Meagan Tubb plays slide guitar for the first time on her new record Cast Your Shadow. So I’m pretty sure that’s her wailing all over the place on album opener “Rock & Roll Seance,” a hot bruiser of blues rock that immediately lets the listener know what Tubb and her Shady People are packing. Meagan’s voice is even more powerful than her group’s athletic, vaguely Allman Brothers-esque twin guitar attack. Tubb’s command of her sultry, emphatic pipes are the spice that earns the “seance” claim.
Granted, what this band is playing is not too much different from the brand of 70′s FM influenced, traditionalist rock being practiced by a group like Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. But only a cynic can really scoff at the genuine chops Tubb displays on less swaggering, more introspective tracks like “Giving Tree (Grow My Hope)” and “Fly.” The needly, kiss-off appeal of “Heartbreak #8″ is immense, as well.
Jason Nunnencamp, Wilson Carr and John Duran (the Shady People) are essential to the record’s effect. Tubb writes the song and sits in the driver’s seat, but her band empathizes and growls and roars beside her. You can tell this isn’t just a bunch of studio hacks who aced an audition behind the frontwoman, this is a musical entity in which the members have gotten in really tight. Even the longer songs (“Damn Good Man,” the redemptive album closer “Sweet Dream”) don’t wear you out because it’s a pleasure to hear a band this simpatico play together.
At AME, we try to do our best to change the perception that Austin has nothing more to offer than straight-up, hard blues-rock with maybe a country affectation or two (speaking of which, the banjo on “The Hoax” is a really nice idea). That being said, Meagan Tubb’s newest album is a great indication why that music is so prevalent. Cast Your Shadow doesn’t need to break any barriers to have a high re-listen value. It’s damn fun.
Final Grade: **** (out of five)
The first time I heard Meagan Tubb & Shady People the band was opening up for a crowded house at Gruene Hall for Bob Schneider. Once Meagan and Jason started their Southern-fried dueling guitar hooks I got up on a bench to see over the crowd WHO IS THAT!?
Having been raised up on licks like that with Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd I was hooked. She had me at “hello”.
This new drop is great. And even though you compare her to Grace Potter and The Nocturnals (whom I caught opening up for Gov’t Mule in November ’07 and even asked Warren Haynes where he found her. “In a barn…” he smiled) I think Meagan can hold her own just fine.
Keep your eyes and ears on this band. They’re a band on the rise.
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