Rich Hopkins and Luminarios – Back To The Garden
(San Jacinto Records – 2019)
A laid back affair from Rich and the band on this most recent offering on CD that still holds plenty of Americana to keep you interested who remind me of The Drive By Truckers meets Tom Petty.
They are either lead vocalled by Rich Hopkins or Lisa Novak with both of them on backing vocals and/or chorus duties whose voices blend beautifully together. Plenty of standout outs that include the bluesy 'Before' and the so, so true 'Get Off The Telephone' with the excellent like 'I think a phone has replaced our brains'.
Then there's The Byrds like 'Another State Of Mind' when it comes to the arrangement, chord-usage and guitar sound; the very appropriate 'Pissed' with the line 'I can't go on living like this!' that truly fits our current lockdown crisis or the excellent closing southern rock ballad 'The Garden' with birds singling at the end of it- lovely!
Great album.
8/10
By Glenn Milligan