Unaka Rising, a new record full of bad ass dirty southern rock, was my first exposure to the Bohannons, and I have been wearing it out since the CD first crossed my path. It has failed to get old or stale and with each listen I discover something new. With the CD never leaving the player and the mp3’s firmly implanted in my phone and iPod it remains a regular part of the weekly musical playlist. Hell, even my kid breaks out the air guitar when the tune “The Cradle” finds its way on the old car stereo. Their songs are full of lyrics that employ southern imagery as they sing about life in Tennessee and are full of blistering guitars and vicious rhythms their music could be the bastard love child of the Drive-By Truckers and Crazy Horse.
Consisting of ten tracks of raw unbridled emotion Unaka Rising grabs hold of you like an angry gator from the first haunting guitar lick on “Goodbye Bill” then after thrashing you around a bit abruptly deposits your ass when the frantic finish of “In The End” concludes the album. Anchored by the tracks “Two Riders”, “Cold Dead Hand” and “Built A World” the Bohannons make songwriting look easy as they show off their ability to mix personable lyrics with a variety of musical sounds. Yes rock reigns supreme, but bluesy guitars, some punk attitude, a bit of country twang and fuzzy psychedelics all find their way into their music. The best damn song on the record is by far “The Ballad Of Christian And Other”. Blasting off with thunderous drums this song is a model example of everything the Bohannons do well.
From start to finish this record never disappoints. Each song stands alone as a fine piece of work but as a group they support and build off of each other. Unaka Rising is an album that you can’t play just once as the tunes invade your head you will crave it more and more, which in my book is not a bad thing. As I listened to it for the first time I knew this was my favorite album of 2012 and while there were many well received challengers, no one was able to dethrone them.
31 Days of Music – The Best of 2012
#01 – Bohannons – Unaka Rising
#02 – The District Attorneys – Slowburner
#03 – Walking Papers – Walking Papers
#04 – Jimbo Mathus – Blue Light
#05 – The Pollies – Where The Lies Begin
#06 – Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ – Songs From The Laundromat/Songs About Cars, Space and the Ramones
#07 – American Aquarium – Burn. Flicker. Die.
#08 – Diamond Rugs – Diamond Rugs
#09 – Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
#10 – Heavy Mojo – Break of Dawn: High Speed Dayz
#11 – Gentleman Jesse – Leaving Atlanta
#12 – Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables
#13 – Jack White – Blunderbuss
#14 – Van Halen – A Different Kind Of Truth
#15 – Some Dark Holler – Some Dark Holler
#16 – Stuffy Shmitt – Industrial Love
#17 – The Whigs – Enjoy The Company
#18 – Langhorne Slim & the Law – The Way We Move
#19 – Fistful Of Beard – Until We Know Better
#20 – Still Flyin – On A Bedroom Wall
#21 – Doc Dailey & the Magnolia Devil – Catch The Presidents
#22 – Craig Finn – Clear Heart Full Eyes
#23 – Father John Misty – Fear Fun
#24 – King Tuff – King Tuff
#25 – Ray Wylie Hubbard – The Grifter’s Hymnal
#26 – Bob Mould – Silver Age
#27 – Enemies! – Desolation Dream
#28 – Allen Thompson Band – Salvation In The Ground
#29 – Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man In The Universe
#30 – Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
#31 – David Hidalgo, Mato Nanji & Luther Dickinson – 3 Skulls and the Truth
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