Rice Moorehead

"Honky soul" is a good name for what Rice Moorehead does. The South Filthy/Hickoids bassist's solo LP siphons a bit of those bands' fried country frazzle, but "Honky Soul," the third track, blows open doors with sax solos and Moorehead's smooth guitar work. Elsewhere, opener "Where I Stay" is a lustful daydream over some nasty slide guitar, and follow-up "It Don't Matter" lays down the pick-up line. The album gets soulful assistance from Karla Manzur on "Unlearn" and "You Can See" and from Texacala Jones on window-steamer "Tex Pants." Perhaps it's all the ladies surrounding Moorehead, including drummer Jill Csekitz and bassist Cindy Toth, that gives You Make Me Feel ... its levity. By the final title track of carnal declaration, he and Manzur propose to do it in the road, and the feminine balance saves it from being too hokey, or honky. - Austin Chronicle

“You Make Me Feel…” is de nieuwste soloplaat van Rice Moorehead, de bassist van o.a. cow punkformatie ‘The Hickoids’, ‘South Filthy’ en ‘Bigfoot Chester’. Deze in Austin, Texas wonende muzikant is ook een getalenteerde songschrijver die al acht soloplaten op zijn actief heeft onder het pseudoniem ‘Amberjack Rice’ en beweert dat hij er nog twee in de muzikale pipeline heeft zitten.

In zijn groep heeft hij twee dames met haar op de tanden opgenomen met Cindy Toth op bas en Jill Csekitz op drums. Voor de song “Tex Pants” heeft hij daarenboven een beroep gedaan op cow punkzangeres Texacala Jones die een rauwe en intrigerende gastperformance weggeeft.

Een andere topmuzikant die een bijdrage komt afleveren voor “You Make Me Feel…” is de bekende saxofonist Kaz Kazanoff die schittert in het instrumentale “Honky Soul”, een nummer met ook een stevige beat afkomstig van Moorehead’s basgitaar.

Zelf brengt Rice Moorehead op “You Make Me Feel…” een mooie mix van soulgeïnspireerde songs, stevige country- en rocknummers en enkele rustige ballads. Hij beschikt over een stevige, doch zeer aangename stem en slaagt er in om elke song een catchy riff of meezingbaar refrein te bezorgen, kortom alles wat hedendaagse popmuziek moet kunnen bieden. Of het nu de funky soulopener “Where I Stay” is of het shuffle beatnummer “It Don’t Matter” - met een aan Augie Meyers herinnerende orgeltje - of het groovy “Molly the Cowgirl” en “You Can See”, al deze liedjes nodigen dringend en dwingend uit op de dansvloer.

En in de ballads vinden we hem zelfs nog net wat sterker uit de hoek komen: ronduit schitterende nummers zijn “Unlearn” - alweer met knappe Hammondorgel-klanken en met een onweerstaanbaar ritme, het laid back gezongen “Drivin’ By” en “Somewhere on I-35”, een countrystijl slow en ‘on-the-road’ song, eveneens het allerbeste liedje op deze cd, mede door het schitterende koorwerk.

Ook de afsluitende funky soul titeltrack “You Make Me Feel…”(… like fucking) is heel mooi maar zal de radio wellicht niet halen omwille van de ‘dirty language’ in de songtekst. Deze heerlijke cd bevestigt dat we onze hoge verwachtingen in deze Rice Moorehead misschien nog wat moeten bijstellen want dit heerschap zou wel eens heel snel tot bredere roem en (h)erkenning kunnen overgaan.

(valsam) - http://www.rootstime.be/CD%20REVIEUW/2010/MA1/CD121.htm

"No Blues For You"....If you need a label you can call this release from Austin, Texas native Rice Moorehead roots-Texas-soul-alternative-rock-punk covering the topics of love, lust, sex and cowgirls. Oh, did I mention sex? This guy is a horndog. A horndog in possession of a pleasing and throaty set of Texas tinged pipes. His guitar skills equal his vocal abilities, supplying crunchy chords, slide accents or acoustic strumming as needed. The assorted players throughout provide snappy drumming, pronounced bass and that patented Texas cheesy organ ala Augie Meyers.

"Unlearn", "Drivin' By" ,"Molly The Cowgirl" and "Somewhere On I-35" can almost pass for Chris Issac with a slight cold. On "Molly" he professes his love and lust to the cowgirl he met at the bicycle rodeo. Don't ask me, we don't have bicycle rodeo's in Joisy. Ol' Molly must be in good shape, she carries him up to her room. "Unlearn" and "Drivin' By" are the kind of Issac-y, slow, moody songs that pop-up in tv dramas. The later has a bit of that Stones spacey late night feel with weeping slide over acoustic and vibes adding background seasoning. "I-35" is a Texan version of Johnny Mathis' "99 Miles To LA". Hold on....It gets stranger....but in a fresh way that works.

The music portion of this Tex-Fest is well thought out and made more appealing by the crystal clear sound not often heard on a self made production. The one instrumental "Honky Soul" kicks in with a throbbing bass line into a chiming guitar riff. First call saxman Kaz Kazanoff adds the honky part. Oh lest I forget.....why haven't I heard the drums of Jill Csekitz before?.....She's all over the place adding drive to many songs.

Ok.......where was I? Oh, yeah......One Texacala Jones is listed as doing vocals on what else?....."Tex Pants". She uses her voice, mostly unintelligible....her multi-tracked screaming, moaning......and a few 'babies!' thrown in for good measure. Rice's slide and regular guitar come in-and-out over his crunchy guitar riff. Ok here's an over used cliche' for you......This song is a breath of fresh air. Crank this puppy up and blow out yer' speakers.

"No Air Play For You".......Rice F's up his real chance for a potential hit with the Texas-soul of the title track. You guessed it kiddies......"You Make Me Feel Like ( F'ing)" starts off as a sentimental love song......then Wammo!(pun intended). It's up to you. I'll make no judgements. It's a great song on a very good CD.

Not a bum track on this exploration of Moorehead's bag of tricks. And many of them make an appearance given the short playing time. Take Chris Issac, Delbert McClinton, Texas punk-rock, Texas-white boy-soul, alternative-rock, slide guitar and blend to a frothy fare-thee-well and see if this concoction dosen't grow on you like a soothing fungus. Ok another silly pun......But this record is really growing on me. I'll admit at first it sounded like a mess. I think there's a quiet semi-genius lurking here. Wouldn't be surprised at all if we hear more of this Texas horndog in a big way. As for me I'm no fool........I'm riding off on Molly's handlebars into the Texas-punk sunset before I make another silly analogy.....Adios mi cowpunks...... - Blues Blast

Rice is originally from Tennessee, but now he currently resides in Austin, Texas, he is very busy man for he maintains not only a solo career but is also the bass player for the band The Hickiods. On this album we hear Rice mixing bluesy power chords with an unmistakeable Texan country influence that starts your fingers tapping.

The ten numbers on the album are all Rice originals he himself takes lead vocals and guitars, helping him are; Jill Csekitz and Nuje Battel; drums with Cindy Toth and Patrick Flangen on bass. Together they create a raw, but interesting collection of ballads, country blues, brooding power shuffles and one blues/punk rocker entitled “Tex Pants” with a ‘Cow Punk’ lady, exotically named Texacala Jones who is spitting out what appears to be, angry lyrics at breakneck speed. The pace certainly slows down with the calming instrumental “Honky Soul,” which highlights the rather good saxophone work of Kaz Kazanoff.

This is a rather eclectic collection of numbers especially for the world of blues; I found it interesting, most certainly different and it holds your attention for quite awhile.
- http://www.bluesart.at/NeueSeiten/1-2010-CD-DVD-Reviews.html