Billy Crain - Family Matters
- Written by Julia Lamb
Nashville rocker Billy Crain has lived a life that sounds like it’s been pulled straight out of Almost Famous (2000). Over the years, Crain has played with country superstars Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks, as well having toured extensively with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Doobie Brothers.
As of late, Crain’s career as a session musician has taken a back seat, and instead, he’s focusing on making a name for himself as a solo artist. Family Matters is his latest album, 10 songs of stories from the road set to rootsy Southern rock. Opening track ‘Dark House’ kicks off the album, somewhat surprisingly, with bagpipes to lead the way for a melodic, upbeat number to follow. Crain’s countrified, twangy voice lends his words a straight-from-the-soul sense of sincerity, and feels all the more country-inspired with sugar-sweet harmonies added on top.
Title track ‘Family Matters’ is a piano ballad that speaks frankly about Crain’s family members, in particular, his children: “I watched an angry boy grow up/From a half-empty glass to an overflowing cup. He left town and never looked back/That Portland rain had what he lacked”. While the track is certainly heartfelt, it retains the upbeat, driving momentum home to the rest of the album. Crain keeps these songs light and never really crossing over into somber territory, which suits him best.
‘Road Warriors’ is a nostalgic look back on some of Crain’s more raucous touring days of being “young and dumb living life on the run”. Arriving at the album’s close is ‘Joe Parker’, a percussive slow-burner which, apart from Crain’s distinctively twangy vocal style, breaks the country-inspired mould of the album. A screeching guitar solo segues ‘Joe Parker’ into the record’s final song ‘1928’, which, in similar fashion, ends with Crain doing what he does best, flaunting his jaw-dropping guitar skills.
Family Matters is a culmination of Billy Crain’s lifelong career in the music industry, and it proves that he is far more than gun-for-hire session work.