Though he may wear a touch too much make-up in his press shots, there is no prettied-up B.S. on this post-
Wreckage rocker from
T.H. Instead,
Tom and a very talented band of rock and bluesmen (and one special blues woman) throw together a baking dozen of passion-rooted rock that make some question whether or not they're in Boston anymore. Aside from a pair of loose affiliations with
Aerosmith ("Fever" and "12 Inches") and the support of local "monsters" and
Stompers like
Mike Welch,
Sal Baglio,
Duke Levine,
Brother Cleve,
Tom West, and a certain
Ms. Tedeschi,
Hambridge shows more upstate edge and recently-acquired Nashville twang than Berklee cleanliness. "Big and Empty" may be, but the lascivious rock-a-bye "Rachel Fay" is far from an obvious lullaby. "Boneyard" creaks and crunches with fibular firmness; "Gas" pumps like a runaway V-8, and the singular duet "Opposites Attract" has not even the slightest scent of DJ Skat Kat. Though
Susan T. brings even more transplanted Southern fire to her four cameo tracks,
Hambridge's self-cover of "Rock Me Right" digs through his blues-stained throat and deep into his rock & roll soul.