Luke Stutzman – Ride On The Wind
Luke Stutzman – Ride On The Wind – Album Review
Based out of Iowa with, you guessed it, Americana Folk/Rock, Luke Stutzman sounds like he’s been doin’ good things with his music down south of the border of us here in Canada. He’s got himself a brand-new album called Ride On The Wind that just came out mid-January, and I’d imagine he’ll have no real issues finding an audience after having a listen to what he’s got on this record. I mean, for a style of music that is so specifically labelled geographically, Americana sure seems to have no problem finding its way around the world, don’t it? It might not be my main staple on a personal level, but like every other genre under the sun, I’ve found at least a few artists & bands in this category that I enjoy. I dig what I hear in the title track as Luke’s album begins…you can feel the humble roots of the sound at work here, and no pretense. “Ride On The Wind” isn’t trying to be flashy, and it’s not trying to pretend to be gritty either – it’s a real case of ‘it is what it is,’ but in the good way, you know what I mean? You can’t really hide the genuine sound of an artist doing what they wanna do the way they wanna do it naturally, and that’s what you get when you listen to a song like “Ride On The Wind.” The imagery in his lyricism stands out, the music is definitely a strength, and the man can carry a tune as well…it strikes me that he’s got the right ingredients to be on the path he’s on. I wasn’t entirely sold on the fit of the backing vocals, but I wasn’t turned off by’em either I suppose. It’s one of those cases where everyone involved can sing, but we kind of end up wondering if there could possibly be a more complementary pairing. The songwriting is strong though…the ideas work…so let’s see what else we find on Luke’s new record…
With the pedal steel doin’ its thing, Luke’s preachin’ hard work on “Nose To The Grindstone,” and I can get behind that. It could be a lap steel too I suppose…you’d probably have to be real invested in the Americana/Country realm to really know the difference, but I do enjoy like that ‘steel’ sound in pretty much all forms. I feel like those out there that really like that melodic downhome bend in the music & vocals of acts like Kings Of Leon would definitely dig Stutzman’s tunes…he’s practically a dead ringer for Caleb Followill, and that’s gotta play to Luke’s advantage in appealing to the masses out there, wouldn’t it? I mean…King Of Leon are only one of the most giant bands of the past decade or so…so that’s gotta be a good thing, right? I can tell ya right now that my wife would definitely have a listen to Stutzman’s music simply based on a comparison like that alone, and that she’d probably really dig what she found when she had a listen for herself too. Anyhow – TOO BAD FOR YOU LUKE, you’re dealing with ME. I’m kidding! Well…I’m not, that’s factual, it’s me reviewing the music you’re making, but I’m not so scary, even if I’m not firmly embedded in the Americana-realm. “Nose To The Grindstone” is certainly one of those tunes you hear in the genre with the level of crossover potential and appeal you wanna find, and my favorite quality about it once again comes right down to how unforced and natural it all sounds. You never feel like Luke is pandering to those inside the genre or outside of it – the music he’s making is merely an honest reflection of who the man really is…he’s the authentic real deal, and I dig that, truly. Not to beleaguer the point I was making earlier either, but without the backing vocals, I felt like I loved the sound of his voice all the way through “Nose To The Grindstone” and nothing felt a hair outta place from the music to the microphone on this second tune. Some of those bends in the tone of the guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, or otherwise – whatever it is that makes that sweet magic happen deserves a lot of credit…it’s played gorgeously, and the emotion of the melody gives Luke the perfect opportunity to provide your ears with a notable highlight early on in the set-list of this shiny new album he’s got here.
To a degree, a lot of what I personally get out of Luke’s tunes reminds me of what I really enjoyed in a band called Cool For August way back in the day. With more of a bend towards the Kings Of Leon vibe and the soulful sound in his voice finding that sweet spot between what Caleb does and what you’d find in the music of Brother Cane…yeah man…I feel like there’s a lot of potential for Stutzman to reach a fair amount of ears out there around the world. Toss in the occasional guitar solo on a track like “Whiskey And Prozac,” and you just never know…this dude could definitely be going places. Does he need the tropes of ‘whiskey’ and/or the ‘pickup truck’ he references in this tune? I mean…it ain’t gonna hurt the guy with the main demographic that’ll connect to his sound, but I don’t know that it’s entirely necessary. I still dig “Whiskey And Prozac,” but admittedly, there’s a little less in this tune for me than I found in the opening two cuts. That being said, I do feel like once you start spinning Luke’s record, you really won’t find any resistance in riding out the set-list through to the end – this guy just sounds good, straight up. Straight up like a whiskey? I’ll let you decide that on your own – but I’d tell ya the guy’s got a great voice no matter how you slice it. And you know something? I still think we might just be scratching the surface of that…like, for as great as the guy sounds now, I believe he’s got a whole other gear that he might not have tapped into yet and the more he believes he’s got a stellar voice, the more it’ll come out.
So…look…I know I’ve been on my soapbox about rhyme-schemes here at these pages of ours lately, and when I heard “Confess” start up, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to help but comment on this issue again even though Luke clearly has no idea that’s been buggin’ me. I felt like “Confess” helped pin down what it is that I find distracting about it though…so I should honestly thank the guy for that. Because, don’t get me wrong – obviously a TON of lyrics out there are built on rhymes and they typically enhance the melody in music, that’s WHY we find that method applied to almost every song we ever listen to. But therein lies the key as well – it’s gotta enhance the melody, full stop. When you end up with words that are short or sung quickly, we feel that rhyme-scheme come to the surface in a way that it can’t be disguised. For example, when Luke sings “what would you think/if I bought you a drink” in this song, or “I see you across the room/the smell of your perfume” at the start of “Confess” – the quickness of how each word is sung ends up being somewhat of a distraction, know what I mean? My other main issue with adhering to a rhyme-scheme too closely is that we can often feel like that’s the priority, where it should always be saying what you wanna say in the way that YOU would say it…and I think that was the interesting part of the lyricism here actually – I didn’t feel like anything I heard was out of character for Luke. So basically, while I still feel the choppiness of how a song like “Confess” is sung, I still appreciated the authenticity that came with it. I didn’t even mind the backing vocals this time either – I felt like they fit better here on “Confess,” and showed up in some really pivotal parts of the melody that worked out.
Potent music at the beginning of “Devil At My Wake” with a bit more edge to it…this is probably where Luke’s tunes remind me the most of Brother Cane, at least at the beginning. The most intense moments of “Devil At My Wake” tend to surround the main vocals in the instrumentation outside of the verses and choruses of this track…and I’ll admit, that gives this track kind of a strange reverse energy to how it moves & where we’d tend to be excited about it. So on the one hand, sure, I can acknowledge that the writing is still plenty decent and it works…but on the other hand, it’s almost a bit weird to be noticeably more excited about the spots surrounding the vocals when that’s probably not really the intention, you know what I mean? “Devil At My Wake” feels a bit like it had a direction, and then to borrow a phrase, changed horses mid-stream. No lie, I thought we were here to freakin’ ROCK on the side of Luke’s Americana/Rock sound this time around, but “Devil At My Wake” gets significantly mellower than what we find at the start and in the biting instrumentation surrounding his lyricism. Now…obviously that’s a thing…it DOES happen in music, and I’m not saying it can’t be effective, or even that it’s not going to be here for many of you listening out there when it comes to this particular case…but for me, I felt like “Devil At My Wake” took a slight step back from what it could have been, and shied away from its potential a little bit. The solo however, should be noted for the badassery it provides…and I’ll readily acknowledge that the hooks of the chorus are really strong too – just not quite as strong as the music itself this time in my opinion. Everything that excites me most about “Devil At My Wake” is in the music.
So before you go getting your hopes up that Luke’s about to cover Queens Of The Stone Age on “Go With The Flow,” I’ll just break the news to you early and confirm he’s stickin’ with the Americana/Folk side of his sound instead of really diggin’ into the Rock part of that Americana/Rock combination. That being said, he adds a whole lotta soul to what you’ll hear on “Go With The Flow” and brings that aspect of his sound out much more through this tune. Vocally, I’d likely argue that it’s one of his strongest, and as a result, I think Luke ends up with some genuinely universal vibes on “Go With The Flow” that’ll appeal to many folks out there when it comes to how this song sounds. When it comes to the material itself…I’m probably a bit more tossed up over that…I don’t mind “Go With The Flow,” but I’d be harder pressed to call it one of the album’s best tunes. It’s one of those tracks that keeps the quality of the lineup consistent enough, but also isn’t really moving Ride On The Wind leaps and bounds forward either. Though the line “So I climbed into a bottle/if you don’t come back I’m gonna build me a ship” was one of the cleverest lyrics I’ve heard in a while, “Go With The Flow” is probably going to have to battle for its fair share of the attention in this set-list in comparison to a few of these tunes that jump out of our speakers a bit more. “I don’t need your kind words,” says Luke…and that’s comforting…I wouldn’t say that I’ve got anything unkind to say about “Go With The Flow,” so much as it seems like the kind of track we’ve heard in a whole bunch of incarnations over the years and there’s a little less of what makes Luke Stutzman Luke Stutzman in this tune. Americana/Folk is tough to move forward as a genre.
He doesn’t let himself down, and that’s always going to be what matters the most when it comes to the performances he’s putting in. The rest is all a matter of personal taste in the court of public opinion, and no one ever has any control over that monster. All you can do is look back on what you’ve created and reflect on whether or not you put everything you had into what you did…and I feel like Luke’s going to be able to rest his hat on Ride On The Wind knowing that he gave the material his best. Whether he gave us his best material or not…that’s a different story that time tells over the years – but I do think he’s got a lot of strong stuff here in this set-list. “Back To Loving You” is fairly mid-pack like I felt about “Go With The Flow” right beforehand, but regardless of how I feel, I think Luke’s got a really great chance of landing in a strong position on playlists all around the world…he’s got the inherent advantage of having that kind of voice you just wanna cheer for, you know? People will wanna support this guy, and I can’t say that I’d blame anyone for that – he’s talented, he’s putting his heart into these songs, and even the many comparisons he’ll get to Caleb of Kings Of Leon will take the man a very long way with listeners out there. “Back To Loving You” is more from the school of Bonnie Raitt than it would be Kings Of Leon…but there ain’t nothing wrong with that I reckon…she’s a legendary artist & songwriter, and anyone out there should be stoked to share a sentence with that titan of the industry. Anyhow – that should give you all a solid idea of the vast potential that Luke has as an artist & writer – he’s got tons.
As he wraps up Ride On The Wind with “Down,” I feel like the majority of this set will carry Luke forward from here. The final song probably isn’t going to be too much of a factor in that…good tune, but I don’t know how many folks out there will consider it to be up there with his greatest. Like so much of what he’s created, you’ll find the quality of his performances consistent, and many excellent elements of the music being real highlights along the way throughout “Down.” Overall, I’d probably say that Luke’s got a really strong EP with the tunes on Ride On The Wind, and that as an album, it could have been objectively paired back a bit in that regard to preserve its strength. Because you don’t want no watered down whiskey or some previously chewed Prozac – am I right? We’re always tempted to add everything we write to a new album, because we’re close to the material as creators…but yeah…sometimes we just gotta stand back from it all & be brutally objective about what’s working the best, and what’s just okay. The flipside of that coin is that I still believe if you enjoyed what you heard right at the start of Ride On The Wind that you’ll have no problem sticking with Luke until the end, and you’ll be looking forward to whatever he goes on to create next. He’s a good dude, a humble artist & a solid songwriter – no doubt about that – and if you’re asking me, I’d tell ya that Luke’s best years in music are still up ahead of him.
Find out more about Luke Stutzman from his official website at: https://lukestutzman.com
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