Country, country rock and blues with a loose ‘70s vibe
Ted Russell Kamp is an L.A. session player and regular bass player for Shooter Jennings who’s released a string of solo albums that began with 1996’s jazz session Dedications. Nine years later he returned as a front man with a whole new sound that combined roots and rock. The rustic inflections saw him through NorthSouth, Nashville Fineline, Divisadero and now his latest, Poor Man’s Paradise. Kamp sings in a voice similar to Rodney Crowell, but the loose vibe of his music has its roots in the 1970s, the free-swinging twang of Nashville, the laid-back cool of California country-rock, and the Southern inflections of Florida’s Criteria Studios and Alabama’s Muscle Shoals. He even adds a one-man horn section of overdubbed trumpet and trombone on a few tracks. Kamp writes frequently on matters of the heart, including departed lovers still too close to be forgotten, couples staring at one another across a chasm of faith, and the contentedness of having your soul mate by your side. In league with his talents as a multi-instrumental, Kamp’s a genre-hopping songwriter, offering up southern rock (“Long Distance Manâ€), talking blues (“Ballad of That Guy,†with Marvin Etzioni picking mandolin) and blue-eyed soul (“Never Gonna Do You Wrongâ€), in addition to country-rock. Though he’s best served by the ballads and mid-tempo numbers, just about everything here is nicely crafted and worth a spin. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com] 