Album Review – The AM’s – “Here Comes That Broken Heart”

#590 (underground country), #563 (Cosmic country), #510.1 (Classic Country) on the Country DDS


You gotta turn over a lot of rocks to stumble upon The AM’s, unless your haunt is the Upstate New York honky tonk scene, if such a thing even exists. But your propensity to dig and explore for the best in music is rewarded with an immediately fulfilling and uncommonly infectious album that quenches your honky tonk desires, and then delivers something more.

The music of The AM’s sounds like something you’d hear creaking out of an old console radio siting in the corner of your Mee Maw’s house, caked in an inch of dust and nicotine stains from a century of Pall Mall smoke, or maybe buzzing the speaker of a little silver transistor radio on the shelf of a greasy mechanic shop sitting next to an oscillating fan, circa 1964.

You listen to the opening song of this album, and you get excited that you’ve happened upon one of those throwback country records that offers up new songs and a few classics, all rendered in a strict interpretations of ’50s and ’60s country sounds. Here Comes That Broken Heart certainly is that if nothing else. But then almost as if the backing band for Webb Pierce dropped acid, the album suddenly but seamlessly moves into early psychedelic sounds and mod rock, while still somehow staying true to its honky tonk heart.

Not to name drop even more obscure bands on you, but The AM’s are like a cross between The Country Side of Harmonica Sam out of Sweden, and Austin’s Rattlesnake Milk. Similar to Rattlesnake Milk, it’s really the guitar parts that and are so ridiculously tasty at every turn, you can’t resist falling into an immersive listening experience. Yet just like Harmonica Sam, these guitar leads are fiercely loyal to the modes and tones of mid century music.

Despite the distressed sounds of the recordings that give Here Comes That Broken Heart that sepia, AM radio vibe, the music still bursts out of your speakers with vibrancy and enthusiasm. And even though the personnel of The AM’s isn’t exactly spring chickens, this music feels youthful, alive, and dare we say even somewhat innocent, if only from the period it’s rendered in.

Really when you boil it down, The AM’s are like a version of punk music more than anything else, adhering to the old Hank Williams III quote about country, “The older you sound, the more punk you’re being.” This makes sense since the primary singer and frontman Steve Hammond also plays in a thrash metal band called Ice Queen. Along with guitarist “Pony Dan” Prockup (the guy on the cover), they make for a decidedly unusual outfit, but an entirely successful one at bringing their vision of old country songs to life.

Sometimes the singing is a little weak, but the songs never are. The chorus of Dan Prockup’s “Games” is a thing of country music beauty. Steve Hammond’s “Guilt” is an epic, psychedelic country romp into the depths of shame. Hammond also convincingly explains how someone from New York State can make country music in “Upstate Honky Tonk Man.” They also cover Ray Price’s “I’ve Got a New Heartache,” and turn in a version of “Make The World Go Away” originally written by Hank Cochran.

Good music never goes out of style. People’s tastes do. Then when they wisen up and the music of the day turns so cacophonous they can’t stomach it anymore, they come back to the stuff that’s always been good. It’s waiting for them, because it withstands the test of time. Instead of sounding dated, The AM’s have made music insulated from the fickle whims of style by hearkening back to the most stable era of “cool,” and re-creating it for contemporary ears.

8.1/10

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