Album Review – Andy Brasher’s “Myna Bird”
Bringing the grit and guts of grassroots influences from his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, and a blurred lines approach between country and rock akin to what most are used to hearing from Texas music or Red Dirt, Andy Brasher takes some new songs and some old favorites, and folds them into a new record called Myna Bird to be his big solo debut.
A long time fixture of the Owensboro music scene, Andy Brasher has also ventured far afield both as a solo artist and with a band, and with the duo Brasher/Bogue he started with Dustin Bogue, releasing numerous records and sharing some stages and lineups with bigger names in country and Southern rock over the years like Kenny Chesney and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Brasher also did time in Nashville as a young man, playing both a long list of cover songs and his originals, paying dues before returning to Owensboro.
Myna Bird is a mixture of Andy Brasher’s numerous influences from Southern rock to songwriter country, compiling them into an entertaining set that has a little something for everyone. If you’re looking for a stone cold murder ballad, “Crows and Buzzards” has you more than covered, and is one of the best modern murder ballads you can run down. If you wanting something more romantic, try “If She Loves.” “Close Your Eyes” offers a more intimate moment, and if you want something a bit more fun, the acoustic singalong “Checkbook” or “Drugs in the Tip Jar” may be down your alley.
No matter the mood or how the songs are rendered, these are stories that say something and go somewhere, and Andy Brasher shows an alacrity for numerous styles to fit the desired feeling. To make sure Myna Bird is stacked from cover to cover, he takes a couple of songs from his previous catalog to bolster the effort, including the title track of both his 2007 album Crows and Buzzards, and his 2010 album Last of Our Kind.
The concern with Myna Bird might be that while Andy Brasher proves himself proficient with many versions of roots music here, he doesn’t get around to defining which one is his signature. Also, most of the songs stretch to over five minutes, including a couple with extended outtros. This gives the songs and stories of Myna Baird the opportunity to develop, but some of them possibly could have used a radio edit, and go on a little longer than the melody and theme are able to sustain.
Still, this is an interesting project you can see many finding appeal in from the wide net it casts, and the quality writing and passion Andy Brasher brings to each song. Balancing some rock sensibilities with a gritty Kentucky attitude and ambitious songwriting, Brasher proves why he’s worth paying attention to.
From a club stage in Owensboro with his band, to a regular on the songwriting circuit, to opening for some of the biggest names in Southern music, Andy Brasher’s appreciation for song comes through in music that moves from raucous to deeply meaningful.
1 1/2 Guns Up
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Purchase from Andy Brasher
Purchase from Amazon
April 20, 2020 @ 10:10 am
Love the album cover
April 20, 2020 @ 11:09 am
Haven’t played it yet, but “Drugs in the Tip Jar” gets my early vote for Title of the Year.
April 20, 2020 @ 11:24 am
Agree that a little edit cut would have worked, by the way..real stuff.
April 20, 2020 @ 11:48 am
My budget for April is already maxed out.
But…the album is good…very good.
I’ll buy it.
In The Pipeline:
Kip Moore – Wild World – Album – 05/29
The New Graces – Seasons – Album – 05/15
Chris Colston – Bombs Away – Album – 06/25
Brett Eldridge – Sunday Drive – Album – 07/09
Creed Fisher – The Wild Ones – Album – 05/22
April 20, 2020 @ 5:16 pm
Kip Moore album titles:
Wild World, Wild Ones, Wild Times, Wild Heart, Wild West, Wild Wide Eyed, Wild Child.
April 20, 2020 @ 5:35 pm
Lol. He is a wild guy.
April 20, 2020 @ 3:50 pm
I like the crow and buzzard song
April 20, 2020 @ 4:46 pm
This is good. And I would expect nothing less than the town that has the famous Moonlite Bar-b-q.
I am thinking Andy and The Steel Woods are perfect accompaniments while smoking a pork butt in the barrel smoker on the back porch!
April 21, 2020 @ 4:52 am
Or some burgoo in the pot. Since we’re talking Owensboro.
April 20, 2020 @ 5:59 pm
Can’t wait to hear this
I suspect I’ll have to add it to the inventory
I don’t live too far away from Owensboro, but I have to say I’m ignorant of its local music scene
April 21, 2020 @ 4:50 am
I like Myna Baird better. Nice re-titling.
Sounds pretty good. Maybe more of a 1.25 though.
April 21, 2020 @ 10:26 am
To think music like this goes largely ignored while Florida Georgia Line somehow still gets to be on “country” radio.
April 24, 2020 @ 9:54 am
Myna Bird is lively and refreshing. You won’t hear one song that sounds like another, so you won’t get bored with the same old crap. I love it! I give it a 10.