4.52am Issue: 008 13th November 2016

MORELAND & ARBUCKLE
Promised Land or Bust
I’ve said it many times now, but Alligator
Records are, quite simply put, the defacto
home for authentic, soul-tearing blues music
in the world today. There are many great
bands out there, some awesome guitarists,
but in terms of a label that is consistently
producing the goods – Alligator are wiping
the floor with everybody else. And this is the
sentiment I had in the front of my mind as I
listened to Moreland & Arbuckle’s album for
the first time – which for them I guess was
a dangerous moment, as the bar was set so
high – but if they worried, I know I didn’t
and so it proved, because in Promised Land
or Bus the chaps have blown the lid off it.
This is an awesome album of the dirtiest,
most scuzzy blues I have heard in years,
and I am loving every minute of it.
The trio of guitarist Aaron Moreland,
singerist and harmonica strangler Dustin
Arbuckle and the quite brilliant drummer
(who should renegotiate over not having
his name in the group’s moniker) Kendall
Newby, bring the energy of punk to the
proceedings but never stray far from a
country flavoured blues that is heading
straight out of the Delta and into your
guts. Their music genuinely chews you up
and leaves you battered in the corner
stinking of cheap whiskey (if such a thing
exists anymore.)
This is heart-ringing stuff, full of the pain
of everyday living and all the things we do
to each other, but there is always an
element of beauty in the mix that true
blues must have. This is the human
condition in 40-odd minutes, a brilliant
album by a quite awesome band.
Check them out Here, but be prepared to
feel some beautiful pain.