Review By: Ronald J. Gallo

Release Date: Feb. 17, 2011 (World Cafe Live) &

Feb. 20, 2011 (Rockwood Music Hall (New York City))

Over the course of a West Philadelphia rendezvous a few weeks ago with some friends to discuss a cabin trip, I was unexpectedly handed a burned disc jokingly labeled “Some of Bon Jovi’s Mediocre Songs”.  In all honesty, I didn’t know what to expect from it or its giver who I’d only seen perform briefly a few times at the occasional open mic.  Now, I normally might have tossed it aside without thinking and eventually got around to it, but I decided to pop the disc in soon as I got home and from the get-go it reeled me in.  I ended up listening to it all the way through twice that night.

Uplifting and easy going, and I speak in a general sense about music today as a whole, are not words I can normally use to describe new records.  However “Holy, Open Drying Road” the new album from Reed Kendalls’ brainchild, Up the Chain, is a good spirited, straightforward collection of great folky pop-rock songs without the clutter or pretension that’s sometimes hard to avoid in today’s world of music. When listening to this record I get the feeling the singer/songwriter is trying to get himself across in an honest fashion, focusing on the whole spectrum of everyday life’s simple mishaps, madness and joys, delivering it in a way understandable and serves as easy relish for anyone who listens.  Reed’s voice adds to the overall trouble-free vibe across the board, it’s just downright easy to take in and sits like velvet atop an incredible band.

The “bangers” on the record are tracks two and four.  “Haverhouse” is most obviously a traveling song, also where the album title comes from.  An effortless, fun country bounce, with a theme of moving along and finding comfort in certain times and places.  Singing along “Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey passing around”.

Track four titled,”Up the East Coast” begins in a dark spacey atmosphere, he contemplates while “sitting on the back porch listening to the pounding of the pouring rain, wondering of a change will come my way”, it quickly gives a hint of a brighter turn, and falls back into the spaciness before the song rises into this unexpected uplifting sing-a-long chorus, that doesn’t go away for days.  The song does a perfect job of getting across the back-and-forth of the singers disposition from contemplative to contentment.  It also transitions between what could be two different moods pretty flawlessly, definitely the centerpiece of the record or for me.  Reminiscent of The Band at times, especially during the chorus with a hint of a Radiohead atmosphere during the verses.

One of the more obscure and unexpected likenesses I found on the album is the sixth track, “What We Were Before” which at times the groove and melody reminds me of George Michael’s “Freedom”.  It’s the track you get up and dance in the kitchen to.

The tenth track and probably my favorite is “Here I Haven Meet”, it’s definitely the most unique and stand-out on “Holy, Open Drying Road”.  Reed references New Orleans a few times on the record but here we actually visit. Though I wish he downed six bottles of bourbon, ate some glass and smoked a carton of cigarettes before tracking this vocal, we see a side of the songwriting and of the band, that you wouldn’t really expect to get upon hearing the rest of the album.  The band falls into this swampy, Tom Waits-y minor march introducing a banjo, some Dixieland horns and some sparkling piano.  Hanging on to this gritty swamp groove for most of the song, it unexpectedly speeds up and shifts gears into this bouncy, barrel roll at the end, sort of the lyrical and musical pinnacle of the album.  Just enough to dirty and cleanse your pallet before moving into the closing track of the record where we return to the hopeful pop-folk vibe we’re used to, but only he does it all alone with just a guitar and voice.

“Holy, Open Drying Road” is what I wish I would see more of, an eclectic collection of consistent, great songs without trying too hard.  These songs are all part of the same family, and take unexpected turns at all the right times.  Reed sings about what he thinks about and what he sees and the incredible, versatile band behind him remains true to that every second it plays.  Tasteful through and through, a feel good record for sure.  Reed’s influences aren’t necessarily clear either, it just sort of sounds like he’s not trying to be anyone but himself.  His vocal stylings can be compared to a mix between Matthew Pryor’s singing on The New Amsterdams records, the calmness of a cool John Mayer, and the occasional subtle twang of the singer for recent breakout band, Dawes’.  “Holy, Open Drying Road” is a mirror of life, it’s got songs for everyone and it may be a stretch but I’d say it’s even a pop-rock tour de force.