albums to come out of New England in the last decade. In the U.S. alone, the band has been on 100+ radio stations from Maine to California. The Ron Noyes Band (Musician’s Institute award winning drummer Tim Gray, guitarist and Summa Cum Laude Berklee graduate Jarrod Taylor and bassist Chuck Tufankjian) also garnered international radio play and acclaim with their sound that is touted on-air in 12 countries, landing them on the European Americana Charts.
The album “Dust Bowl Diary” was released August 28, 2010 on the Round Cat Records independant label. Here’s the track listing:
1. Addeline
2. Mea Culpa
3. Anchors For Angels
4. Voices
5. Last To Know (featuring John Popper of Blues Traveler)
6. Sale On The Cheap
7. Waiting
8. Headstone
9. Out Of Range
10. Same Day
11. Asleep At The Wheel
“Dust Bowl Diary” is an album that is alive with music and is one of those albums where you’ll want to listen to it years from now. My personal favorities off of “Dust Bowl Diary” are: “Anchors For Angels”, “Voices”, “Headstone”, and “Asleep At The Wheel”. The album starts off with “Addeline” which musically has an old west/rock feel to it. The rest of the album has its share of slower/laid-back rock/acoustical pieces like “Mea Culpa”, “Anchors For Angels”, and “Sale On The Cheap”. But it also has it share of more upbeat songs like “Last To Know”, “Waiting, and “HeadStone”. Dust Bowl Diary is a tough album to listen to at first; it’s one of those albums where you have to let the music grow on you. What I like most about this album is that it’s not like anything you hear on the radio. The style of music by the RNB has its own feel to it and yet it’s still enjoyable to listen to. With that said, my rating for Ron Noyes Band: Dust Bowl Diary is WORTH OWNING. If any of you Whargarbl readers are uncertain about this, download a couple mp3′s and check it out for yourself.
You can download mp3′s from Dust Bowl Diary here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dust-bowl-diary/id389603765
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ronnoyesband1
http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Bowl-Diary/dp/B0041A6OW8/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284831250&sr=1-1-catcorr
*If any of you happen to be in the New Hampshire area, you can catch the RNB live at a show:
Sept 25: Penuche’s Ale House-Concord, NH
Sept 30: Tupelo Music Hall-Londenderry, NH
Oct. 2: 2010 World’s Chilli Championship Cookoff-Manchester, NH
Oct. 9: Penuche’s-Manchester, NH
Nov. 20: Penuche’s-Manchester, NH
Dec. 18: Penuche’s-Manchester, NH
You can find the RNB on the web at: http://roundcatrecords.com/HTML/rnb.html
