The walls were shaking and the roof was caving in, with sounds like thunder roaring from my speakers, the sounds of Fifth on the Floor‘s Dark and Bloody Ground. Outlaw country with a rock and roll beat; simply put that is Fifth on the Floor, with obvious hint of the Georgia Satellites, Waylon and Willie, The Band and many others.
The past is littered with broken bands that end up with and empty fifth on the floor, i.e. overblown, over rated LP/CD. Not so with FOTF, you can see the cotton fields passing by in the misery of the sweltering summer heat of the deep south with old men playing checkers and drinking coke on lazy Saturday afternoons, wiping the sweat from their brows with stained white handkerchiefs. With Elvis and Hank spilling out of the radio from the window of a mother washing dishes and the teenager driving and blaring the radio, where Fifth on the Floor lives is in the open spaces between small towns across the land from Memphis to McColl, From Macon to Tupelo, from Ft Worth to Bakersfield.
No odes to past heroes but gentle nods to their enduring and undying influence. This band is a wonderful, fun time that is not here for glory, not here for the money, they are here for the love of music and the power of the brotherhood of playing together and making people happy. Oh yeah and creating great albums.
This is a classic rock album of the future. Ghosts of Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, Duane Allman, Delaney and Bonnie, Gram Parsons, Lefty Frizzell whisper in these grooves. Where the past meets the future and there is no looking back. This is the future of great country albums, great rock and roll and not just a radio voice, but a real voice; in the history books they call them legends.
In reality they are just the artist making the real music that last through generations not six or seven month’s of radio glory. This is real music for real people. If you want to hear the best that America has to offer then pick up your Fifth on the Floor and enjoy, for this is the best of what real music stands for.
Review by Vernon Tart
