Reviews:: Ryan Cook & Sunny Acres Hot Times

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Here’s the thing. Country – no, not alt-country or roots... actually country – is a genre that really doesn’t get much attention from the ole music blogosphere. If you aren’t a rebel dressed in black or a pot smoking tax evader, well, you might toil in obscurity unless you get some CMT type love. Thankfully, with people like Corb Lund making a splash in the National scene with original sounds, terrific artists like Ryan Cook are not only being tolerated but celebrated.

South Shore's Ryan Cook & Sunny Acres put out Hot Times in 2008, and the country sounds they play are as good as I’ve heard in forever. Filled with heartache and down on your luck tales, you could easily slip Hot Times into an old juke box in a local bar and as the glasses kept emptying to forget the pain, most patrons would be none the wiser. Like any classic country crooner, he's proud of the place he grew up and lays his hat and tends to prefer the classic subject matter of love, heartaches and hangovers, so when they bust into a traditional sounding gem like Lovin' or a classic about the perils of pretty girls (Pretty Sure), you instantly realize that Cook understands what made the greats great.

But the more you listen to Cook and his band, the more you realize how comfortable they are forming their own sound. He stays true to who he is - I mean, when's the last time you heard someone drop Canso in a song - and it's that confidence helps him experiment with different styles without losing the feel of the record. When they break up the misery and pedal steel on Sharpest Knife with some heavy electric guitar, the track becomes more than just another dance floor swayer. It makes the track explode and stand out. How often do you picture a country singer playing in a coffee shop and winning over the inattentive crowd? Well, if you walked in off the street and heard Cook and Mandy Atkinson creating the warmth that resonates from the beautiful Children Smiled, I have no doubt you'd stay for the whole set.

Growing up we all say things like, “I’ll never be like my Dad”, without noticing that over time we've developed have the same mannerisms. No matter how much we fight it, we are who we are. With Cook, I’m not sure he ever set out to be a country artist – and his punk rawking/heavy metal past seems to prove the point – but over time it just happened and those subtle glimpses of his musical past give the music an authenticity you just can’t manufacture. You just feel like everything about Cook (and his band) is real and that's why a song like Gaspereau Valley hits with the jangle of guitar, banjo and a chorus as catchy as the common cold, they can win over anyone... even those people who say "I like all music, well, except country."

Ryan Cook & Sunny Acres will be up in NL this weekend for the East Coast Music Awards, and if all things are equal, they will walk home with Country Recording of the Year.

Labels: Canada, Music, Nova Scotia