I

Album review

In many cases, the term jam band is applied to artists who have been greatly influenced by the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Kingfish or other twangy country-rock hippies who came out of the San Francisco Bay Area in the '60s or '70s. But not all of the groups that are considered jam bands live up to that Jerry Garcia-worshipping, Northern California-obsessed image. Take Bone Daddy, for example. This Idaho unit has a reputation for being a jam band -- and yet, Bone Daddy's third album, I, is far from a carbon copy of the Dead, the New Riders or Kingfish. I has a lot of '60s, '70s and '80s influences, but they aren't necessarily from the Bay Area. The comparisons that come to mind when this 2004 release is playing range from Dire Straits, the Band and Bruce Springsteen to Simply Red and even Hall & Oates. While Simply Red and Hall & Oates aren't comparisons that come up a lot during discussions of jam bands, they are definitely valid comparisons on parts of I -- a CD that is essentially pop/rock but sometimes has a blue-eyed soul flavor. Bone Daddy is especially soul-minded on a cover of Timmy Thomas' early-'70s hit "Why Can't We Live Together," although they incorporate elements of R&B on some of their original material as well. I isn't a five-star masterpiece, but overall, it is a decent representation of what Bone Daddy has to offer -- and they certainly offer more than the stereotypical Grateful Dead/New Riders/Kingfish adulation that one might expect from jam bands.
© Alex Henderson /TiVo