77 El Deora - 'The Crown & the Crow's Confession' Review

The California band 77 El Deora got their start back in 2004 and includes in their lineup, Maurice Tani (vocals, guitar, songwriter), and Jenn Courtney (vocals) along with Mike Anderson (bass), Steve Kallai (violin) and Christopher Fisher (drums). 77 El Deora's music uses a mixed blend of styles that include, alt. country, rockabilly, Americana, and roots music.

'The Crown & The Crow's Confession' is the third album from 77 El Deora and is found on Western Independent Recordings. What really drives the band's music is the great mix of male/ female lead vocals that are found in their songs.

Themes found on the songs that make up 'The Crown & The Crow's Confession' revolve around human emotions and hard lessons related to love and life in general.

Up tempo tracks like, track-1,"(I Just Dodged a) Bullet ", with its old country swing vibe dealing with the often volatile mixture of alcohol and love and track-5, "Get Up", a track about bar fights and adrenaline rushes are good tracks if you're in a more feisty mood.

If you're in a mellower mode give tracks like, "Radio City", about a lonely and heartbroken night time radio DJ and "Dancing With Devils" with its unexpected muted horn part a listen.

The last two songs that I want to mention are track-10 the band's mellow, dual vocals, cover of the Bruce Springsteen song "County Fair." And the last song, "Cowboy", an instrumental 5-minute jam track that left me scratching my head a little. It just felt out of place to me and didn't mesh with the other tracks.

If you like your music with a stretched quirky country edge and songs that are driven by great mixed male/female lead vocals then 77 El Deora's 'The Crown & The Crow's Confession' will make you a happy camper!

If you're like me, once you hear77 El Deora's music you'll quickly add it to your 'the best music I hadn't heard before' list.