- THE weight - are men

by Rory Carroll
Released: Mon, 2008/08/11 on The Colonel records
ARTROCKER RATING:

Brothers and sisters lock up your cousins because country’s coming to town and it’s going to get awkward. That’s right, The Weight are ridin’ into this quiet little ’burb to steal your women, drink your beer and maybe – just maybe – convince you to part with some hard-earned honk and buy their album. Upon listening to ‘Are Men’, several thoughts occur: 1) the lead singer occasionally sounds like Bobcat Goldthwaite; 2) there aren’t nearly as many band members as the cover art would lead you to believe; and 3) even though this is a traditional country album, there isn’t a single mention of a gun rack or a bar fight. Shame really.

this is as much a country-rock block party album as it is a nod to the likes of Gram Parsons...

 

This is, however, the only disappointment you will experience whilst listing to this LP and The Weight have ensured that all the classic country ingredients are present without overplaying their hand and pandering to calls for the inclusion of hillbilly stereotypes.

The songs are all the richer for it, and the tales of love, loss, and good ol’ times with your friends are set to a perfect backdrop of pedal steel guitars and catchy, carefully woven melodies. The band freely admit that ‘Are Men’ is as much a country-rock block party album as it is a nod to the likes of Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers, but given the current state of country music across the pond I’ll settle for that any day. The Weight

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