Royal Southern Brotherhood – S/T (Ruf)
Collaborative
projects between independently well-known artists (or ‘Supergroups’ as they are
sometimes optimistically referred to) can be a hit and miss proposition, but
they never lack interest. Presumably the ‘Royal’ tag as applied here is a
(hopefully tongue-in-cheek) reference to the presence of Devon Allman and Cyril
Neville, members of two of the most esteemed families in Southern American rock
and roll; but the inclusion of rhythm section Charlie Wooten (bass, ex-Woods
Brothers) and Yonrico Scott (drums, Derek Trucks Band, Greg Allman Band) and
guitarist/singer Mike Zito does little to detract from
the overall gravitas. With three established vocalists and two top notch
guitarists there’s plenty to build on around here, and although there’s no
discernible effort to break new musical ground all play to their respective and
collective strengths.
As the
singers go, Neville sounds unsurprisingly more soulful, Allman rockier and Zito
slightly edgier, but all have strong, rounded voices, which bring out the best
in their own material and work well in combination. The playing throughout is
robust blues-rock in the main, enlivened by flashes of funk, but always solid
and committed, and rarely clichéd or predictable. The best songs are generally
penned by Allman Jr., ‘Left My Heart in Memphis’ and the emphatic ‘Gotta Keep
Rockin’’ being particular stand-outs; but Zito/Neville co-writes ‘Moonlight
Over the Mississippi’ and the plaintive ‘Ways About You’ work well too. ‘Fire
on the Mountain’ is a nice surprise – a song which didn’t work over-well for
the Grateful Dead given a deserved second life in the band’s sympathetic
re-reading, while instrumental finale ‘Brotherhood’ signs off with a gentle
flourish. Overall, a decent debut from an interesting project that should
impress further as it finds its feet.
Neil B.