The Wild Feathers - The Wild Feathers (2013)

Often when I hear young people refer to classic rock as the music of old fogies I smile because a large percentage of what the Millennials are listening to are bands who revere the old guard. Such is the case with the young quintet, The Wild Feathers. Based in Nashville by way of Austin the band plays what on the surface sounds like modern rock but it's really just updated classic rock for the Twenty-first Century.

It's been written on more than one occasion that the group has been influenced by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers but to this reviewer's ears the band is a louder, more rocking version of Southern California's Eagles. The melodies, high harmonies, and country guitar flourishes they add to hard rock songs are everywhere on this fourteen track, sixty minute, iTunes bonus version of their album.  (Unusually, the extra tracks are worth the money.)  The difference between The Wild Feathers and their elders is that today's production values allow artists to fill up every space of their recordings and they take full advantage of this by making their Warner Brothers' debut much louder than the records of any of their influences.

Highlights include the radio friendly "The Ceiling," "Got It Wrong," and "Backwoods Company." The last one is a butt-kicking stomper that opens the album with some serious guitar riffage that reminds the listener of "Life In the Fast Lane."

These newcomers like to call themselves an American band, shunning the Americana label that so many artists are branded with today. Regardless of what they call their music The Wild Feathers have set themselves up as a force to be reckoned with for a long time.

Visit The Wild Feathers website.

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