Bob Lefsetz: Welcome To My World - "Big Revival"

I LOVE this album, it's a complete return to form after too many mellow offerings, it's got everything I always loved about Kenny and MORE!

That's right, he was country's biggest star, the entertainer of the year, and then...he was eclipsed by Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan and it looked like he was in the rearview mirror, despite a few hits, and then he dropped THIS!

In 2014. I know, I'm late to the party. But I was reading a story about Kenny that got me intrigued and I checked it out and there was this one moment...

I'll get there, but the point is in country they've still got room for you if you've made it. The stars are not one hit wonders. And too many of the lyrics here are generic, but this is the straight ahead rock we were inured to forty years ago, that we yearn for, right here on this little LP, with only 39 minutes of music that leaves you wanting more. Imagine that! Someone who saw no need to fill a CD, especially now that CDs are history. I've been playing this album incessantly for a week and my only regret is I have to wait for new material.

So, without further ado...

ROCK BOTTOM

This is the song that sealed the deal, that made me love this album. It's the sound. The descending notes in the intro...I got caught up in the groove and I've never left it. "Rock Bottom" ultimately rocks hard with references to AC/DC and my only regret is I was out of town when Kenny played the Rose Bowl, because I'm dying to throw my fist in the air as I sing along. Come on, fat guitars, Marshall stacks, lyrics about hitting the bottom and bouncing back, what more could you ask for?

A wailing instrumental section, that's what. With a southern rock groove that has you banging your head like Beavis and Butt-head are your best friends. Whew!

DON'T IT

This is the best song on the album. Comes right after "Rock Bottom," a great one-two punch. But "Don't It" is slower and evidences even more despair...

"Life has its way of movin' you on, don't it"

Ain't that the truth! Life is about doors closing, not opening. And then you're forced to go in a certain direction and find out...

"Life has its way of keepin' you strong, don't it"

Live long enough and you'll realize this, you get stronger with the lessons you learn.

"I've been right and I've been wrong
Somewhere in between for so long"

Those with wisdom know this, you don't always have all the answers, but you make the best of it.

Ah, this song is just like life, with more questions than answers, but you've got no other option than to keep on keepin' on.

TIL IT'S GONE

This was a number one country track, and the descending notes hook you and won't let you go. And it seems so simple, yet it's so right.

But if you hang in there long enough, you'll experience the real magic.

That's right, you think the song is over, at 3:08 it fades out and almost comes to a complete stop and then...it goes on for another minute plus and you're reminded of Clapton and the rest of the Fillmore bands who loved to play so much that they just couldn't stop, their fingers kept picking as you were locked in the groove. Pure magic.

AMERICAN KIDS

Speaking of number ones, this made it too.

And I used to hate this cut and then I heard it so much that I got it.

It's so simple, almost a novelty track, but then you get hooked and you smile and look forward to hearing it.

WILD CHILD

With Grace Potter.

A summer afternoon in the hammock song, it sneaks up on you, it seems formulaic, but its simplicity and quietude get under your skin.

Another number one, which is three already on this LP, if you're counting.

SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY

Not number one yet, this is all about the chorus...

"'Cause the sun's too bright
The sky's too blue
Beer's too cold to be thinkin' 'bout you
Gonna take this heartbreak and tuck it away
Save it for a rainy day"

Optimism in the face of defeat. We've all got to pick ourselves up off the floor at some point, and this song is a great soundtrack.

DRINK IT UP

Sounds like a rock song from '73, albeit with a twangy vocal from the boy from Tennessee.

You think it's easy to write a simple hit?

Just ask Steve Miller...

I love the stinging guitar, I still love the sound of a guitar, plug it into the amp, let it wail and squeeze all the bad thoughts out of my brain, that's the power of rock and roll.

BEER CAN CHICKEN

Maybe the weakest song on the album, I like that they made a whole song out of this concept, but... Really, beer can chicken?

But the truth is this track is wholly listenable, there's not a single clunker on this album. And "Beer Can Chicken" has got a killer chorus you can sing along to.

FLORA-BAMA

The other weakest cut on the LP, but with big guitars and hooks nonetheless. And dynamics. You end up nodding your head from side to side with the beat. And isn't that what the best music does, penetrate us and draw us in?

IF THIS BUS COULD TALK

If you don't think of Jackson Browne's "The Load-Out" when you hear this, you haven't heard the original...

Not that this is a rip-off, it's mostly reminiscent in concept, but it does start off quietly in the same way. But Jackson's track goes over the top when David Lindley starts singing "Stay," there's no moment like that in "If This Bus Could Talk," but there is story and sincerity and the more I hear it, the more I like it.

Because the truth is, it's all about the rock and roll dream. Which so many of us still believe in. If we can't be in the band, we have the fantasy that if we just follow the act from town to town, our lives will be happy, everything will work out.

"Many years of summers and I hope it never ends
Been down so many highways, full of twists and turns and bends
We caught lightning in a bottle, somehow we survived it all
All the stories he could tell, if this bus could talk"

Life... It's about experiences, and the stories attendant thereto.

And what do they say, music is the soundtrack to that?

And we revere those who make it, because their tunes are an integral part of our lives. We know their songs by heart. And if they do it right, they've got an audience 'til they die, because...

We just can't get enough.

Get ready for the big revival.

Drop the proverbial needle, get in the van, and go for a ride with today's rock and roll, otherwise known as country music. It's not testing any limits. Dylan can sleep at night, the lyrics are not challenging our brains. But...in this crazy world where we're overwhelmed with input and feel like a square peg in a round hole Kenny Chesney's "The Big Revival" just feels right, is a good sound to help you through...and what's wrong with that?