Great American Taxi:Streets…

By: Dennis Cook

Leftover Salmon‘s Vince Herman‘s new project is a frolicsome high five to ’70s chooglers like Stephen Still’s Manassas, Loggins & Messina and The Eagles. This takes us out on sunbaked highways that wind past speakeasies full of cold beers and hot ladies. Buoyed by warm harmonies, shit kickin’ pickin’ and headlong momentum, Great American Taxi‘s debut belongs on every car stereo this summer.

There’s breathless road hymns (“Ride”) and backcountry warblers (“Appalachian Soul”) but not much that truly recalls Salmon’s oddball bluegrass vibe. There’s not a lot of free range noodling here. Instead, Herman and his sturdy collaborators take a page from Assembly of Dust and harness their chops for the good of the tunes. There’s almost a sense of underplaying in order to highlight the infectious group sound and their songwriting solidity.

“Straw Man” could be a Workingman’s Dead outtake, which is a high compliment. The title cut is a fan anthem waiting to happen (with a lilting acoustic reprise to boot), and “Lumpy, Beanpole & Dirt” is the kind of thing Jimmy Buffet used to write in his dirty cowpoke days. “Cinched Up” is a roadhouse ready party people music carried along by clankin’ piano. Their cover of Old Crow Medicine Show‘s “Wagon Wheel” is a Country Music Television hit waiting to happen with a chorus that sticks like a tick:

You can rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey, mama rock me
Well you can rock me mama
Like the wind and rain
Rock me mama like a southbound train
Hey, mama rock me

Streets Of Gold is a quintessential grower. Give it a little space in your listening and it’ll settle in like a house cat in a pool of sunshine.

JamBase | Colorado
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