The folk rock band Firefall made their mark on the American music scene back in the ‘70s, along with contemporaries Crosby, Stills and Nash, Poco and The Eagles.  In many ways, those were simpler times; coming out of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal, our angry political voices gave way to the re-discovery of romance.  Firefall had the big love song hits, “You Are the Woman” and “Just Remember I Love You”, and a near mean-spirited one, “Strange Way”.  Founding member Larry Burnett wrote their edgier hit “Cinderella”, with its trademark harmonies, AM radio-banned expletive and distinctive melodic hooks; three decades later, he’s still tunesmithing his way through life, still with a lean towards cool vibes.

His latest offering is an impressive collaboration with guitarist extraordinaire Don Chapman, aptly titled “Guitars & Vocals”.  All twelve tracks are self-penned by Burnett, and produced by Chapman in a stripped-down acoustic fashion, but fooling us with a big 12-string-paradise soundscape.  The warm guitar showmanship becomes a lush carpet of grass for Burnett’s vocal barefoot stroll through the album.

On “Holdin’ On For Dear Life”, the drop-D tuning is penetrating and the rolling melody is hopeful, while Burnett gives us a glimpse at recovery from drug and alcohol abuse, as well as broken relationships, with his intimate and unpretentious vocal performance and lyrics: “Well, I’ve been snow bound/Under the weather/And I’ve been thrown down/Never felt worse/But that’s all behind me/And I’m getting better/Whatever it was, it just was/Call it a curse”.  

There’s dreamy, throwback guitar work on “Love Isn’t All”, a contemporary mellow groove on “I Don’t Believe”, and blues baby blues on “Danger Ahead”, where the singer presents his argument to a friend to come over to his side for love.  Burnett tells of the struggle to keep a relationship going in the quietly stunning “Romeo”: “This is way too much trouble/I’m working too hard/At this, I’m outside my bubble/I played my best card/I’m just a pile of loose rubble/Broken and scarred/I’m just trying to get this right/I ain’t your Romeo/You ain’t no one’s Juliet/What’s with all this stop and go/I guess you don’t love me yet”.

Opening track “No Money” is cleverly written and has an irresistible groove, but for my money, I prefer his songs with lyrics from the heart, keeping it real, almost to a fault; most times than not, Burnett’s risk of laying it out there pays off big time.
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