CD Reviews

Tishamingo

The Point | Magnatude

By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 12, 2007

3.0 Stars

There’s a new breed of smart, song-oriented Southern rockers, and Tishamingo, along with Mofro, are at the head of the pack. Both bands have already built a large jam-world following, but Tishamingo, who hail from Athens and Atlanta, also appeal to a more traditional audience, and they were part of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s popular “Gimme Three Days” ocean-going rock fest this year. On their third album, they mint a bevy of riff-driven rockers; the stomping slide-guitar blasts “Bad News” and “Travel On” are both leaner than “Free Bird,” though just as nasty. And like their classic-rock-era predecessors, the quartet know how to play it sweet. “Tennessee Mountain Angel” is a straight-on love ballad; the character portrait “Mitchell” pulls back to let frontman Cameron Williams’s storytelling soak in, with layers of gracefully sustained guitar feedback adding a colorful sonic undercurrent. Producer John Kurzweg has also worked with Creed and Puddle of Mudd, and he gives the band a crisp, clear toned treatment that bares every element of their thoughtfully crafted numbers. What The Point sounds like is a breakthrough.

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Topics: CD Reviews , Lynyrd Skynyrd, Puddle Of Mudd

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