author: John Conquest
3rd Coast Music - June 2006
Greene Country Towne (self )
Reviewing their eponymous debut (#103/192), I remarked that the Philadelphia-based roots rockers (this album’s title, incidentally, is a reference to William Penn’s vision for the City of Brotherly Love) sounded, at their best, like The Band, and, like The Band, while none of them, Mike Simmons (bass), Dave Reeves (drums), Ray Hunter (rhythm guitar) and David Otwell (lead guitar), is a really outstanding singer, there’s a gritty rightness to the vocals that transcends any lack of polish. On the first album, the songs were credited to individual band members, which made it pretty easy to figure out who was singing what, this time all twelve originals are credited simply to DeSoto Rust, so it’s anybody’s guess, but swapping the material around the four different voices, with some harmonies by Christine Havrilla and Gretchen Schultz, creates more than enough texture to give the album listening traction. Where the debut set out to give the flavor of the fledgling band’s live show, this one showcases a group that’s developing its own identity, neither The Band nor, in another critic’s words, “a cross between Creedence and Steve Earle” being particularly useful comparisons anymore. Superbly produced by Simmons, I can see the opening Day Like No Other Day and Easytown getting the most airplay, but this is a solid piece of work by a band with real potential. - John Conquest
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