Every Wednesday, I feature a quick review of at least one album that has been submitted to me through the ReviewShine website. I have cleverly titled this recurring segment “ReviewShine Wednesday.”
Today we’re going to focus on a couple of artists that you’ve probably heard from before. You just probably weren’t aware at the time exactly who it was you were listening to.
Our first artist of the day comes from Texas, where he spends most of his time playing bass alongside Ray Wylie Hubbard. In fact, if you were simply to listen to Guthrie Kennard on his new album Matchbox without knowing who it was, you might just believe that it was Hubbard growling his way through the album’s ten tracks. Hubbard does produce the album. He also lends some guitar licks and backing vocals from time to time. The star of the album though is unmistakably Kennard.
Our next new/familiar artist is a band called the Stone River Boys. The genesis of the Stone River Boys came a few years ago with the passing of Hacienda Brothers vocalist/guitarist Chris Gaffney. The surviving Hacienda Brother, Dave Gonzalez, was tasked with putting together a road band that could carry on the Hacienda sound while honoring his fallen friend. Gonzalez formed a partnership with “The Tyrant of Texas Funk” Mike Barfield and the seeds of the Stone River Boys were planted.