Great NYC Band: Rural Free Delivery’s Come on Home
Rural Free Delivery is a New York City-based band: Jeremy Beck, keyboardist and lead vocalist, and Craig Graham, lead guitarist, are the founding members of RFD, and composed the eleven tracks on Come On Home. The themes addressed in these songs are as varied as the musical styles: from civil rights to the current state of our world, from enjoying life to the recurring homecoming theme.
“Billy’s Blues” tells of a Black man’s struggle in the 50’s. From the furious pace of the piano keys at the start to Billy’s last plea for the Lord to ‘take him home,’ we get a mix of country, a gospel chorus, and the blues. Graham’s guitar takes us on a psychedelic, dreamlike trip in “Black Cats in Love.” His performance is also quite commanding on the album’s rock tune, the Orwellian “Big Brother.”
A Spanish-flavored guitar rhythm with a catchy chorus tells the story of a troubled love affair in “Meg & Al (The Picnic Song),” while “Went to the Mountain” suggests we ‘leave our worries behind and dance in the sunlight.’ The contagious chant with the Caribbean beat makes us want to do just that. Beck’s impressive piano and vocals on “In the Middle of the Night” take us on a jazzy tour around the world: from the South of France to NYC, from eating sugarcane in the land of the delta blues to wearing blue suede shoes in the land of Elvis, but continuously reminding us that ‘it would be so nice to be back home.’ This CD concludes with the title track, making you want to come on home or at least call home, wherever that might be. Come On Home proves that the more you mix things up, the better they’ll get.
Having seen Rural Free Delivery perform live in New York City on a few occasions, I’ve found that this four-man band sounds just as good live as they do on this record, sometimes even better. Rural Free Delivery is continuously working on new material, and from this debut effort, there’s great promise that more “bluesy, funky, jazzy, country,” kind of music is surely on the way.
Check out music clips and event information for this band by visiting: http://rfdband.com
