The Brothers Brown: The Brothers Brown: Dusty Road

There is really only so much that can be done with the traditional 12-bar blues form. It was that limitation that helped give rise to rhythm & blues and soul music and cross-pollinated jazz and country & western. While fun to consider, it is a fool's endeavor to try and draw a straight line through these genres. Rather than draw a straight line, the Brothers Brown, on their debut Dusty Road pull a blade across these related tune categories, providing slices informed by each.

Made up of one quarter LA and three-quarters Nashville, Brothers Brown are one-hundred percent out of the studio and onto that same dusty road. Two Paul Browns front the band, one, the guitarist, from LA with two Grammy Awards to his credit and the other, a keyboards specialist from Music City. The band is rounded out by two more Nashville natives, bassist David Santos and drummer Peter Young. Seasoned professionals with that golden ear, the Brother's Brown significantly craft a dozen soulful, carefully considered songs reflecting a distillation of 50 years of the American Musical golden age.

The opening "Cup of Tea" breaks out with a Meters-inspired funk infused with a southern drawl and accented with Brown's mercury-thin organ playing. "Sweet Cadillac" pulsates with NOLA's heartbeat while "When It's All Said and Done" is the catchy collision between the Brill Building and the Ryman Auditorium. One Brown's guitar is piquant and sweetly rendered with a snatch of the other Brown's outstanding organ. "This Old Heart" comes closest to a traditional blues, save for its loping tempo and fractured rhythm. Dusty Road is a nice trip to the heart of American Music.