Dave Bailin & The Bailouts are at it again, releasing another Americana flavored album. Their new Music In My Head disc is available in many and sundry different formats, including a USB flash drive that looks like a cassette tape. As usual, this band has elements of everything from oldies rock and roll, classic rock, rockabilly and vintage country melded into the attitude and style of their music. As usual, they serve it up well.
“Baby Behind The Wheel” opens the disc with a flinty lead guitar line supporting Bailin’s sandpapery vocal. The earthiness in that voice and the grit in that lead guitar tug one into the song before a dancing harmonica line bops around the groove too, juicing the Americana flavor of this tune. When the tune revs up with a more excited vocal approach and a feistier guitar line it rocks right out until its logical sudden stop.
“Another Dark Place” is a livelier tune than its title might suggest. Bailin puts his earnest sounding vocal timbre across with a purposeful stride that keeps things moving. Some bucking guitars add even more oomph to this irresistible punch of a song.
The world “Spins Around” many times in this song, a musical journey that unfolds at a casual, mid-tempo pace. The ease of Bailin’s voice and Eric Reardon’s gritty lead guitar line compliment each other well, giving each a sharp contrast that layers something special around an easy going center.
Stabbing its way with a piercing lead guitar line, “Billy’s Last Hand” gets the sense of urgency such a tune needs. Reardon punctuates each foreboding verse with another thrust of lead guitar. Bailin’s edgy rasp gets a bit edgier here as the title character moves closer to his fate.
“Make Some Time Now” couples a rippling rhythm guitar to a more expansive lead guitar phrase, creating a deliciously thick roots flavored song. This mellow, mid-tempo rocker benefits greatly from a rhythm guitar chord progression that beautifully punctuates Bailin’s strong emotive vocal exclamations.
“Beautiful Things” breezes in with a lilting melody and an easeful vocal riding it well. This sunny songs shines like daylight off the surface of leaves, Bailin’s voice milking the emotive enthusiasm for all its worth and the whole thing gets a warm, gentle push from the subtle rhythm section of drummer Steve Peabody and bass guitar player Steve Burke.
The band goes low key on “Get It Right.” A beautiful country roots lead guitar line, all shiny and sweet, eases through every twist and turn, peak and valley. Bailin’s rasp soulfully moves around that melody, contrasting well with the slippery smooth phrase. Bailin’s tender acoustic guitar line buffers the song with another touch of emotive grit, and, the entire carefully considered accompaniment buttress this singer-songwriter’s folksy approach. Drums fills from Peabody color the underside of this song with an amicable boost.
“Lost And Found,” mellow and pretty, find Bailin sentimental about his surroundings. His hearty vocal, familiar and chirpy, finds a good home amidst a gentle acoustic six string as well as an emotive lead guitar whistling its melodic line. One can easily picture Bailin’s folksy lifestyle with each electric six string note.
“Mailbox” mounts up into a mighty force. A rippling rhythm guitar dovetails an unwieldy lead guitar, making a double flintiness feel like a dual horned animal with potential energy to battle. As the guitars develop their own powerful muscle and continue to take the song higher, the rhythm section pumps it up with just enough solid low end and a self-restraint of hefty drum fills.
Ushered in with beautiful cooing, “Warm Afternoon” feels almost like a gospel choir song. Bailin’s edgier voice moves up and around his melody line like one of the classic 1960s R&B artists. He’s all soul as Reardon too elevates this to a more spiritual level with a joyful vibe within his subtle phrasing.
“Night Brigade” chugs in with a palpable groove laid down by Peabody and bass player Steve Burke. The tumbling motion coming from sticks and low end give Bailin and Reardon some pep to bounce their guitars over. They both press out some special magic from their six strings, assertive lines dripping with accented roots appeal. From there, Bailin need only unveil his folksy vocal, a familiar voice that reminds of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Eagles.
Dave Bailin; photo: Staci Antonelli
“Fishing” keeps the rocking tempo going strong. The vocals are folksy friendly here too. A description of the fishing boat on a river really puts the listener in the scene. Fishing as a metaphor for finding girls works well as Bailin sings it over puffs of rhythm section and alongside Reardon’s reeling lead guitar line.
“Walk Away” is Bailin’s haunted, tortured song. His voice remains forlorn, suspended above Eric Reardon’s fiery, slow boil lead guitar phrasing. That burning lead guitar is perfectly punctuated by a hefty rhythm section, pounding and throbbing at just the right moments. Bailin growls his message out, seriously suggesting that someone who won’t let something happen is really burning his tail, and he’s restraining himself from choking someone’s chicken.
Bailin and his Bailouts close out this disc with its title track, “Music In My Head.” This song could best be described as Americana meets Pink Floyd. Bailin is at his folksy best singing this amicable ode to his favorite thing, music. Yet, guest player Derek Dupuis’s soulful organ beneath the vocals and Reardon’s greasy guitar lead brings in a 1960s color. Meanwhile, the concept of music in his head, supported by other worldly sound effects suggests another crucial influence from days gone by.
Dave Bailin & The Bailouts have whipped up another fine Americana roots album. His sound here is as tootsie, organic, and earthy as ever, and, his sound craft has developed even more since his last fine full length album. Produced by Bailin and Dave Cummings at Westside Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, the disc makes you feel all of its gritty, flinty, down and dirty appeal.
If Bailin and his gang had been born a generation earlier, they probably would have been in the movie The Last Waltz jamming with The Band. Let’s hope this Massachusetts North Shore act continues to add rooms(post pandemic) to its schedule while adding fans to its rooms.
