Slide On Over Here

Steve Azar’s fourth studio album opens with the warmth and familiarity of a favorite classic rock song you might’ve heard flow from the speakers of your parents’ car. “I’ll Find Me” sets the mood with the summery tones of a vintage Les Paul burning through an old tube amp, a lazy-sounding slide guitar, and a grinding organ, all coming together under Azar’s earnest voice as he muses wistfully about trying to find his identity after losing someone who was a big part of him. “Sunshine” follows with a similar mood, but the lyrics shift gears to sing of a newfound love with simple poetry and breezy acoustic guitar picking that recalls Tom Petty’s “Angel Song” from the 1996 soundtrack to She’s the One. “Hard Road” is another standout ballad carried by the rootsy twang resonating off a Dobro guitar, sparse pedal-steel notes, and road-trip-themed words that serve as a metaphor for the complexity of relationships. Things pick up on “Moo La Moo,” a honky-tonkin’ recession rocker where Azar croons a funny hook in the chorus refrain, “There’s too much month at the end of the money.”