VIII

The musical development of the Stone Coyotes over their eight discs — almost one each year since the start of the new millennium — is evident right from the get go, opening track "Tomorrow Is Another Day"'s gritty chord changes giving singer Barbara Keith her platform to reference Gone with the Wind and Scarlett O'Hara; Keith always able to tuck a cultural icon into her unique rock & roll tales. St. Peter and John Lee Hooker get referenced in the third track, "Not Right Now," though the blues master actually becomes the hook in the song which follows a revamp of the famous "Brown Sugar" riff on "Land of the Living," a good bridge for these captivating melodic guitar phrasings. The ballad "The Lights of Home" breaks up the onslaught, the Coyotes knowing how to place the material for maximum effect. The first half-dozen compositions are solely from Keith's pen, including one of the standouts — a slow mantra about a "magnetic pull" which puts the protagonist "in the spirit" — "The Beat's Got a Hold on Me." It's the other side of Vicki Sue Robinson's "Turn the Beat Around," but with as much hit potential as that radio favorite. Husband/drummer Doug Tibbles co-writes the next four compositions with his wife including "Brand New Car," which would've fit nicely on Big Brother & the Holding Company's first post-Janis Joplin discs back in the early '70s. Nick Gravenites could have a ball playing with the lyric placed over half the "Feelin' Alright" riff the piano toys with. Merle Haggard's "Kern River" sounds like a Barbara Keith original (a/b it with "The Ghost of Vicksburg" from the groups 2005 release Fire It Up for comparison), Keith's voice giving it a new and favorable flavor. The power trio keep the clever guitar sounds going with "A Charmed Life" and another song ready-made for the early days of the Eagles, "If I Knew How to Dance," blitzing with more edge than that venerable group's 1974 hit "Already Gone." The seventh fine Barbara Keith original, the acoustic rocker "The Grey Robe of the Rain," closes out this disc in the best Roger McGuinn middle Byrds period fashion. Indeed, that style suits this ensemble quite well and fills the void Byrds fans have been jonesing over. Yes, the repeating guitar of "All for Angelina" balances the slower tunes out, and sustains the minimal approach these musicians have perfected over this octagon of music represented by their catalog of CDs so far, but fans of the Stone Coyotes wouldn't mind the group taking one song and giving it full production to launch them out of the underground and into the mainstream. Cult status is fine but this hard work deserves a rich reward.