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Bands of Dixie magazine (France)
March-April 2006
Roger Marshall & the Law – Hiding In The Wide Open
As you already noticed, you often find in our pages, articles about
country artists whose music is real close to southern rock, and
that's exactly why you read these articles. That's the case with
people such as Hank Williams Jr., Montgomery Gentry, Travis Tritt,
and more recently Smith & Hartley. Today, it's Roger Marshall's
turn. With his album "Hiding In The Wide Open” he should get
positive response from both country music fans and southern rock
music fans. This album starts with "Hiding in the Wide Open," which
could have been a song you'd have found on the "Get Right With The
Man" from the Van Zant brothers, even if this song is a little bit
more "roots" than what the brothers generally do. Then, you have
"Can You Hear Me Now", which reminds me of Hank Williams Jr,
followed by "Whose Money Do You Think This Is," which sounds like a
Mike Estes & Brave New South's song. The similarity with the former
Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar player could also be heard on the vocal
aspect.
Of course, like every country album, some songs are typically
oriented towards different public, such as the beautiful ballad
"Satisfied Mind." But if you like southern rock with country
influences (like Charlie Daniels's songs), you should be real
pleased with this new CD. To convince a bit more southern rock fans,
I'll add half of the songs were written or co-written by Tony
Haselden, the guy who worked with Louisiana LeRoux, some twenty
years ago. He's been working since, as a songwriter in Nashville,
working with talented people such as Shania Twain, George Strait,
Colin Raye, Martina McBride, Keith Whitley, Lee Roy Parnell, Billy
Ray Cyrus, Highway 101, or Tracy Lawrence. One more thing, the song
"Good Clean Fun" is not the one from the Allman Brothers, but you'll
surely appreciate it if you like the last album from the
Van Zant brothers. Finally, an album which will please public from
both country music and southern rock.
-Didier Demeslay
(translated from French)
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