THE MUSCLE SHOALS RECORDINGS the new release from The SteelDrivers, can pretty much be summed up in one line from song #10, “Too Much”. Written by Gary Nichols and Donnie Lowery, it says, and I quote: “Too much music it all sound the same.” And therein lies the problem……
If The SteelDrivers had hopes that recording this CD in Muscle Shoals would make it better, more exciting, more dramatic or more interesting, they were wrong. They missed it by a mile….. Singer, Gary Nichols, who lives in Muscle Shoals, may have been the driving force in the recording re-location. Even though this band has nothing but A-List musicians, singers and song writers in its membership, “…it all sound the same”. That patented SteelDrivers “SoulGrass” sound is still there in spades, and the requisite minor key songs are present and accounted for, but, there is no life in the resulting product.
