Adam Karch

Crossroad Diaries is a middle of the road blues/rock effort that probably would have sounded fresh in, say, 1987. Coming across a bit like the Archangels without the hard edge punch and songwriting talents of Charlie Sexton, Karch's debut album runs through the blues paces on predictable track after track. From the ubiquitous guitar riff on "Did You Get the Latest News" to the Colin James' inspired "Just About Broken," Karch's youth comes off as a hindrance as he struggles to find his own voice and style. This is not to say everything is lost; the kid can definitely make the electric guitar grind (especially on the jazzy "Both Happy" and the shufflin' "Windigo Dance"), and his band-mates weigh in with some great sounding Rhodes/bass/drums. All in all though, the only crossroads this album has seen was probably on the big screen.