A little background before this review… My friend Jonny Swagger is in a band called “The Swaggerin’ Growlers“. That band started out as him banging out tunes on an acoustic guitar at his house. Recently, he decided to go back to his roots and strip some Growlers songs back down to a more acoustic sound.
I say “stripped down,” but it doesn’t feel like anything is missing here. Swagger mixes drums, harmonica, and guitar beautiful together, and does everything all on his own. The name of this one-man band with the power of 5 (which was the number of members in the Growlers at one point) is Tail Light Rebellion, and what started as a side project and experiment has become something better than even Swagger himself could have dreamed possible.
He shouldn’t have been surprised though. From the first few notes of “Six Strings and Gasoline,” the debut album from TLR, I fell in love in a whole new way with songs I had been familiar with for years. Usually I am very adverse to change, never liking when an artist remixes old songs they have in their repertoire, but I was thoroughly impressed (and even excited) by what is presented in SSaG. There is a life in these songs that you wouldn’t imagine possible from such a seemingly simple idea.
The obvious disclaimer here is that, like I said at the beginning, Swagger and I are very good friends (and have been for years). Having said that, I am honest to God impressed with what he’s done here, and proud to know him. Don’t take my word for it though. Listen for yourself. If you like what you hear (and live in the Boston area) you can show him your love at his homecoming show at the Midway Cafe on Sunday, January 19th. It promises to be a great show, and I’d travel from NYC myself if I didn’t already have plans.
Music worth traveling for, that’s what TLR can give you… and that is a very good (and rare) thing.