Today, local Fort Worth favorites of mine, the Quaker City Night Hawks new album HONCHO has officially been released!
Now available on iTunes, on Amazon, and at their live shows, this record really surprised me by it's lyrical voracity, musical fortitude, and it's pedal to the metal style.
Produced by Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses drummer Matt "PawPaw" Smith, the record certainly finds itself in contention as one of the best new albums in Texas-Red Dirt music in 2013. No doubt it will catapult this still relatively unknown band out of Fort Worth's shadows and into the honkytonks & concert halls all across Texas.
Local Fort Worth songwriters & dual lead vocalists, David Matsler and Sam Anderson, have crafted their style methodically over the past half-decade, each performing over 200 live shows a year and with their new album HONCHO it clearly shows they have been doing their homework.
From the very start of the opening song, Fox in the Hen House, the Quaker City Night Hawks introduce you to their style of Texas Rock n Roll, bred full of piss & vinegar & cigarette butts & fast cars, loose women, & runs across the Mexican border.
Their music conjures up visions of ZZ Top, Creedence and Pink Floyd while hanging with Cheech & Chong in an El Camino cruising down Stockyards Boulevard. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, and even a little Beatles I can feel in the Rhythym. But the concoction that truly ignites the musical soul of the album is the dual-fronted dynamicism of singers David Matsler and Sam Anderson.
The songs throughout Honcho have this great flow, making it easy to listen to but yet also piquing your interest further at every turn. The way Anderson and Matsler's voices transition from song to song and in-turn play harmony to each other really works magic.
These Night Hawk fellas are definitely Texans, something evident in their lyrics & in their musical spirit. While this ain't Country Music by any stretch of the imagination, a common thread with Texas-Red Dirt Alternative Country artists like Reckless Kelly, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Whiskey Myers can quickly be heard.
There are many stand-out tracks on the album, but tunes I have found myself repeating over and over include such barn-burners as Rattlesnake Boogie, Cast the Line, Crack the Bottle and the dark, and the Pink Floydish-like Witch Kitchen.
Overall, HONCHO is an album that I found myself listening to over and over again, constantly main-lining their guitar solos, bass runs, and kick drums like an addict seeks heroin. The vocals of Anderson & Matsler are sometimes hard to decipher, but a few more listens of each song quickly got me on the same lyrical wavelength and only helped further endear myself to the tunes.
The rise of the Quaker City Night Hawks is clearly upon Texas. The war-drums of percussionist extraordinaire Matt Mabe have been sounded. Bassist Pat Adams and his beard are ready to dominate. The two-headed monster of David Matsler and Sam Anderson are coming for your kids.
Get ready folks, these Fort Worth boys are the real deal! Boogie!
Visit www.thequakercitynighthawks.com/ for their tour schedule and go hear em live. You won't be disappointed!
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