Do One Thing Different Bill O'hanlon

On album number four, Troy and Eddie make no major breaks with the tried and true formula that weds solid modern country music to the long raucous tradition of redneck rock. But then again, they don't need to. It's true, they streamline it, rock it up, and bring in some more rock & roll, but essentially, these cats lay down 12 very solid tracks written by a slew of Nash Vegas songwriters, most notably Rivers Rutherford, Jeffrey Steele, and Bob DiPiero, who wrote the lion's share of the set.

Formed in Dallas, Texas, USA, in 1968, the American Blues evolved out of local club attraction the Warlocks when Rocky Hill (guitar), Dusty Hill (b. Joe Hill, 19 May 1949, Dallas, Texas, USA; bass), Doug Davis (organ) and Frank Beard (b. 11 June 1949, Frankston, Texas, USA; drums) took their new name upon adopting a more ‘progressive’ sound…

Bill Nelson's 1971 solo debut (after playing in several local bands) was financed by his local record store, the Record Bar in Wakefield, England. After a copy found its way to BBC disc jockey, John Peel, he began playing tracks regularly, which helped pave the way for a real record contract (the label initially wanted him to re-record Northern Dream, but he had other ideas, which led to the formation of Be Bop Deluxe). While largely acoustic, singer-songwriter fare - at some points he sounds like an Anglicized Neil Young, in fact, filtered through Michael Chapman - and typical of its day (even down to the way Nelson looks on the back cover, with patched flares and long, stringy hair), there's also a spirit of future experimentalism lurking under the songs…