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Review: Kevin Costner & Modern West
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 by snikle
I am sure some of you are saying "What the hell? That a typo?" but yes, THAT Kevin Costner. I stumbled upon this via imdb and their entry on "The Postman", I think it was on TV and I was reading the page and someone commented that he had released an album or something. Either way, I have to admit, I listened to samples of all the songs and my finger hesitated over the buy button for a good minute. Could he pull this off, I thought to myself. I will admit it, I am a Costner sucker, more often than not liking his work. Open Range is one of my favorite westerns, when he walks up and blasts the first guy in the forehead at close range to start off the shoot out with a bang…..ah gives me goosebumps. 
Decisive and quick action, can he run for president please?
So, I took a bet on Kevin and bought Untold Truths. The samples sounded ok, nothing too special, but good enough to listen too. His voice is ok, sort of a gravely rough edge to it, but nothing worse than we hear on the radio all the time these days. After one listening I thought, "Not too shabby, will add that to the regular rotation." Now after two weeks I can say this is some of the best stuff I have heard in a long time.
It really hit my yesterday.
Now let me digress a bit. Part of this could be that I am here in Iraq, it has a tendancy to alter your perspective on somethings. Last time I was here I fell in love with Alan Jackson's music, contrary to every atom in my body being disgusted with country music. Now? I listen to it all the time. So perhaps this is a side effect of being here, who can tell. I watch more kids movies here in Iraq than I ever have….because I miss my kids? I don't know.
So we were driving back from a mission, about a three hour drive and I put my iPod on so I did not have to listen to my team leader ramble on about how Germany is soooooooooo much better than the U.S. (why he is still an American citizen, I cannot guess). We were driving through an area that has allot of similarity to Kansas, open rolling plains, and as I sat there I realized how much I miss America.
And that is what this music is. It is America. The America I know and grew up in. Kevn and gang have really hit a sound that hearken back to when I was growing up and everything was possible, the horizon was wide open and ready for me to explore. It sounds fresh, but still grounded solidly in the past, without sounding old and tired. It really sounds of Americana. Makes me think a bit of John Mellencamp's work or Bryan Adams from around when Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves came out (yes, another Costner film!) The songs are just dripping with Americana.
Anyway, I highly recommend this album. Good solid listening of what traditional Americana sounds like to me. 
