Album Assessment – Doug Armento and the Iron Mules – “River of No Return”

Outlaw Country (#580) on the Country DDS.

Doug Armento has many nation music tales to inform, each by way of his songs, and in his life. It all began in 1977 when he was 16 years previous and noticed Waylon Jennings acting on stage. “The sound was raw and real. Moon’ was pickin’ steel,” he recollects within the opening track of this album. After that, there was little to no hope for him. He was hooked on Outlaw nation. Here simply shy of fifty years later, he nonetheless can’t kick the behavior.

Armento began taking pictures of his Outlaw nation heroes as a technique to commemorate and memorialize them (see under)— guys like Waylon after all, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and Johnny PayCheck. And this was at a time when pictures wasn’t a characteristic in your cellphone, it was an artform.

Doug Armento additionally picked up singing and taking part in the songs of the previous greats, and hasn’t stopped but. Though tastes ebb and circulation like they at all times do, the songs of the Outlaws stay timeless and perennially influential, as does their perspective of doing issues their very own manner.

All of that is what Doug Armento places into the 13 unique songs of his new album River of No Return, backed by his band The Iron Mules, anchored by his son and guitar participant Doug Armento Jr. It’s Outlaw. It’s uncooked and actual. Armento isn’t any spring hen although, and received’t be the subsequent sizzling up-and-comer. This album additionally has that native nation hero really feel to it, if that is smart, and isn’t a menace to shoot up the charts. But there’s something endearing and refreshing about it, whereas additionally delivering some actually cool songs.

The factor about these older songwriters is they have an inclination to have the perfect tales to inform as a result of they’ve lived a variety of life. Whether it’s getting T-boned by a few texting teenagers, and dwelling to inform the story together with his canine, or a brush with dying by way of a airplane crash, Armento has a knack for setting life to track. It is perhaps the stone chilly reality, barely embellished, or outright fiction. But both manner, you’re joyful to be alongside for the experience.

You additionally get a variety of knowledge from these previous guys. One of the perfect songs on the album known as “Keep Your Powder Dry.” It’s about realizing when it’s value getting in a tussle, and when it’s best to save your time and power for larger recreation—a lesson effectively value studying within the on-line period. In reality, every track on the album appears to return with just a little lesson or clue to unearth, nonetheless refined.

From Idaho, Doug Armento additionally instills the geography of the West in a few of his songs, after which contains tales of the wild girls that may be discovered there. “Thank Heaven for a Hell of a Woman” it’s only a hell of a well-written track that a few of the execs again in Nashville are most likely kicking themselves for not penning.

And after all every thing comes with that punchy, two-tone bottom line, pounding kick drum perspective that’s the calling card of Outlaw nation, and the antithesis of every thing nation pop. Add on high of that Armento’s well-seasoned voice which you can inform lived what it sings, and it’s not exhausting to purchase into what he and the Iron Mules are laying down right here.

Like so many true nation followers, holding the reminiscence of all of the previous Outlaw nation greats alive is severe enterprise for Doug Armento. It’s not nearly taking part in their songs and sharing their pictures. It’s about paying their legacy ahead in unique songs the take inspiration from their music. That’s what Doug Armento and the Iron Mules do by way of River of No Return.

7.8/10

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