Country/Southern rock band The Steel Woods released their debut album “Straw in the wind” in 2017. Now as 2019 starts they’re releasing their second album – “Old news”.
There are nine original songs on the album plus several cover versions – “Changes” (Black Sabbath), “Whipping post” (Allman brothers), “The Catfish song” (Townes van Zandt), “Are the good times really over (I wish a buck was still silver)” (Merle Haggard), “One of these days” (Wayne Mills) and “Southern accents” (Tom Petty).
They’ve done a superb job with the cover versions. The Black Sabbath cover in particular (“Changes”) is a song I know and love, and being so used to hearing Ozzy singing it I never expected to like a cover of it, but The Steel Woods really have pulled off the impossible and done a version I absolutely love. The Southern rock style vocals really work well – it’s different to the original but it’s a great fit. They’ve made the music more rocky too – the Black Sabbath original was really focussed more on the vocals but in this version the music plays a more prominent role and it works brilliantly.
Check out the video for “Southern accents” – another great cover version on the album…
Opening track “All of these years” has a great guitar riff with a hint of ZZ Top
Check out “Rock that says my name”…
It’s a great album that should appeal to fans of Lynyrd Skynyd, Allman brothers and Southern rock fans in general. There’s a lot of variety as the Southern rock, Country, blues, folk and other influences all get incorporated into the music. The and vocals are excellent and the songs are extremely good. A great release – and a band well worth keeping an eye out for.
“Old news” will be released on 18th January 2019 via Thirty Tigers
1. All of these years
2. Without you
3. Changes
4. Wherever you are
5. Blind lover
6. Compared to a soul
7. Old news
8. Anna Lee
9. Red river (The fall of Jimmy Sutherland)
10. The catfish song
11. Rock that says my name
12. One of these days
13. Are the good times really over (I wish a buck was still silver)
14. Whipping post
15. Southern accents
- 9.99