Alyre “Fetterman Ave”
Derek Alyre Boudreau, who records under the name Alyre, has created a highly emotional CD with the songs found on Fetterman Ave. Most of these songs express desperation over romantic issues. In Alyre’s musical world, there is no such thing as an average, uneventful day. Instead, lovers walk on the edge where happiness or misery might be just one false footstep away.
The title track, the most structurally adventurous piece on the album, begins with a musical figure that hearkens back to the progressive rock era. But before long, it switches to a guitar riff that sounds a whole lot like Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit”, albeit without all the driving grunge feedback. Alyre is an effective singer, but Katrina is even more of a pleasure to listen to. She reaches for similar emotional pressure points, but her singing is just naturally prettier.
Alyre plays guitar, bass and drums on this release. And while he is a passable player with each of these instruments, he also doesn’t particularly excel at any of them. For instance, when he takes a guitar solo on “You’re Not Alone”, you may find yourself wishing for a little more fiery fretwork in order to give the track that extra oomph it needs. Instead, Alyre plays a rather pedestrian acoustic guitar solo on it. There are no standout bass lines on any of these songs, and while he may not be Keith Moon on the drums, he never plays anything to embarrass himself.
Alyre also produced this CD, along with Vivian Scaturro and Rich Krostek, and it sounds excellent throughout. There is crispness in the instrumentation that makes every instrument, and nearly every note, stand out. Diehard rockers might think it a little too clean sounding, but it would be better to frame this as a pop offering, with extra rock edge, rather than the other way around. It’s also worth noting that each track flows into the next, without a silence break between songs.
Lyrically, this disc comes off a little too much like a one trick pony. Alyre has obviously been hurt in a relationship, and that pain comes through on each and every track. If listeners have recently experienced that same sort of heartbreak, Fetterman Ave is a feast. But for those not now or recently embroiled in post breakup blues, all these we-done-us-wrong songs may be a little much. Derek’s spirituality shows through most clearly during the folk-ish “Back Home”, which is sung with Alyre’s regular female vocal partner, Katrina. Lyrically, it appears to be Alyre’s appeal for an angel to come down to Earth and help him. Katrina plays the role of the angel on it. This song, with its acoustic guitar part, is one of the least rock & roll cuts on the album.
Fetterman Ave is good, but it would have been better if Alyre had had the benefit of a few more musical collaborators. Nevertheless, a little professional musical spark goes a long way in brightening good recordings, and had there been a few instrumental ringers, these songs would have really come alive. One might also like to see Alyre widen his lyrical palette a tad the next time out. A speck of humor here, or a touch of a third person perspective there, would have given this disc some much-needed lyrical variety. With that said, however, Alyre is a talented artist, with a bright future.
Review by Dan MacIntosh

The artwork to Leyla Fences’ Liars, Cheats & Fools CD includes the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!” The package also disclaims, “The stories in the songs you are about to hear are true. The names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.” Fences pulls no punches. She is hardcore, Texas country, and no foolin’.
Iona Leigh’s music is intended to comfort mankind; namely those wild by nature. Some might characterize Leigh’s style as new age, yet this CD opens with a track titled “Nature’s Lament”, which credits William Wordsworth as its lyricist. Just to provide some perspective, Mr. Wordsworth stopped writing lyrics around about 1850, which is when that beloved wordsmith died. If he was in fact a new age poet, than that movement’s a whole lot older than we first suspected. “Queen Boadicea” is even older, having been penned by William Cowper, who bowed out in 1800.
Rob Dillon may be a Canadian who spent a good deal of his career life working in the technology field before returning to music, but his CD, The One, is sincerely influenced by American blues and country. Although blues and country take up the lion’s share of these tracks, many different musical roots styles are touched upon throughout. And it’s an enjoyable journey, as well. Dillon began as a teen guitar prodigy. He was so good, in fact, his guitar teacher eventually asked him to play in his band. His new CD is nicely balanced out with jumping blues songs, country laments, and folk-ish touches. He performs each variety well.
Karen Grace may not aspire to become a one-woman Beatles or Beach Boys, but much like those two iconic rock bands, this singer/songwriter has just created a concept album. Metamorphosis is mainly a project that concerns significant life changes, conceptually speaking. A familiar natural example of the way caterpillars transform themselves into butterflies is used lyrically in order to picturesquely illustrate how positive human changes are possible – simply because they’re natural. As Grace announces in the opening title track, “Like a butterfly, I rise from my lowly ground.” Subsequently, these 11 songs are intended for anybody intent upon raising themselves above any lowly place they happen to find themselves, and fly free like a butterfly.
Singer/songwriter Mike Grutka is hell bent on never sticking to any one musical style. He hops – chameleon-like – from genre to genre, like an impatient driver flipping around the radio dial while stuck in morning traffic.
Finding happiness due to the absence of another is a little like rooting for one team to lose, rather than hoping one of the teams to win. It’s all about putting ones hopes in a negative outcome, instead of focusing on what’s sincerely good. Toni Vere sings, “I get a little peace of mind/Knowing that I’m better off without you there” on a rhythmic, country track called “100 Miles”. But don’t let this isolated observation lead you to believe Vere is an overly negative person. Vere has gone through some major life changes over the past decade or so, and you cannot understand the present and future, without also analyzing the past. Just to Be is a fine ideal, although life is never lived in such a clear cut vacuum. Instead, we are made to embrace what we were, are, and hope to become, and this 11-song release finds Vere appreciating the here and now as best she can.
The next time you attend a wedding reception, do this informal poll: Watch the action out on the dance floor and notice what makes people dance. Some folks will only get their backfields in motion to oldies but goodies, while the younger crowd may not move a toe unless a record was released within the last year. In other words, dance music is a highly relative term. Zupe didn’t need to spy on every neighborhood wedding reception, however, to gather this insight. Instead, he knew it instinctively. This is why his CD Dance is filled with so much variety. He knows the phrase, ‘Different strokes, for different folks,’ particularly holds true when it comes to making music that causes people move their feet.
Shady Cats live up to their name in one respect: they are incurably curious. Although this tends to kill many in the feline family, such an axiom likely doesn’t hold true for musicians. At least we hope not. Shady Cats’ positive nosiness reveals itself in the seemingly endless variety of music contained on their Love Callin’ CD. This act is many different bands rolled into one.
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