STEVE BICE
Sixty Minutes Of Sin (Sin Citizen Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Steve Bice detailed his disillusionment with the contemporary country music scene pretty thoroughly on his 1997 debut, The Sin Citizen Sessions, and on Sixty Minutes Of Sin he makes it pretty clear that there's been no change of heart. When he sings about "The Hard Stuff," he's not talking about strong drink, but about strong music. Bice is committed to the kind of hard-core honky tonk that can't find a home on Nashville's Music Row, but manages to survive in an alternate country music universe where people want music that has more to do with heart than hats, where ol' Hank is still revered and Garth has to pay for his own beer.

I'm one of those who resides in, at least part-time, that alternate country music universe, and if Steve Bice is trying to speak to me through his music, the message is getting through loud and clear. His songs evoke all the best elements of classic country music without, for the most part, slipping into the worst of the form's cliches. His voice is idiosyncratic at times, but always used effectively in service to his songs. He's also got a well developed talent for writing songs for female voices, calling on singers Kristi Rose and Lorrie Singer to take the lead on one apiece, and using Rose as a foil on a pair of duets.

This is mostly heartbreak stuff, traditional barstool tear jerkers, and when that's the kind of thing that's called for, this is about as good as it gets.

Track List:

Sixty Minutes Of Sin * Til I Found You * Twenty Years From Now * Unknown Destination * The Hard Stuff * I Broke The Bottle * Miller's Cave * Blue Water * My Blue Dreams * Gone Away * Colorado * Gold Valley * Only You Can Save Me Now * The Father * World Shaker

[Pick this up at honkytonkinmusic.bizland.com.]

© 2003 - Shaun Dale