Brian Capps
Walk Through Walls
Hightone
Ex-Domino Kings singer Brian Capps’s solo debut is a familiar but engaging collection of country and rockabilly-flavored tunes showcasing a great band led by producer Lou Whitney and Telecaster guitar slinger D. Clinton Thompson.
Missouri native Capps recalls both Johnny Cash and his onetime son-in-law Rodney Crowell on opener “The Bottom.” Interestingly, he also covers two Merle Travis songs that Cash recorded (“The Devil to Pay” and “Dark As A Dungeon”) as well as Crowell’s “Standing On A Rock.” Capps’s voice is pleasant, if a bit vanilla, and his efforts to sing in a Cash-like lower register are admirable, if not entirely successful. He’s no man in black (who is?), but he does sing some interesting curves around the potentially overly familiar “…Dungeon.”
Elsewhere, the twang-y “Next Time” sounds more like Buck Owens. Capps’s other originals, like the chug-chug rocker “True Liar,” aren’t life-changing, but if you dig this kind of music, it’s good for a grin of recognition or two. The most impressive of these may be set closer “God Knows Why,” on which Capps’s faith and heart really shine through.
Walk Through Walls is an effortlessly likable, relaxed debut. There may be few sonic innovations and few overly clever turns of phrase, but sometimes all you need is a backbeat, some tasty licks and some guys who sound like old friends to carry you along.
Brian Capps: http://www.briancapps.net • Hightone: http://www.hightone.com
