BR5-49 is unlike any other band on the country music scene today and their latest offering, Big Backyard Beat Show has the boys driving all over the map of American musical styles.The album offers up 14 selections, nine of which were written by band members Chuck Mead and Gary Bennett.

The album starts and ends with covers of two classic country barn-burners, Buck Owens’ "There Goes My Love" and Billy Joe Shaver’s "Georgia on a Fast Train." The band has reproduced these two numbers straight up. Don Herron’s fiddle and steel guitar work not only capture the spirit of the originals but Gary Bennett’s vocals catch enough inflections and intonations of the original artrists that you’d swear you actually heard a little bit of Buck and Billy Joe.

Two other covers on the album showcase rockabilly at its best. These hard-driving numbers, "Wild One," and "Seven Nights to Rock" feature the fine electric guitar sounds of Chuck Mead and pay tribute to the classic 1950s sound once found on Sun Records. "Wild One" is a cover of a Johnny O’ Keefe song, later recorded by Iggy Pop as"Real Wild Child." "Seven Nights to Rock," previously covered by Nick Lowe, is an old Moon Mullican classic, originally recorded as a western swing tune.

The final cover is "Hurtin’ Song" by Bob Regan and Keith Sewell. Gary Bennett’s vocals are, again, showcased in this piece and the lap steel and fiddle help define this as a classic country tune. The title says it all. The singer is no longer lonesome when listening to “hurting songs” because he knows there are others feeling the same way he is. This song is probably closer to what’s heard on country music radio stations today than any other on the CD.

The nine original songs on the album show a mixture of influences, but mostly stay true to the honky-tonk genre of traditional country music. The melody in "Pain, Pain Go Away" immediately calls to mind the songs found in the old cowboy movie classics featuring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

"You Are Never Nice to Me" includes a thumping beat and fancy steel guitar work and tells the story of a man miserably in love. The song, "My name is Mudd" IS flat-out honky-tonk, even sounding, in parts, similar to Hank Williams’ "Cold, Cold Heart." The tune inhabits one of country’s favorite themes, a man drowning away his sorrows at the local roadhouse or tavern where “nobody knows my name."

" Out of Habit," an original rockabilly tune has clever lyrics and is about a sort of useless soul who tells his woman that he can’t be held responsible for his bad habits like drinking and getting stoned because “it helps me unwind.”

" Good-by Maria" is a magnificent song that even manages to make a tale of spurned love sound fun: “You know you were my first love, the only one I found. But you couldn’t stand me, so you outran me, and shot my poor heart down”. It’s a fast shuffle/polka tune that slides into the 3/4 time of a waltz and back again to a shuffle. Drummer “Hawk” Shaw Wilson nails the back beat on this Tex-Mex honey of a song and guest artist Santiago Jiminez, Jr.’s accordian playing adds extra flavor.

In "Storybook Endings" acoustic guitar and mandolin blend to produce a sweet old time country waltz sound that carries this song about true life and happy endings. "Change the Way I Look," well, I’m not sure where this one’s going but it keeps your toes tapping. As for "You Flew the Coop" no deep message here but the country swing sound is lots of fun.

" Eighteen Wheels and a Crowbar" stands in stark contrast to the rest of the album’s songs, most of which, though sad tales, are delivered in an upbeat lighthearted manner. This number is a dark, dark tale of “road rage” that will have you looking in the rearview mirror two or three times whenever a semi tractor-trailer pulls up behind you on the highway.

BR5-49 is a band whose music doesn't fit neatly into any category. This is a group that is refreshingly independent and apparently unconcerned with prevailing conventions. The band members are proud of their do-it-yourself music and the timlessness of their sound. Two members of the group (Gary Bennett and Chuck Mead) can sing lead and write music. Big Backyard Beat Show has much more original material than the previous album. The range of instruments played by the band is also impressive and speaks to the high quality of musicianship found assembled in this one group. If you’ve been sent to “easy-listening land” by hearing one too many ballads on the radio, it's time to pick up this album and WAKE UP.

BR5-49 Photo Album

Mountain West Music 2002