Deadstring Brothers

Choosing the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street as the template for your band's entire sound shows good musical taste, at least. The trick is to transcend mimicry, and Deadstring Brothers achieve that only occasionally here. Founded in Detroit, MI, the band have incorporated Londoners Spencer and Jeff Cullum into their line-up, and this trans-Atlantic content rather mirrors the "Londoners go to the Delta" vibe of Exile era Stones. Spencer's slide and steel guitar playing adds some beef, while the vocals of main man Kurt Marschke are nicely augmented by Masha Marjieh, especially on closing cut "Always A Friend Of Mine." It's the slower ballads that work best, with "Yesterday's Style" being the album's high point. The lyrics often lapse into banality, with clichéd references to rescuing angels, the Gulf of Mexico, etc. Given that this is their fourth album, one could have hoped for a bit more originality by now.