King of Crownsville | Waiting There for Me | Review

Article Contributed by Joshua Beach | Published on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Over the years we’ve seen rock, pop, and even hard rock slowly erode into over-commercialized, corporate puppet shows providing music that is extremely sing songy, predictable, popish and highly corporate. I hereby call this new breed of music “Poser Rock” and I want to personally thank all the corporate giants for successfully transforming “Sex Drugs & Rock n’ Roll” into “Yoga, Vitamins and Nikelback” Of course millions of musical lemmings don’t know the difference and trust me when I say  not everyone is entertained. Talking to many music fans out there the response is overwhelming. Give me something new, something fresh, something real.So across my desk slides the new 10 track CD from Maryland’s own King of Crownsville entitled “Waiting the for Me” (2012). During my initial research there were a few lines from their site that I liked: "Homegrown Americana boogie blues and big band rockin' swing jazz is a chunky description of the Kings. The 6-piece band blends guitar, bass, drums, piano, trumpet, trombone, and vocal harmony. The result: a robust, polished sound that makes for easy toe-tapping and dancing. The secret is out: their monthly gigs at the intimate Italian restaurant, Café Mezzonote, are not to be missed." As I spun the CD what I heard put a smile on my face. It’s a nice easy flowing record that delivers solid songwriting with a nice rock feel to it. King of Crownsville reminded me of a modern day Steely Dan/Allman Brothers hybrid yet with a modern-day sound. You will also hear a side of Blues and Alternative Rock and even Classic Rock along the way. If you like the above bands and musical styles you should definitely check out this CD. My favorite tracks are: “Yellow Butterfly Tattoo” and Beatles cover “Come Together.” The guys in Kings can play and let me say Johnson’s got a red hot band backing him up. “Waiting There for Me” by Kings of Crownsville is invigorating. Invigorating in the sense that it will lift your spirits, and give you a sense of hope that good time rock n’ roll has not officially dead yet. This CD is a solid release with many feel good grooves with a blues-rock guitar driven sound and entertaining vibe. At the end of the day Kings of Crownsville give us a fresh glimpse at an amazing bandt and takes