Cody Shipley has put together a pretty darn good demo EP of his songs. The four songs, all self penned range in musical style from Texas Blues to roots blues. Vocally Cody Shipley sounds similar to Johnny Lang or Kenny Wayne Shepherd's vocalist.
The CD opens with 'Best Friends' driven by harmonica and dobro. Which resolves into a heavy blues/rock song with a fairly fast tempo. There's some fast slide work here. I would call it an updated roots blues song.
'I'll Be Your Man' is definitely Texas Blues territory, with a medium shuffle sound.
'Good Day To Die' goes back to the dobro with a very rootsy sound. The recording is almost primitive in it's sound harkening back to a Robert Johnson era style.
'Homeless Man' is the closest sounding song to Kenny Wayne Shepherd musically with a vocal that ranges in style from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's singer to Johnny Lang in tonality. The guitar work is Stevie Ray style and the overall sound is really very good.
Bottom Line: Sometimes some of the best CD's I review are not the high dollar professional ones from big record companies. This CD was a bright spot in my mailbox and one that I really enjoyed. I wish that there were some more songs on it as I found the ones on the CD caused me to want more. That's much better than wanting to put it back on the shelf and never playing it again. The songs demonstrate a nice range of styles and
the musicianship is very good. The production is very professional but not overproduced. If you like Johnny Lang or Kenny Wayne Shepherd, then you should like this CD. I think it's a keeper. I give it four out of five stars.
Cody Shipley - guitar and vocals
Randy Colemine - bass
David Northrup - drums
Johnny Neel - Keyboards
Gaelen Mitchel - percussion
Tim Gonzalez - harmonica
Contact Info: (check website as he has since moved to the Twin Cities)
Cody Shipley
(615)-223-0226
1702 Rock Springs Road
Smyrna, TN 37167
Web sites:
www.codyshipley.com
e-mail codyshipley@hotmail.com
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