Beautiful Side of Madness

On Beautiful Side of Madness, Terrell cranks it up to get down and dirty. This is sloppy, raw, bluesy roots rock with lyrics that tend to be smarter than you might expect from this genre. Heck, he mentions Faulkner, Jesus, and Buddha, going so far as to even title a song for "Georgia O'Keeffe." But it's the way Terrell plays with words and twists phrases that makes his music compelling, as long as you don't mind the occasional profanity that is part and parcel to the dark themes of which he often writes, including portraits of drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. Jim Doyle, Rich Meyer, and J. Swanson form the band, which brings a certain backstreet energy and gritty sound refined during a long stint of touring in support of Angry Southern Gentleman. On one of those tours, Terrell opened for Joan Osborne who, in turn, contributes vocals to the title track, which is the quietest and one of the finest moments of the offering. Overall, the second half of the record hits a nice stride somewhere around "Black and White Blues," and is an easier set to listen to than the first handful of tunes.