California has seen massive changes since the Gold Rush days, but one constant has run through all those years - the Golden State has always been the land of sunshine and opportunity for gold miners and gold diggers alike. Now, though, California is just another place where people stand in the unemployment line and wonder where the hell all the jobs went.

The Hickmen remember California, in particular Southern California, the way it was before urban sprawl changed the landscape from hiking trails to housing developments. These guys are pissed off about what has happened to their Golden State, and they mean to let us know about it.

California Dreamin' is an earthy, down-home album with plenty of heartfelt passion about the real SoCal; not the Beach Boys' vision of surfboards and Woodies, but a simple time that really existed. It may surprise some recent transplants to learn there was a time when the Inland Empire was known for fruit orchards, not meth labs, but it's true. The songs reveal the pain of watching a neighborhood grocer give way to a "big-ass faux Spanish shopping mall" and seeing the sprawl creep closer and closer until the billboards block the view of the snow on Mount Baldy.

From the orange-crate cover art to the songs themselves, California Dreamin' is nostalgic without turning down Wistful Vista Lane. The disc opens with "Hills of California", a history lesson that takes us from Sutter's Mill to Disneyland. "Hungry City" gets in a few good-natured jabs at L.A. and the sarcastic tone keeps popping up in titles like "Costco Socks", "True Blue Red American" and "I Gotta Gun".

"San Bernardino County Blues" and "In A Fever" contain perhaps the most heartfelt lyrics on the disc. The pain of watching your hometown be consumed by sprawl, rednecks, drugs and bulldozers comes through loud and clear while the haunting "Last Train Tonight" and the mean and twangy "Father Winter" add a dark, menacing edge. The disc closes with a pair of more uplifting tunes, "Envy" (the man whose pleasures are free) and the "a kiss is still a kiss" sentimentality of "Let's Remember".

The musicianship is top-notch, with the basic guitar-bass-drums Americana framework abetted by some very nice mandolin and steel guitar with just a dash of harmonica and violin for flavor. These guys didn't just fall off the citrus truck, and their professionalism shows in every well-placed lick and drumbeat.

If you were born in Southern California, California Dreamin' will remind you that it really was that way once upon a time. If you aren't a native SoCal, one listen will let you know you really missed something. -- Randy Fuller
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Great melodies, Excellent songs , Good ol' Rock n Roll .... this disc never leaves the changer!...... I GOT A GUN, in those HILLS OF CALIFORINA, wearing my COSTCO SOCKS .... thx Dudes ...
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I liked the first album but this one surpases it...and not just because they dragged their high falootin, relocated to Los Angeles, college degree holdin asses 80 odd miles out to my house in chicken ranch central to ply me with whiskey and have me play some guitar on it. It's a strangely compelling experience to listen to such fine music that makes you this angry about the state of your state and I'll TAKE it. I think I'm going to have to start doing some of THEIR tunes at my solo shows.The songs are smart,the playing is rough and passionate. "The Last Train Tonight" is astoundingly good. If Bob Dylan and Mark Knopler were punks from Corona California they would have written this song. Congratulations fellas. Well done.
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Heard these guys at Pioneertown, outside room #4. That made me buy the CD, especially to hear the San Bernardino County Blues & Costco Socks. Great, imaginative songs.
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