It's been a few years now since
John Butler
and his trio first cracked the American market, but he's never had quite the same success in the U.S. as he has had in Australia, his father's homeland and his own residence for the past 20-odd years.
Butler
, however, should feel confident that he can hold his own against any of the
Dave Matthewses
,
Ben Harpers
, or
John Mayers
(all three of whom he can be easily compared to) out there. He's playing
pop
music, with all the sentimental, occasionally trite lyrics and clean major chord phrasing that accompany that style, but it's
music done well, with impressive musicianship from
(on banjo, lapsteel, and acoustic and electric guitar), percussionist
Michael Barker
, and bassist
Shannon Birchall
. Nearly every song on
Grand National
features at least one instrumental solo, the kind that rolls and sings and grooves and would make
Robert Randolph
proud, moving close to
jam band
territory without immersing itself fully in it (only one song,
"Gov Did Nothin',"
reaches far past the four- or five-minute mark, much in part thanks to a great New Orleans-styled brass band that plays the piece out to a close, and is worth every second). His willingness to explore other genres besides bluesy
folk pop
--
reggae
in
"Groovin' Slowly,"
hip-hop
"Daniella,"
and modern
rock
"Devil Running"
-- certainly adds a nice diversity to the album, but unfortunately this talent is double-edged, as it also becomes the album's greatest flaw.
often tries to encompass too much, to do too much, and because of this, comes off sounding a little corny (in the aforementioned
for example, which is more embarrassing than anything else), truncating words in a weird
Dave Matthews
-meets-
Adam Sandler
kind of way that's too forced and unnatural to sit well. And though it's nice to hear, in
"Funky Tonight,"
for example, that he doesn't take himself too seriously, his simple rhymes and delivery are a bit too silly when they're about love and dancing. When he uses them in his socially and politically oriented pieces, however ("And with God on both sides/If death is justified/Whatever the name/Then we're all to blame," he sings on
"Fire in the Sky"
), they ring more truly, or at least more originally. But what
does best -- writing and performing well-crafted
songs, and sounding like he's having fun all the while -- is good, and though
still may not be his entry up the
Billboard
charts, it's a welcome entry nonetheless. ~ Marisa Brown