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The trio of Funky Nashville are some of the least likely
candidates anyone would expect to play country music. For starters,
the members are all from Copenhagen, Denmark, which means that
none of them are from America's South. But if you strip away such
pre-conceived ideas affiliated with country music artists, you
will be able to appreciate Funky Nashville's proficiency for playing
modern country western pastorals and their inventiveness for cross
breeding club music and blues-pop aspects into their country-tinted
mixtures.
Funky Nashville's members Sverre Stein Nielsen (lead vocals/acoustic
guitars), Mads Mazanti (bass/backup vocals), and Thomas
Engelhardt (guitars/backup vocals) formed the band in 2001
and released their debut album A Good Day To Drive in 2003.
Their latest follow up disc Hitch A Ride continues to show
the threesome's affinity for country western twang in their guitars
hewed like Dwight Yoakam, and adorned with segments of
Mariachi trumpets, flamenco guitars, and drippings of bluesy vocals.
They garner a modern country hybrid using complementing additives,
which branch country music into dance club music similarly to
Shania Twain. Songs like "The Witch Queen Of New Orleans"
and "My Corazon" insert funkiness into the country laced
fibrils and bridge multiple pop influences to amplify the dance
vibe. It's like the Scissor Sisters meet Johnny Cash.
Funky Nashville also likes to incorporate Spanish flavors into
the mixtures with flamenco spreads on "California Mansion
Girl" that are accented with some country-corded boinging
effects. The rattling percussion and tangy guitar chords on "Red
River" are reminiscent of modern country's Little Big
Town while the romantic consoles infiltrating "Mexican
Stars" and "La Luna" have a country western thematic
like Junior Brown along a roughshod cut melody. Their songs
incline towards a western romanticism and give country music an
invigorating rinse.
Funky Nashville also have a few numbers which submerge their
country-pop threads into dark bass tones like on "Eerie Old
Town," "Gone Away," and the title track which cause
the instrument clips to silhouette the echoing vocals. The title
track also has bull fighting music motifs, again bringing a Spanish
influence into the instrument's zing. The final track "Love"
hampers acoustic guitars and unvarnished vocals that are incrementally
touched up with shavings of guitar flange and a steady bluesy-brushed
rhythm. The modern country-pop serenade tapers into a cross-section
of Ryan Cabrera's pop and Dierks Bentley's country.
One of the last successful artists to bridge country and blues-pop
together were the UK's Dire Straits. Funky Nashville does
it like them, but with a modern flair. They may not be hailed
as American country but they make country music with a lot of
funk-embossed dance beats spangled with Spanish piping and bluesy
sensibilities. It's a modern version of country music, a hybrid
that breaks down barriers and inspires others to join in the party.
They bridge country and club music like few artists have done
before them, adding tints to country music that broadens its dimensions.
Funky Nashville shows that country music has successfully affected
musicians abroad.
-Susan Frances
Track Listing:
1. Hitch A Ride
2. Gone Away
3. Mexican Stars
4. Ain't No Cowboy
5. California Mansion Girl
6. El Paso Bound
7. Red River
8. My Corazon
9. La Luna
10. Eerie Old Town
11. Love
12. Everything We Do
13. Searching For Love
14. The Witch Queen Of New Orleans
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