EAR TO THE GROUND review of HOLLIS BROWN “Ride On The Train”

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BY Greg Jones

Ride on the Train is an album that a lot of people are going to love for its multi-generational appeal. But besides that, it’s just good rock music. It’s hard to peg a specific sound on it. There are no “skip” songs on this album though. Be prepared to keep it in your player, on repeat, for a long time. Oh, and the next time one of your friends says “they just don’t make music like they used to,” you slap them and hand them this album. But make sure you slap them first, for dramatic effect.

Hollis Brown have a classic sound that is sure to satisfy a variety of music fans. There’s a certain timeless element to their sound that will have typical “classic rock” fans happy. But what they also have going for them is a refreshing newness. They sound like a band that you’ve heard before, but odds are you haven’t. That’s because Hollis Brown reflect some of the greatest bands in rock music from Tom Petty to The Eagles to Lynrd Skynrd.

Hollis Brown’s “Down on Your Luck” sounds like it could have come straight out of 1966. It makes the listener feel like that “cold wind blowin’” is out the windows of an old Camaro or Mustang. “When the night runs cold and you’re down on your luck…” highlights the theme of the songwriter being available to help. But really what makes this song so good isn’t lyrical complexity, but rather a Creedence kind of joy. If you played this at a party and told the crowd it was a lost Creedence reel, you wouldn’t get much criticism.

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