Joe Patrick
Whiskey Drown
self-released
Take the raspy British accent out of Liam Gallagher and cross it with a crisper and less-mumbled Jeff Tweedy, and you get the voice of Joe Patrick. His sincere alt. country fits right in with Wilco, Lucinda Williams and Kathleen Edwards, but his sound is more along the lines of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo.
Whiskey Drown is Patrick’s first studio work, but it sounds like he’s a veteran. Actually, he is. He was in the Oklahoma City-based band Sugar Bum Fairy. They recorded one album before Patrick left the band to pursue a solo career in 1999. He then recorded a live acoustic album, but it wasn’t until last year that he went back to the studio to record three new songs.
The title track sounds like a long-lost Uncle Tupelo song. With an undeniably catchy chorus, Patrick longs for a remedy for the “mental breakdown made for two in the whiskey bottle I’ve been swimming through.” This sets the tone for the rest of the EP. Depressing lyrics combined with upbeat, countrified rock to make for a paradigm that draws the listener in again and again. Whiskey Drown is an EP that any fan of alt. country must have, especially fans of Uncle Tupelo and their spin-offs.
Joe Patrick: http://www.joepatricksmusic.com
